(La Trinite sur Mer, France)- The 37th SPI Ouest France Intermarche
Regatta is taking place this weekend from April 2nd to 5th, with four
days of racing planned on Quiberon Bay. Over 300 boats are sailing and,
again, the J/80 class will be by far the largest fleet (one-design or
handicap) with 70 boats expected on the starting line. This year’s
event also marks the second time the J/70 class has participated; the
big news is that the J/70 fleet has nearly doubled in size over last
year’s event.The J/70 continues to gain momentum in Europe; J/Composites has built over 450 units alone for the European market. The advent of the enormously popular sailing leagues, the Europeans hosted by YC Monaco, and the Worlds hosted in La Rochelle continues to create strong demand for the fun, easy-to-sail and trailerable sportboat.
On the starting line for this year’s J/70 fleet is a strong international contingent. The local French teams include top sailors like Le Havre’s Ludovic Senechal sailing LULU NANTAISE and Laurent Sambron skippering HEMON CAMUS (a multiple winner in major J/80 events in France). In addition, other top contenders include the United Kingdom’s Ian Atkins driving BOATS.COM (UK National Champion); top J/22 sailor Wouter Kollman from the Netherlands sailing PLAJ (J/22 European Champion); multiple World Champion Hugo Rocha from Spain sailing NEW TERRITORIES; the Laser SB20 World Champion Geoff Carveth from the United Kingdom; and Charles Esse steering DARWIN PROPERTY MANAGEMENT, also from the U.K.
The
large J/80 class will have many top teams sailing with past Nationals
Champions hoping to gather more silverware for their trophy cabinets.
Leading the top French boats will be Luc Nadals’ GANJA (2nd 2013 J/80
Worlds); Matthieu Salomon from EV Cataschool skippering CHARIOT PLUS-
VANNES UTILITAIRES (J/80 European Champion); VOILERIE ALL PURPOSE-
Sylvain Pellissier; CO-PILOTES (Maxime Mesnil); Eric Brezellec
skippering COURRIER JUNIOR (J/80 European and French Champion); PIERRE
OCEANE (Herve Leduc); and another top women’s team- LE HAVRE- LADIES
NORMADIE with Sophie Riot on the helm. For the J/80 fleet, SPI Ouest
will be a good warm-up for the top teams looking to attend the J/80
World Championship in early July at Kiel, Germany.In the IRC handicap racing world, there are J’s sailing in virtually every class. Starting with IRC 1, there are two J/122s sailing in the 19-boat fleet, including JOLLY JOKER (R Marchais) and INNOVATIONS BLEUES (P. Roynette). Also sailing in the crazy mix of boats that includes TP 52s is the J/111 J4F (P. Guennal).
IRC 2 class has a mix of 35-40 footers, including the beautifully maintained J/120 RHAPSODIE V sailed by JJ. Godet; they famously were leading the 2013 Fastnet Race overall and in class for quite some time before getting caught in the light airs, current trap off the Plymouth, England finish line.
Several 30-35 ft J’s are sailing in the large IRC 3 class and hoping to sail clean and not get caught up in bad “lanes” sailing upwind and having to live with dirty air too long. Included in this group are two J/105’s- BO GOSS (P. Allain) and J-SQUARED (Jf. De Premorel; the J/97 MISPICKEL VI (B. Fagart); and the J/109 FRANJPANE (P. Mouret).
IRC 4 class was going to be so big and unmanageable for the Race Committee PRO that it was split into an “A” and “B” grouping. Sailing in IRC 4-A are twin duos of J/97s and J/92s’s. The J/97s are HALIOTIS (P. Mabo) and HYDRACHEM (Jc. Moriceau) and the J/92s are DR JEKYLL (T. Bidon) and SABOT (M. Demazure).
Sailing the OH-1 Class for the first time will be the J/88 J-LANCE 11 skippered by Didier Le Moal from S.R. Rochelaises. They will be challenged by a strong group of teams in the 17-boat class that also includes the J/109 CNP1 J’VOLE helmed by P. Barouch, the J/92s KINETIK (Jm. Loirat), the J/105 MISS J (F. Guillemot) and the J/111 ALPHALINK (A. Nicaise).
The OH-2 Class also has 17 boats participating, including a flock of four J/24s- JINETTE (C. Gury), INSULARIS (A. Garcia), EL NINO (B. Le Marec) and HORS’J (L. Madeline).
The weather looks promising for the weekend, the sailors are hoping the forecasts hold true. Thursday and Friday may be cloudy with WSW breezes in the 8-12 kts range, with rain late afternoon and evening on Friday as a Low front passes by. That is followed by clearing Saturday morning with a sunny day in the 60s F with a 9-15 kt NNE winds. For Easter Sunday, everyone should wake up to a smiling sun and 60s F with warm breezes shifting East at 10-15 kts. The Weather Underground forecast for La Trinite is here.
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