NORMANDY CHANNEL RACE 2011 - CAEN LE 22 MAI 2011
PHOTO © JEAN-MARIE LIOT/NCR2011 - MENTION OBLIGATOIRE POUR TOUTE UTILISATION
AUCUNE UTILISATION SANS ACCORD
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NORMANDY CHANNEL RACE 2011
PHOTO © JEAN-MARIE LIOT
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NORMANDY CHANNEL RACE 2011 - CAEN LE 22 MAI 2011
PHOTO © JEAN-MARIE LIOT/NCR2011 - MENTION OBLIGATOIRE POUR TOUTE UTILISATION
AUCUNE UTILISATION SANS ACCORD
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* *STOP PRESS - Mare.De finishes race a close 4th after wild night**
Update to be found at the end of Wednesday's story below:
Wednesday 25th - Course shortened, Class 40's beating back from Tuskar Rock
With the forecast onset of big seas and driving winds race organisers shortened the course for the remaining Class 40’s in the Normandy Channel Race, leaving out the famed Fastnet lighthouse. After rounding Tuskar Rock light on Tuesday night the leaders headed upwind from whence they came, back towards the Longships lightship, off the West Cornish coast. Wednesday afternoon saw the first four boats grouped within 5 miles of first place heading into tricky conditions and the tidal gate off Lands End, twenty four hours from the finish. In third place 3.7 miles off the lead are Etienne David and Jorg Riechers on their Owen Clarke designed, FS built Mare.De. Tough upwind conditions have taken their toll with four boats having retired so far. The first teams to stick their bows past Lands End will however feel some temporary relief as they bare off and advance quickly away from those still beating between the Mainland and the Isles of Scilly. A wild ride lies ahead however downwind to Guernsey with as much as 30/35 knots of wind expected to arrive possibly when the leaders are committed to passing through the strong tidal conditions that exists around the Channel Islands and then up around the Cotentin peninsula. First arrivals back in Caen/Ouistreham are expected Thursday afternoon. Meantime, plenty of miles left yet for drama, joy for some and pain for others.
****** Mare.De finishes close 4th after wild night in the Channel ******
Thursday 26th - First finishers in Normandy Channel Race
Jorg Riechers and Etienne David on Mare.De missed a podium place by just 28 minutes yesterday, after finishing the Normany Channel Race on Thursday afternoon. Speaking from the docks in Caen, Jorg described a close tactical race of wind shifts and tides in the Channel and Irish Sea with one competitor or another almost constantly in sight over the entire length of the course. No quarter was given or taken in the potentially boat breaking upwind legs or on the wild ride home on the last night. While passing the Channel Islands Mare.De had been sailing with masthead medium spinnaker in 35knots of breeze before finally taking it down after a 40 knot gust! Satisfied (his goal had been top five) but hinting some disappointment, Jorg’s 4th place comes after a 6th in the Route du Rhum last year, after again having been eased off the podium in the closing stages of the race. He’s looking forward now to the Les Sables-Azores Race in July as his next chance to lift some silverware. In an honest analysis with the goal of higher placing in future events, in Joerg's own words: "We did a long debrief after the Normandy Race, so the 4th place was more due to us doing a stupid course than due to the boat, if you do 25 miles more than the others its no good." Another German Owen-Clarke Class 40, Red (Mathias Blumencron/Boris Hermann) finished in eighth place, Hannah Jenner and Anne-Marie Renken eleventh on 40 Degrees 2, Peter Harding’s OCD 40 that finished second in the 2010 edition of this race. 1 INITIATIVES SAVEURS Tanguy de Lamotte / Sébastien Audigane 3d 22h 25m 25s
2 PORT DE CAEN OUISTREHAM Fabien Delahaye / Bruno Jourdren 3d 23h 4m 12s
3 DES PIEDS ET DES MAINS Damien Seguin / Yoann Richomme 3d 23h 12m 35s
4 MARE.DE Jorg Riechers / Etienne David 3d 23h 40m 14s
5 L'EXPRESS – SAPMER Perre-Yves Lautrou / Dominic Vittet 3d 23h 42m 56s
For more information go to: Normandy Channel Race
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