September 26th, 2009
Ideal conditions at the Regates Royales produce winners in Cannes
The high-pressure hovering over Europe, caused surprisingly hot weather and light breeze on the 31st edition of Régates Royales de Cannes-Trophée Panerai, forcing crews to texst their skills and ability as tacticians in order to draw on the smallest wind variation to make the get the best from their beautiful yachts or to survive to the battle in the 62 boat strong Dragon fleet.
Not a single Régates Royales is alike! The strong and at times violent breeze has charecterised the two previous editions whilst this year the wind has been light and fickle for the most part of the week. On the first day the 140 plus crews profited from good conditions with steady wind from the North-East that provided the media and spectators alike with a stunning show, especially at one particular mark rounding, when the huge J Class Shamrock V and Cambria crossed within just a few metres of each other or the mythical 8Ms ElSinore and Anne-Sophie, the modern 12M French Kiss, the15M Tuiga, ambassador for Yacht Club of Monaco celebrating her 100th anniversary or all the other gorgeous designs by William Fife III, Albert Mylne, François Camatte and Nathanaël Herreshoff like Thendara, Moonbeam, Tigris, Oriole, Aile VI, Ave were sailing together and making the Bay of Cannes a very special place to be.
This edition also gave enthusiasts the chance to see, aligned side by side on the pontoon, five of the most celebrated Eric Tabarly’s Pen Duickboats, but also to discover the 15M Mariska, just re-launched after more than two and a half years’ restoration works in the Charpentiers Réunis shipyard in La Ciotat. The Italian Navy also confirmed their growing interest in classic and tradition yacht racing, with the newcomer Chaplinrepresenting a serious menace to her adversaries in the Marconi Classic division.
International scoreboard
The 79 strong Classic Yacht fleet had to wait a while before the breeze settled and at around 13 hrs the Race Committee fired the starting guns in La Napoule Bay for a multiple triangular coastal race just opposite the beach, where many tourists and fans were following the racing. The northeasterly, 12 knots wind was strong enough for the yachts to duel to the finishing line and to define the final overall results. A breathtaking show, this last race decided the podium in several categories. Nothing could stop the centennial superiority of Tuigathat was then the undisputed winner of the 2009 Régates Royales among the Big Boats while Moonbeam of Fife, Moonbeam IVand Cambriafought to the last metre, the French boat getting in first. Similarly Graham Walker skippered easily his Rowdyto victory, with Jean-Philippe L’Huillier’s Oiseau de Feuand Rui Macedo Silva’s Seven Seas of Portosecond and third respectively. It was certainly a disappointing last race for the young sailors representing the Italian Navy aboard Chaplinin the Classic Marconi of less than 15 metres class as they were beaten on by the Spanish crew of Galvana, skippered by Borja Pella, who got the overall victory by winning the last two races.
Today’s performance of Sagittariusskippered by Florence Urrutti put her on the higher step of the podium in the Classic Marcon of less than 15 metres as did Giuseppe Giordano’s Bonafidebut with only a tiny little point advantage on Oriole. It was only on the finishing line, at the last inch, that everything was decided among the Vintage Marconi with a trio fighting hard, when the calculations were made it appeared that it was Georg Hanns Klein’s 8M Anne-Sophiethe one to jump on the highest step, followed by Claudio Mealli’s Peterand Bernard Duc’s ElSinorewho nonetheless always showed very good speed at the Régates Royales.
Fire and flames
After some waiting for the breeze to settle in front of île de Sainte-Marguerite, the Dragons started their third race at around noon with a northern-easterly of around six knots. The Swedish Stephan Windberg on Linneaended in first place, closely followed by British champion Yvan Bradbury on Blue Hazewho consolidated his first position overall while Russian Anatoly Loginov Annapurna was over the line and was disqualified under a black flag, third was Olaf Sorensen on Christinia. The Race Committee did not hesitate to start the fourth and decisive race but, again, they had to call a general recall!
Finishing seventh in the last of the series, the British crew led by Yvan Bradbury assured the overall victory with a good margin on the Italian Giuseppe Duca on Cloud, always very consistent. The winner of the last race was in fact the Finnish Kenneth Palmgren on Juliana) who crossed in front of his fellow countryman Christian Borenius on Thouban, who conquered the third step of the podium, A disappointing day for the class favourites Anatoly Loginov (Annapurna), Norwegian Poul Hoj-Jensen (Danish Blue) and German Thomas Müller (Sinewave) never at easy on the Cannes racecourse who finish 12th, 17th and 23rd respectively.
Overall results Dragons (after four races)
1-Blue Haze(Bradbury/Hendriksen/Willet) GBR : 12 points
2-Cloud(Duca/Ponce) ITA : 24 points
3-Thouban(Borenius/Borenius/Pernici) FIN : 27 points
4-Princess Jalina(Palmer/Bradworth/de Andrade) GBR : 32 points
5-Christiana(Sorensen/Payne) IRL : 37 points
Overall results Big Boats (after four races)
1-Tuiga (Alberto Miani) 3 points
2-Moonbeam IV (Mikael Créac’h) 7 points
3-Moonbeam of Fife (Erwan Noblet) 10 points
Overall results Vintage Gaffers (after four races)
1-Bonafide (Giuseppe Giordano) 4 points
2-Oriole (Francis van de Velde) 5 points
3-Avel (Christopher Austin) 7 points
Overall results Vintage Marconi less than 15m (after four races)
1-Anne-Sophie (Georg Hanns Klein) 5 points
2-Peter (Claudio Mealli) 6 points
3-ElSinore (Bernard Duc) 7 points
Overall results Vintage Marconi less than 23m (after four races)
1-Rowdy (Graham Walker) 3 points
2-Oiseau de Feu (Jean-Philippe L’Huillier) 6 points
3-Seven Seas of Porto (Rui Macero Silva) 11 points
Overall results Classic Marconi less than 15m (after four races)
1-Sagittarius (Florence Urrutti) 4 points
2-Swala (Luciano Brovelli) 6 points
3-Astrée III (Jacques Guillaume) 7 points
Overall results Classic Marconi less than 23m (after four races)
1-Galvana (Borja Pella) 4 points
2-Chaplin (Bruno Puzone Bifulco) 5 points
3-Emeraude (Vitorio Cavazzana) 6 points
Overall results Spirit of Tradition (after four races)
1-Choices (beat Kuehni) 4 points
2-French Kiss (markus Daniel) 5 points
3-Duclop (Robin Detraz) 7 points
Photos libres de droits sur demande
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