J/70s & J/80s Enjoy Great Sailing Weather(La Trinite-sur-Mer, France)- It was yet another fun, challenging SPI Ouest France Intermarche Regatta that was held from April 17th to 21st on Quiberon Bay. The 300+ boats participating were not disappointed with the sunny breezy weather, certainly a far cry from last year’s event that saw some teams suffer hypothermia in the cold, stormy conditions.
The
marquee fleet was again the enormous International J/80 class with
eighty-nine boats on the starting line. After an exhausting twelve
races over the four days, the winner was ultimately determined on the
outcome of the last race, new energetic talent confronting and
overcoming a long-time class veteran. By sailing an extraordinarily
consistent series, Morgan Lagraviere on SAFRAN clearly stepped up his
game and by never finishing worse than 10th, managed to win the regatta
by one point after posting a 4th in the last race. Sailing a tough
series was Sylvain Pellissier’s veteran crew on VOILERIE ALL PURPOSE,
taking second with 62 pts total after having to count a last race 21st,
much to their disappointment. In fact, for all intents and purposes, it
looked like Pellisier’s crew had won the regatta going into the last
race after posting a 1-2 scoreline in races #10 and #11- such is racing
in a big fleet. Third behind them was another class up-and-comer,
Matthieu Salomon sailing CHARIOT PLUS- VANNES UTILITAIRES with 80 pts
net. Rounding out the top five were Maxime Mesnil on COPILOTES-
NORMANDY ELITE TEAM in 4th and Gael Jaffrezic on SAILING EXPERIENCE in
5th. Top Spanish team was Inigo Jauregui’s GOLD SAILING in 6th.
The
J/70s enjoyed equally fun racing over the four days, also managing to
sail twelve races in all! However, unlike the 80’s, the 70’s saw a
dominant performance put in by Luc Sambron sailing HEMON-CAMUS.
Sambron’s team are former top J/80 sailors and have taken quickly to the
J/70 performance envelope. By taking eight 1sts and three 3rds
(tossing a 3rd!) for a total of 15 pts, it was clear they were the
runaway winner. However, giving them a strong run for the roses in the
last five races was T. Mellano’s LE HAVRE NAUTIQUE. Mellano’s crew had
troubles in races 4, 5 & 6 but sailed a 2-2-1-1-2 to race back up
the ladder to capture second overall for a total of 47 pts. Third in
class was F. Charles’s crew on SUPER U LANMEUR- CABINET ABALLEA A (quite
the sponsor name, eh?) with 51 pts. The balance of the top five was
Jan Bergh’s Swedish KSSS YC sailing team on MOVEIT and Jm. Gosset’s
LOCATION SPORT BOAT in 4th & 5th, respectively.In IRC handicap world, two of the J/122s in IRC 1 class put in good performances. The highlight of MADE IN LOVE’s (Jm. Patier) performance over the seven race series was a 1-3 in the last two races to capture fourth overall. SPARKLING CHARTER (F. Lognonne) had a consistent series with finishes predominantly in the top ten to take ninth in class.
It was the classic, beautifully restored J/35 KNIGHT BUILD LIMITED, sailed by J. Charmers from Weymouth Sailing Club in Great Britain, that took top honors for J/Teams with a sixth in IRC 2 class, notably winning the last race to celebrate with a wee bit of champagne and a few “good on ya’s” after cracking the top ten only once before with a third in race four.
Sailing
in IRC 4-A were twin duos of J/97s and J/92s’s all of which sailed
against most of the top French IRC boats in the category. Topping the
charts for J sailors was the J/97 MISPIKEL V sailed by B. Fagart to a
4th in class. Just behind them was the J/92s DR JEKYLL skippered by T
Bidon taking a 9th, followed by the J/97 PICKWICK (P. Nouzille) in 10th
and the other J/92s SABOT (M. Demazure) in 16th.Making up part of the IRC 4-B class are a trio of J/24s, with two of them sailing respectably enough for a 35+ year old design to finish in the top ten! Taking top J/24 honors was INSULARIS (A. Garcia) in 4th place followed by fellow colleagues on JINETTE (C. Gury) in 9th overall. For more SPI Ouest France sailing information
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