SOF-Semaine Olympique Française La Rochelle

"Semaine Olympique Française": Day 1 : a beefed up day for the competitors © Breschi / 2015 SOF / FFVoile This first day of the Semaine Olympique Française started off to a flying start in La Rochelle, with strong wind and sea conditions. Indeed, its facing a beefed up weather that the competitors raced today with more than a twenty knots South West wind, gusts of 35 knots and strong swells. This morming, 10 :30 marked the first races of the competition, but all of the regattas scheduled for the day couldn’t be initiated due to the hard sailing conditions. Therefore, only the RS :X Men, Laser, Laser Radial, and Finn were able to compete today. RS : X Men The windsurfers were the first to start the show on their sailing area. On this first and last race of the day, France showed off its colors with no-less than 7 french competitors on the Top 10. Benoit Bigot takes the head of the fleet in front of his fellow compatriot, Igor de L’Hermite and the La Rochelle local Adrien Mestre, respectively second and third. Adrien Mestre (FRA) – 3rd provisional ranking : « We had a very windy day, very physical, we had to be comfortable in those uneasy conditions, it was playing in front, no mistakes alowed. It wasn’t tactically difficult, but not easy technically I achieved a good race, finishing 3rd. There’s plenty young people in this competition, a lot of potential in manyof them, but its stay open for a podium, why not a victory, but i’m going to have to fetch some race upfront. »

Foto: © Breschi / 2015 SOF / FFVoile