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Press release – Friday 27 May 2011
Everyone home and dry!
Today, Friday, the final four crews in the Normandy Channel Race crossed the
finish line. At 0718 GMT this morning. Gryphon Solo 2, skippered by Joe
Harris and Josh Hall, looped the loop to take ninth position. Less than
thirty minutes later, Phillippa Hutton Squire and Nick Leggatt aboard
Phesheya Racing, also completed the Normandy Channel Race 2011 course.
Finally, nearly 24 hours after the arrival of the frontrunners, the two
all-female crews brought the procession of finishers to a close. Team Hannah
Jenner/Anna-Maria Renken finished eleventh in a time of 4 days 21 hours 28
minutes and 18 seconds. Behind them, Caroline Vieille and Stéphanie Alran
aboard Ocean’s Eleven finished twelfth. The 12 Class40s are alongside
tonight and the prize-giving will take place tomorrow, Saturday 28 May at
1700 GMT. A final gathering which will nicely round off this 2011 edition!
A few minutes after their arrival in eleventh position, Hannah Jenner and
Anna-Maria Renken aboard 40 Degrees, looked back at their race:
“We didn’t come here to win! It was our first race. We were keen to learn,
to get in some training and to test the boat. Our initial aim was to
complete the course and we did that! Our real goal in fact was to beat the
girls. Yesterday, Thursday, we were ahead of them but we’d eased off the
pace and they were beginning to catch us up. We asked ourselves a good many
questions and we ended up with some answers. At that point, we said to
ourselves “Wowwwwwww, so that’s how you go fast!”
We are exhausted, we’ve eaten nothing, but we’ve also learnt so much! After
such a race we’re even more motivated for the Global Ocean Race. Right now,
we know what we have to change and work on and so on.
The Normandy Channel Race was a great training ground. We were able to
discover the rhythm of life when racing, which is not something you get a
chance to do everyday. Above all, it enabled us to validate our pairing. On
a boat, the slightest crisis situation can degenerate. At least now we know
we share the same vision of things and we’re capable of getting on during a
race.”
Caroline Vieille Olagne and Stéphanie Alran aboard Ocean’s Eleven, twelfth
in the final ranking:
“Since yesterday’s arrival of the frontrunners we haven’t really thought too
much about all the cold beer they were enjoying. At that point we were happy
with the conditions we had and we were able to make up a bit of ground on 40
Degrees.
We never lost our motivation. From the outset we were aware that we weren’t
going to win and we set ourselves other objectives: getting the boat making
headway, sailing cleanly and reducing our deficits in relation to the boats
in front as much as possible. Above all though we battled against the clock.
It was really great and we’re proud to have gone the whole hog. We made a
very fine comeback yesterday. We drew a line through the mistakes we made at
the start and rounded things off in style. We really enjoyed ourselves on
the final downwind run. It was wild. We had 40 knots of breeze and heavy
seas and we were creaming along.
Next up is Les Sables Horta and then the Transat Jacques Vabre.
The Normandy Channel Race is an extraordinary race. It’s a fine course and
we got a very warm reception which is really something special!”
Definitive ranking:
1. INITIATIVES SAVEURS in 3d 22h 25m 25s
2. PORT DE CAEN OUISTREHAM in 3d 23h 4m 12s
3. DES PIEDS ET DES indexS in 3d 23h 12m 35s
4. MARE.DE2 in 3d 23h 40m 14s
5. L'EXPRESS – SAPMER in 3d 23h 42m 56s
6. TALANTA in 4d 1h 0m 10s
7. DEFI GDE - TZU HANG in 4d 2h 34m 27s
8. RED in 4d 6h 20m 40s
9. GRYPHON SOLO 2 in 4d 18h 18m 56s
10. PHESHEYA RACING in 4d 18h 43m 58s
11. 40 DEGREES in 4d 21h 28m 18s
12. OCEAN’S ELEVEN in 4d 22h 31m 16s
ABD LIVEWIRE
ABD SPLIFF
ABD MARIE TOÎT - CAEN LA MER
ABD PARTOUCHE
Find the final ranking, photos and radio sessions on the race site:
www.normandy-race.com
Join the Normandy Channel Race at
www.normandy-race.com and on Facebook.
Translated by Kate Jennings – Expression
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