14.05.2010
Pre-start prologue
Peter Harding and Halvard Mabire have spectacularly won the Normandy Channel
Race prologue aboard “40 Degrees”. Tomorrow at 1400 hours all the duos will
take the start of this first edition. Ahead of them lies a 1,000 mile course
to devour, along a demanding route, which certainly won’t be a picnic!
Warming up off Hermanville.
Thanks to a slight zest of wind, the race committee for the Normandy Channel
Race managed today to launch the first act of the competition. The 20
racers, accompanied by their guests for the day, got off to a great start,
which reflected their keenness to be at sea following several days’
preparation along the pontoons of the Bassin Saint-Pierre in Caen. The
British skipper Peter Harding and local French skipper Halvard Mabire,
quickly got away from the chasing pack on their new Owen Clarke design. Used
to sailing together, with a trans-channel race, numerous RORC races and the
Grand Prix de Douarnenez to their credit, they were first to round the
windward mark and then managed to hold off some stiff competition. “Spliff”,
sailed by British sailors Andrew Dawson and Stephen Card went on to take
second, while Tanguy De Lamotte and Jean Galfione trailed in third. “Peter
Harding, the owner of the boat, is happy” enthused Halvard as they went
through the lock at Ouistreham, “so I am too! We worked well together. The
boat goes great in the light conditions so we quickly got ahead of the
others. You always have more clear air up front”.
Manfred Ramspacher: “It was reminiscent of a cycle Tour de France with
uphill sections all the way!”
Manfred Ramspacher, organiser of the Normandy Channel Race, was responsible
for tracing out the course for tomorrow’s start, with the emphasis being on
making the most of the ‘Channel’ section and by aiming for 1,000 miles of
sailing. “Obviously the idea was also to cross the Channel to England”
explained the initiator. “Added to that it seemed important to me that the
sailors are able to sail through some legendary areas like the Needles in
the early hours, the Solent, the Fastnet Rock, the South of the Irish coast,
Barfleur and the Raz Blanchard. They’re going to sail the equivalent of two
stages of the Solitaire du Figaro in one race and the seascape and landscape
will be fantastic”.
Thomas Ruyant, the last winner of the Transat 6.50, will take tomorrow’s
start with Tanguy Leglatin and they’ll be expecting a demanding and tiring
race. “We’re not going to have much respite with numerous marks to round as
well as current to deal with. It may be that we get to the front of the pack
but then find ourselves battling against the current for hours, with the
chasing pack hot on our heels. It won’t be over till it’s over. We’re going
to round all the big headlands of the Channel, the Celtic and the Irish Sea.
We’ll need to be in on the action immediately, with the start of the race
being relatively easy compared with the rest of the course. It’s up to us to
deal with the local effects”.
However, forecasts suggest that the Normandy Channel Race will be
complicated as from 1400 hours tomorrow, an 8 to 10 knot WNW’ly breeze is
set to build as it gradually shifts around to the WSW six hours after the
start. Indeed, according to experienced meteorologist David Lanier, the wind
will increase to 20 knots by early evening. The 10 Class 40s will tackle the
coast bordering the landing beaches, Contentin and Saint-Marcouf, with the
wind on the nose. “We’ll have to get into our rhythm early on” explains
Mabire. “Furthermore there are numerous lobster pots in these areas and
there may already be a few strategic coups to be had by playing about along
the coast”.
Red carpet at the Château de Bénouville!
Yesterday evening, the sailors participating in the Normandy Channel Race
were invited by the Calvados County Council to the Château de Bénouville for
a dinner, which will certainly go down in the history books. The château was
designed by architect Claude Nicolas Ledoux and was built in 1769 at the
request of a couple of marquises, Sanguin de Livry. Its monumental staircase
and its surprisingly modern architecture for the period, make it one of the
major monuments of the end of the 18th century, and a reference for fans of
neoclassicism. An excellent way then to relax the skippers’ minds before
this long 1,000 mile sprint to be undertaken tomorrow by French, Dutch,
British and South African crews.
Follow the Normandy Channel Race at:
http://www.normandy-race.com/, an official position report will be online
each day at 5, 8, 11, 15 and 19 hours
The prologue ranking:
1 40 Degrees Peter Harding and Halvard Mabire
2 Spliff Andrew Dawson and Stephen Card
3 Novedia – Initiatives Tanguy de Lamotte and Jean Galfione…
4 Phesheya – Racing Nick Leggatt and Philippa Hutton – Squire
….
PROGRAMME NORMANDY CHANNEL RACE
SUNDAY 16TH MAY – START
- 1000 / departure of the 1st class 40
- 1030 / departure from the Bassin St Pierre Caen (hour of departure
of the last boat)
- 1030 / 1200 descent of the Channel
- 1200 / 1230 Ouistreham lock
- 1230 / 1350 fleet head to the start zone off Hermanville
- 1350 / beginning of the start procedure at 1400 hrs
- 1400 / 1500 monitoring of the 1st hour of the race from the Côte
de Nacre towards the landing beaches
- 1630 / deadline for presentation at the Ouistreham lock for
launches and ribs returning to Caen (but there is an opportunity
for guests to land at the pontoon at any time)
The Normandy Channel race website is located at:
http://www.normandy-race.com/
Rights free photos for the press and web
Translated by Kate Jennings – Expression
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