(Saint Cast, France)- This year’s French J/80 National Championship was
hosted by CN Saint Cast for fifty-one teams from all over France,
including one team from the United Kingdom. The CNST’s PRO was blessed
by beautiful fall sailing conditions on the Bay with winds ranging from
10-20 kts all three days!While initially getting off to a slow start, the eventual winner- Sylvain Pellissier skippering VOILERIE ALL PURPOSE (with crew of Matthieu Fountaine, Victor Barriquand and Loig Leon)- produced a flourish of top five scores in the eleven race series to secure the overall win. Conversely, starting fast but wavering mid-regatta was Eric Brezellec’s crew on COURRIER JUNIOR (with Julie Richeux, Nicolas Richard, Gery Trentesaux, Herve Corlay), ultimately finishing four pts back with 63 pts to take the silver. Sitting third was Baptiste Choquenot’s JUMPER with 78 pts.
After
the first day of racing, the PRO managed to run three races with winds
blowing 10-20 kts from the south with a very flat sea. As a result,
good starts, hitting the first shift and maintaining a lane were keys to
sailing fast the first day. At the conclusion of racing, Brezellec’s
COURRIER JUNIOR was leading with just 7 pts due to a blistering pace of a
4-2-1 record. Second was Pellisier’s VOILERIE ALL PURPOSE as a result
of a 3-7-6 for 16 pts and in third was Luc Nadal’s GAN’JA with a 6-9-4
record for 19 pts. Sitting on 4th at the time was VADK TWO skippered by
Alexis Henry (15-3-3) and in fifth was SAILING FRANCE skippered by
Simon Moriceau. What no one could anticipate was the game of “snakes
& ladders” they were all going to play on the second day of racing!
In fact, just about the entire top ten changed!
Monday’s
racing had more ideal sailing conditions with spring temperatures,
sunny skies, flat seas and 12-22 kts of breeze again from the
southwest. The end of day tabulations showed that Pellisier’s VOILERIE
ALL PURPOSE held a 4 pts lead due to a 14-2-1-6 record for the day.
Their performance enabled them to slip ahead of Brezellec’s COURRIER
JUNIOR that compiled a 16-6-3-1 scoreline to end up with 25 pts total.
Leaping into third overall for the regatta with an absolutely brilliant
day of sailing was Great Britain’s Kevin Sproul skippering ULTIMATE
SAILS; their 6-1-6-23 left them with just 36 pts total. At this time,
Hugo Abeguile’s APCC EQUIPE JEUNE also had a terrific day with a
22-4-2-4 to jump into 4th overall with 40 pts while Nadal’s GAN’JA
dropped to 5th overall due to a 19-11-18-5.For the third and final day of competition on Tuesday, the fleet was again blessed with yet another “post card perfect” day- southwest winds at 5-15 kts and shifting quite strongly with a long period swell rolling in from the northwest. Again, skippers and tacticians were sailing all over the place and yoyo-ing up and down the standings. The ultimate winner, VOILERIE ALL PURPOSE threw down a crazy daily score sheet of 1-31-17-2 to win it all! Also experiencing similar “nosebleed” results was Brezellec’s COURRIER JUNIOR team, compiling a breathtaking BFD-10-7-13 to hang on to the silver! Baptiste Choquent’s JUMPER nearly
pulled
off an upset by scoring a 2-1-2-7 to close the regatta, by far the most
consistent string of races by any team in the top five! Nevertheless,
they were happy to take the bronze on the podium. Fourth was Nadal’s
GAN’JA and in fifth was Moriceau’s SAILING FRANCE.Taking the Women’s National title (and Coupe de France J/80 Women’s title) was Capucine Vitel’s VITEL SAILING TEAM (pictured here) sitting 11th overall in the “open” fleet and 1st amongst the women skippers. Her team of Jonathan Touyer, Mathieu Layus, Valentin Dantec and Damian Michelier sailed well, averaging 9th in most races, save for two trash races of 25-42. Second amongst the women was Claire Montecot’s STARTIJENN, her team finished 20th overall in the “open” class. Third women skipper was Laura Simon sailing NANNI-DIESEL REGION PAYS DE LOIRE.
Finally, for the Coupe de France J/80 Championship series, it was Brezellec’s team on COURRIER JUNIOR that took the overall title by virtue of finishing 2nd in the French Nationals in Saint Cast. For more Coupe de France J/80 Nationals sailing information
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