SOLITAIRE: SAM SAVES BEST TILL LAST...FIRST ROOKIE IN FINAL LEG TO SECURE SECOND ROOKIE OVERALL...
Absender: "Offshore Challenges"
Empfänger:
Datum: 22. Aug 2003 08:58
Skandia is a leading international long term savings company and title sponsor to Sam Davies' Figaro campaign
http://www.samdavies.com/skandia
IN BRIEF:
* SAM FIRST ROOKIE IN FINAL LEG...SKANDIA CROSSED THE FINISH LINE OF THE SOLITAIRE DU FIGARO IN 7TH PLACE...
* SKANDIA'S BEST RESULT SO FAR SECURES SAM 2ND ROOKIE OVERALL AFTER CLOSE-FOUGHT BATTLE WITH TOP ROOKIES MARC EMIG AND YVES LE BLEVEC...
* SAM EXHAUSTED BUT ELATED FINISHES 500 MILE LEG Ahead OF SOLO ROCKSTARS DESJOYEAUX, PEYRON AND GAUTIER: "To finish as first Rookie in this final leg is just fantastic...and to come in ahead of the rockstars Michel Desjoyeaux, Loick Peyron and Alain Gautier is pretty cool too!"
* SKANDIA FINISHES IN 19TH PLACE OVERALL JUST ONE PLACE BEHIND LAST YEAR'S OVERALL WINNER KITO DE PAVANT...
* ARMEL LE CLEAC'H CLINCHES OVERALL VICTORY BY 13 SECONDS FROM ALAIN GAUTIER... DOMINATED BY LIGHT WINDS, IT WAS ONE OF THE CLOSEST RACES IN THE SOLITAIRE'S HISTORY...
Listen to Sam's audio at the finish, visit http://www.samdavies.com/skandia or download from http://www.ocftp.com/audio/sd220803a_mp3
IN DETAIL:
SKANDIA crossed the finish line of the Solitaire du Figaro off St Nazaire at 02:02:16 BST this morning as first Rookie home in 7th place on this final 500 mile leg, 9 minutes 52 seconds behind leg winner Lionel Pean. Sam saved her best till last to finish her first Solitaire du Figaro race in second place in the overall Rookie standings. SKANDIA is placed 19th overall - five hours behind the winner Armel Le Cleac'h after more than 327 hours of racing. Top Rookie Marc Emig finished behind Sam in 9th place at 02:11:09 but had already done enough on the previous three legs to secure the overall Rookie slot and 5th place overall.
Sam had a close-fought battle with Marc Emig and Yves Le Blevec for a Rookie podium place throughout this four-leg 1,979 mile race that started on 30th July from Les Sables d'Olonne. Emig quickly proved his reputation dominating the ten Rookies from the beginning, whilst Davies and Le Blevec were constantly trading places... Positions are determined by accumulated time of each leg and only 13 minutes 52 seconds separated Sam from Le Blevec as they set off on the final leg from Dingle to St Nazaire...in the end Sam extended the gap to 2 hours 29 minutes 58 seconds.
Armel Le Cleac'h won the 34th edition of the race beating Alain Gautier by just 13 seconds in what has to be one of the closest ever finishes in the history of this race. Loick Peyron finished in 12th place and Michel Desjoyeaux in 16th on this final leg which was enough to secure 3rd overall for Desjoyeaux and 6th for Peyron.
SAM AT THE FINISH:
"Perfect way to finish the race to have a really good result on the last leg and winning the Bizuth [Rookie] on the last leg, as well - it is what I wanted to do on at least one of the legs.
"It has been a really close battle with Marc and Yves and this time, perhaps, I got the luck a bit more getting the advantage with the wind shifts. I did not know where they were all the time and, as usual, I was just racing for the best position overall on this leg. But I also knew in the final stages that I had a good advantage on Yves and could get second Rookie overall. But for me, it is fantastic to finish ahead of both of them in this last leg and some of the other top guys as well. I am really happy for Marc - he deserved to be top Rookie as he has sailed brilliantly.
"I am knackered - I was tired before I even started this leg and all the other three legs caught up on me... But that comes with experience, you learn for next year that you have to pace yourself to last for the four legs instead of the three which is what I did.
"I was lucky in this leg that there were times when I could sleep and it didn't make me any slower so I was lucky that I got away with being tired because if it had been a really windy leg or something, I could have had a problem.
"Between now and next year there is lots of time for training to prepare for the next season and to improve my performance even more and I really can't wait to compete again in this circuit - but maybe a bit of a rest first!"
Provisional overall positions will be confirmed after the arrival of all the 42 boats and updated on the website http://www.samdavies.com/skandia
LEG 4 POSITIONS - 0300 BST FRIDAY 22.8.03:
Skipper / Boat Name / Race Duration
1st Lionel PEAN / Nouvel Observateur / 85:52:17
2nd Erwan TABARLY / Thales / +00:01:28
3rd Roindex ATTANASIO / Port Trebeurden / +00:03:48
4th Eric DROUGLAZET / David Olivier / +00:07:53
5th Charles CAUDRELIER / Bostik Findley / +00:08:13
6th Gildas MORVAN / Cercle Vert / +00:09:16
7th SAM DAVIES* / SKANDIA / +00:09:59
8th Franck-Yves ESCOFFIER / Crepes Whaou! / +00:11:08
9th Marc EMIG* / Espoir Total Course au Large / +00:18:33
10th Daniel DUPONT / Art Immobolier Construction / +00:18:52
* Rookie
TOP 10 OVERALL POSITION AFTER 4 LEGS (provisional - subject to jury. Top 20 places will not change by finishing times of any boats still to finish.):
Skipper / Boat Name / Elapsed Time
1st Armel LE CLEAC'H / Créaline / 327:08:19
2nd Alain GAUTIER / Foncia / +00:00:13
3rd Michel Desjoyeaux / Géant / +01:26:17
4th Pascal BIDEGORRY / Région Aquitaine / +01:49:39
5th Marc EMIG* / Espoir Total Course au Large / +01:56:32
6th Loick PEYRON / Fujifilm / +02:24:52
7th Marc THIERCELIN / Bermudes / +02:28:58
8th Laurent PELLECUER / Cliptol Sport / +02:29:21
9th Erwan TABARLY / Thales / +03:27:08
10th Eric DROUGLAZET / David Olivier / +03:37:10
19th SAM DAVIES* / SKANDIA / +04:59:01
* Rookie
TOP 3 OVERALL ROOKIE POSITION AFTER 4 LEGS:
Skipper / Boat Name / Elapsed Time
1st Marc EMIG / Espoire Total Course au Large / 328:58:51
2nd Sam DAVIES / SKANDIA / 332:07:20
3rd Yves LE BLEVEC / Reve de Grand-Actual Intérim / 334:38:18
Visit http://www.lasolitairedufigaro.com for latest race information and positions
PERFORMANCE PARTNER OF THE DAY: OYS
Official rigging and hydraulics supplier to the Offshore Challenges Sailing Team
http://www.offshorechallenges.com/oys
TV/PHOTO IMAGES:
For latest images please contact Josie at Offshore Challenges +44 (0)1983 282 797 email josie@offshorechallenges.com or contact DPPI for latest start/race images +33 1 41 49 00 20 email Christophe Baudry at cbaudry@dppi.net
For TV images please contact Richard Simmonds at APP Broadcast +44 (0)20 8964 4992 email rsimmonds@appbroadcast.com
ENDS
For further details on Sam and her Skandia Figaro campaign, please see http://www.samdavies.com/skandia and for further information on the Solitaire du Figaro, please click on Race Info to read about the history, interesting facts, the course and competitors.
NOTES
Skandia is the title sponsor to Sam Davies' 2003 Figaro Campaign
Skandia Set Sail: making sailing more accessible; growing the sport's reach; enriching people's lives.
Skandia Cowes Week is the oldest and largest sailing regatta in the world with up to 1000 boats racing in the Solent. Skandia Cowes Week 2003 takes place between 2nd and 9th August.
Skandia is a leading international long term savings company.
http://www.skandia.com
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