(La Rochelle, France)- The last regatta of the Coupe de France is taking
place this weekend in La Rochelle, one of the most famous sailing ports
in all of France. Hosted by the Societe des Regates Rochelaises, 53
teams will be sailing the seventh and final regatta to determine not
only the French National J/80 Champion, but also the winner of the
season-long series of seven events- the Coupe de France.As a result of some excellent performances in the first several regattas, it looks like it will be difficult to knock-off Simon Moriceau’s INTERFACE CONCEPT- CV ECOLE NAVALE from winning the overall series, such is the gap between them and the rest of the fleet. However, the balance of the top ten will be hotly contested between the rest of the stars that have been sailing this highly competitive J/80 series. Climbing fast up the ladder has been a past Coupe de France champion, Eric Brezellec on COURIER JUNIOR; they’re slow start in the beginning has been put behind them and several excellent regattas in the last few events have put them in contention to get a podium finish. Behind them is Luc Nadal on GANJA, a co-champion of the 2013 series. Other contenders should be Herve Leduc’s PIERRE OCEAN, Matthieu Salomon’s CHARIOT PLUS- VANNES UTILITAIRES, and Ludovic Gilet’s JACUZZI.
Another battle is forming for top women’s J/80 team for both the Nationals and for the overall Coupe de France series. At this moment, it appears that everything is possible for the top three amongst the leading teams that include STARTIJEN (Claire Montecot), CO-PILOTES NORMANDY ELITE TEAM (Maxime Mesnil), CHARLY (Alice Metais), PORNIC J GIRLS (Charlotte Lab Janvier), J MARINE (Marie Revy), PRINCE DE BRETAGNE (Pauline Chalaux), ST CAST GRAND OUEST ETIQUETTES (Maxime Rousseaux), and EPSILON 3D LADIES NORMANDIES (Sophie Riot).
Top visiting teams looking for some great fall sailing competition include two top UK boats, Patrick Liardet’s AQUA-J and Phil Taylor’s J.A.T. Additionally, a very good Spanish team will also be participating, Inigo Jauregui’s GOLD SAILING from Club Nautico Hondarribia.
A dozen boats have already been to La Rochelle last weekend for practice, that’s how seriously some of the teams are taking their final event despite months of sailing on the circuit this past summer. For more French J/80 Nationals sailing information
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