Sirius Événements – Press release No. 6 – 10 June 2011
The M34s open proceedings!
The 6th edition of Normandy Sailing Week is underway. After a skippers’
briefing at 12 noon, the 11 M34s competing in this first stage of the French
Crewed Offshore Racing Championship left the pontoons to head out to the
race zone situated off Le Havre. At 1430 hours, after a general recall, the
fleet set off. Over the course of the day, the sunshine chased away the rain
and the 10/12 knots of established breeze in the early afternoon eventually
dropped away. This resulted in some mild conditions, which enabled two races
to be run, making a great opener for the 2011 edition of Normandy Sailing
Week!
Two races, two bullets!
Aboard Courrier Dunkerque, Pierre-Antoine Morvan and his crew were ‘on fire’
from the off. For this first day of racing, the sailors from northern France
earned themselves two bullets. The complicated weather conditions constantly
reshuffled the cards today. For Pierre-Loïc Berthet, tactician aboard
Courrier Dunkerque, it was a tactically challenging day: “It was a great
day, stormy at the start. The conditions were very shifty, with the wind
frequently switching direction in the wind squalls. During the second race,
the skies cleared but the weather system caused a fair amount of disruption
among the various race strategies.”
The Omani team from BAE Systems also played their game well today. Skipper,
Cédric Pouligny, admitted that he was satisfied with their performance:
“We’re very happy. The crew change a great deal so it’s not easy to get into
the rhythm, but we did manage to pull off some good moves. We failed to win
the first race due to a silly mistake but we don’t have any regrets as the
conditions were complicated and we came out of it alright”.
Though certain names are already standing out above the rest after two
windward-leeward courses in light airs, it is hard to make any predictions.
In the provisional general ranking this evening, the favourites aren’t all
at the top of the leaderboard. Meantime, certain outsiders, like the German
M34 Iskareen, have pulled off some fine performances. We’ll have to wait for
some more regular conditions to really see what the crews are made of…
Everyone on the water tomorrow!
Tomorrow the 11 fleets will be on the water racing from noon onwards. The
M34s will continue with some windward-leeward courses before they head
offshore on a 100 mile epic on Sunday. The others classes, J80, First 7.5,
Classe6.50, Longtze, Laser SB3, Seascape 18, IRC 1, 2, 3 and 4 will also be
in on the action on Saturday. In the meantime, this evening will see the 110
crews enjoying a special reception organised in the port of Le Havre, where
they’ll be able to relax a bit before tomorrow’s battles begins on the
Norman race zone.
Follow the race at: www.normandy-week.com
Join the Normandy Sailing Week on Facebook
Press Contact:
Alexandra Gardin
+33 (0)6 72 67 14 25
a.gardin@sirius-events.com
Translated by Kate Jennings – Expression
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