(La Trinite sur Mer, France)- The 38th edition of the SPI Ouest-France-
Destination Morbihan regatta is one of the most important sailing events
in Europe and it is the first major regatta of the year after a long,
cold winter. How major is it?? Well, just 409 boats, with more than
2,500 sailors, that were all looking forward to shaking-out the cobwebs,
dial-up the adrenalin, and figure out “who’s on first” after a winter
of repairs, preparation, new bottom paint, new sails, new electronics
and, often, new crew! A lot is at stake as well for many of the leading
builders in Europe as it is the first time they get to test out their
newest (or revamped) models against many of the best sailors in France,
if not Europe. Twelve nations were represented in this year’s event along with over a dozen classes that included big fleets of J/70s, J/80s, and handicap classes for both IRC and OSH rules. As usual, the Societe Nautique de La Trinite sur Mer did a fabulous job hosting the event off their gorgeous, quaint little seaport along the Bay of Quiberon. They were lucky to be blessed with reasonably good winds and weather over the four-day weekend regatta. The fleet was treated to westerlies on Friday of 10-15 kts; then on Saturday it was a somewhat grey day with breezes of 10-15 kts from the N-NW and quite shifty; Easter Sunday saw the Easter Bunny deliver a suitably sunny day for Easter Egg hunts for the children while the sailors enjoyed a rather light N-NW shifty wind with big holes; and, finally, on Monday the regatta was blessed with more N-NW winds in the 10-15 kts range.
In
the end, the most notable and impressive victory was the spectacular
IRC 2 Class win by Didier Le Moal’s J/112E J-LANCE 12 from Societe
Regate Rochelaises. Their record of 3-1-1-2-1-15-5 for 13 pts net was a
decisive 10+ point victory over Dream Pearls- a JPK 10.80 factory team.
Ironically, J-LANCE 12’s win may have been even greater had they not
missed the penultimate race and score a DNC (their discard race)-
somehow their navigator missed the flags at the rear of the RC finish
boat indicating there would be one more race on Sunday! According to Le Moal, “The J/112E has shown impressive upwind capability (being able to overtake higher rated boats in the class above them in real-time). Downwind, the asymmetric spinnaker has confirmed its benefits in a mix of coastal and around-the-cans races.”
There were several other good performances by J/crews in IRC classes. In IRC 1 Class, 5th was J/133 GICQUEL ASSOCIATES with E Gicquel skippering, just two points from fourth place. Then, in IRC 3 (with 31 boats), 5th place was J/97 MISPICKEL VI skippered by Benoit Fagart from Societe Regate Rochelaises, notably beating Rolex Fastnet Race winner FOGGY DEW, the JPK 10.10 sailed by Noel Racine.
Finally,
there was an impressive performance by a newly launched, un-tuned,
un-optimized J/11S in the massive IRC Double Class of 35 boats- the
largest offshore keelboat section in the entire regatta! Taking 3rd was
the J/11S JATAKA with the team of Nicholas Troussel & E Kerscaven
from CVF with an 11-4-2-2 record! They were up against a rogue’s
gallery of the top French offshore short-handed teams, many of them
“factory teams” on JPK 10.10s (5), JPK 10.80s (3), Sun Fast 3200s (7),
and A35s (3). According to D Le Moal, “she finished in IRC Doublehanded
class with a not yet optimized rating and just a few days of training
for the crew. The overall performance was fantastic, she showed the
ability to overtook all the fleet as soon as the wind was over 5 knots!”In the French version of PHRF in America, the OSH 1 Class of 25 boats saw a solid performance by J/crews, with 6 boats finishing in the top 15 places! Second was the J/111 J4F sailed by P Vidon from SR Douarnenez; 5th was the J/120 HEY JUDE skippered by P Girardin from CN Pornic; 7th was the J/92 LUXIOR ASSURANCES ET IMMOBILIER with M Le Formal from SR Brest; 11th was the J/120 LADY JANE with P Tostivint from CN Pornic; 14th was the J/122 JOLLY JOKER with L Marchais from SN Trinite sur Mer; and 15th was the J/105 J-SQUARED skippered by V Jomier from SN Trinite sur Mer! Congratulations to all!
As
has been the case for over the past dozen years at SPI Ouest, the 67
J/80s had great sailing, great competition, and a surprising outcome!
“The Spanish are back!” And, in a big way. Taking the top two spots
were two of Spain’s top sailors and past J/80 World Champions. Winning
with just 57 pts net was Ignacio Jauregui’s GOLD SAILING, counting just
top 8 finishes in this incredibly competitive fleet. Fellow countryman,
Jose Maria van der Ploeg (also an Olympic Medallist for Spain), sailed
VSA COMUNICACION fast enough to take the silver just 2 pts back,
counting an astonishing SIX 4th places (plus, never winning a race) in
his 11 races counted scoreline! Rounding out the bronze medal position on the podium for the J/80 class was top French sailor Eric Brezellec on COURRIER JUNIOR with 62 pts net. The balance of the top five included Simon Moriceau’s ARMEN HABITAT in 4th place and Luc Nadal’s familiar GAN’JA in 5th place. Top woman skipper for the event was Ms C Vitel sailing with her crackerjack crew on VITEL SAILING TEAM- she was 7th overall- a fabulous performance for her! It is clear the Spanish and the French are “dialing up” their activities and focused on the J/80 World Championship that will soon be taking place at Royal Southampton YC on the Solent in the United Kingdom.
The
J/70s had their largest fleet so far at this year’s SPI Ouest. With
twenty-one boats on the line, there is no question the class is
beginning to gain momentum in France. Many top J/80, J/22, J/24
sailors, plus refugees from Surprise and 5.70 Classes in France are
recognizing the J/70 is a fun, easy-to-sail class that can be easily
trailered anywhere due to its simple ramp-launch-ability! To say that
French sailors are a quick study of the class is an understatement-
after all, they have some of the most extreme offshore boats imaginable
in the entire world- pioneering stuff no one else even dares to try
(like globe-girdling IMOCA 60 and Mini 6.50 foilers). The J/70 has
become the “world’s proving ground” for many of those top French sailors
training for their other offshore programs- Vendee, Volvo,
Mini-TransAt, and so forth- the J/70 forces extreme attention to detail
on the simplest boat, focusing on a sailor’s ability to read wind,
waves, and their competitors for optimum performance. As a reflection
of that effort to learn from the world’s best sailors, winning the SPI
Ouest J/70 class was Luc Sambron’s HEMON-CAMUS team. They sailed a very
consistent series, winning just 2 races but placing in the top 6 in
every race to win by a scant one-point margin! Just one point back was
top UK J/70 team SOAK RACING, skippered by Ian Williams. Although they
won 4 races, they could not match the consistency of Sambron’s team.
Third was Oscar Lundqvist’s Swedish crew on TBA with 50 pts net, winning
two of the last three races to race up the leaderboard. Fourth was
Herve Leduc’s French crew on JIBE SET with 54 pts net, demonstrating
their fast learning curve by winning the first race and never finishing
out of the top 8! Finally, 5th place was evidence the Spanish are
beginning to focus their efforts on the world of J/70s- G Alfredo’s
LANZAROTE EUROPEAN SPORTS DESTINAT crew from the infamous Canary Islands
(home of many great heavy air sailors) demonstrated flashes of
brilliance and speed- taking 2nd in the first race and winning two
races! Sailing photo credits- Thomas Brégardis and Marc Ollivier. For more SPI OUEST-France sailing information
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