COURRIER JUNIOR Crowned French J/80 Champion

GANJA Wins J/80 Coupe de France Series!
(Pornichet, France)- From October 29th to November 1st, sixty-two J/80 teams from across France and Spain were treated to an amazing four days of wind and sun; an event that will be long remembered for its amazing organization, thanks to Club Nautique APCC Voile Sportive, and the incredible sailing conditions!  Ten races were sailed in offshore winds (East/ Northeast) between 6 and 15 knots, with extremely tactical conditions. The races were sailed hard by the entire fleet.  In fact, every race had multiple general recalls, resulting in every start taking place under the nasty black flag.

For the victors (see at right), the suspense and anxiety were tremendous all weekend.  Before the final race, the DONG FENG team (with skipper Charles Caudrelier) was leading Eric Brezellec’s COURRIER JUNIOR.  But, winning the last race assured Brezellec’s COURRIER JUNIOR team (Nicolas Richard, Christian Ponthieu, Herve Corlay & Julie Richeux) of the overall victory; winning four of the ten races to be crowned 2016 French National Champion.  A last race 12th dropped DONG FENG into the silver position for skipper Caudrelier and crew of Thomas Rouxel, Matthieu Salomon, and Erwan Israel.  Rounding out the podium was the Spanish team from Barcelona- GOLD SAILING with the team of Iker Almandoz, Ponte Borja, Inigo Sanchez and Jauregui Inigo. The rest of the top five included Simon Moriceau’s ARMEN HABITAT in 4th place and Baptiste Choquenet’s CO-PILOTES in 5th position.  Top women skipper was Maxime Rousseaux’s CN ST CAST GRAND OUEST ETIQUETTES in 8th place.

Caudrelier from DONG FENG commented, "I do not know much about the J/80 or the regatta format, but I know the bay quite well, having sailed here when I was young! So, we're happy with second place here. Congratulations to everyone: my team-mates, including Erwan (Israel) who was a great tactician, bravo to the competitors and the organization, and of course to the winner- Eric Brezellec and crew!”

Coupe de France Honors
As a result, the combination of the Nationals in Pornichet, the Women’s Cup at APCC Voile Sportive  (video summary here), and the five events in the J/80 Coupe de France 2016 meant the final awards could be made for the top French teams in five categories- Overall Champion, Club Champion, Women’s Champion, Juniors Champion and Masters Champion.

The Coupe de France Trophy goes to Luc Nadal’s GANJA from NDC Voile Angers with a total of 312 pts (high point scoring).  Second overall was Sylvain Pellisier’s VOILERIE ALL PURPOSE for YC Crouesty with 292 pts, just two points in from of Frederic Hauville’s TETHYS from Ecole Navale Marine Brest.  Rounding out the top five were Capucine Vitel (top woman skipper) with partner Damian Micheller on GRIOTTE/ VITEL J80 SAILING TEAM from YC St-Quay Portrieux in fourth position and Ludovic Gilet’s NUMERO J from YC Pornic in fifth place.

Finally, you cannot overlook the exceptional attendance of Jacques Hubert (EOS - St Cast) who participated in all the circuit races to place 7th overall, a level unmatched since 2007 (at that time the circuit had only 5 races) by any other French J/80 team!

In the “Clubs Division” Trophy, it was the "Crouesty Boys" from the YC CROUESTY Team (Le Guill, Pellisier, Montecot, Nadal and Bourrut Lacouture) that took the opportunity to grab the lead (1,2 and 5). The YC PORNIC Team (Gilet, Vallet, Drogou, Teffaud, Daquin) took 2nd place thanks to the points earned by the young Team Vendée. For their part, CN Saint-Cast (Allain, Rousseaux, Hubert, Brezellec, Launay) and APCC (Guihot, Ramee, Cottron, Sambron, Mouillon) follow in 3rd and 4th positions.  Finally, far behind but (almost) out of reach of was La Trinité (Despierre, Le Borgne, Zucconi).

The “Women’s Trophy” for 100% women teams had six crews contending for the title all within a range from 112 to 80 points.  In the end, it was Pauline Chalaux’s FRAMBOISE crew from CN St Brieuc that won the title as “best all women’s team” with a total of 112 pts.  Taking the silver was Laura Simon sailing University NANTES/ APCC from the APCC with 107 pts.  Just five points behind to take the bronze was Charlotte Lab’s PORNIC J GIRLS crew form CN Pornic (Sandrine Vallet, Melanie Vindimian, Celine Augereau Le Bohec, & Elizabeth Cabus Bordron).  Rounding out the top five were Dee Caffari’s J/EXIGE- OMAN SAILS from the Oman Sails Club in 4th and Elodie Bonafous’ FRAMBOISE/ NAUTISME EN FINISTERE from EV Loquirec in 5th.

The “Masters Trophy” saw no fewer than 24 teams listed in the category.  In the end, the overall winner was Frederic Hauville’s Ecole Navale crew on TETHYS with 290 pts, an enormous lead of 123 pts over the second place boat- Francois Drogou’s CN Moutiers crew on FEED-J.  In fact, Drogou’s team won on a tie-breaker over Damien Zucconi’s AXELLE-J.  Fourth place went to Jerome Picard’s LES 3 MOUSS and fifth position was taken by Ludovic Gilet’s NUMERO J.

The “Juniors Trophy” had seven teams competing and was easily won by woman skipper Capucine Vitel and her partner Damian Micheller on GRIOTTE/ J80 VITEL SAILING TEAM, with a total of 215 points.  Second was Alexandre Cottron on GEOLAN from APCC with 134 pts and third was Alrick Barbarin’s SUAPS from Pole Voile Oceanis with 100.7 pts.  Fourth was Sebastien Riot’s TEAM ESPOIR PAPREC with 75 pts and fifth place was Antoine Connan’s CENTRALE NANTES- APCC.  For more French J/80 Nationals sailing information