CombiWest had the most consistent results today. They won the final race after two thirds and two seconds in previous races. Damien Iehl, who was at the helm today, took his team to victory in the last Stadium Races day on the french west coast. Groupama maintains his overall leadership with a second place, while Prince de Bretagne takes third.
The fleet waved goodbye to the Atlantic seaside with a serie of Stadium Races today in Les Sables d’Olonne. In perfect sailing conditions, north-westerly breeze 12 to 15 knots, he competitors sailed three qualification races, with two finals for the best 14 boats and one final for the others.
Damien Iehl and his crew on CombiWest ended the day brilliantly with a victory after four podium finishes earlier in the afternoon.
« We are delighted ! What a day ! We were always in the game. Even when we did not have good starts, we managed to come back. It’s so nice to cross the line so close from the spectators. Gaining one point over Groupama is always nice, but we have to admit they are quite far ahead on the leaderboard. We don’t want to think about it too much. We just want to sail well and avoid mistakes. We are a small team, with only four sailors so every time there is a crew change, it still works ». CombiWest also takes advantage of Spindrift’s misfortune to widen the margin over their rival, going from 3 points to 11.
It was definitely an underwhelming day for Spindrift who scored two victories but finished 9th of the first final and got disqualified in the second for being too early on the start line under black flag (with PRB and Vannes Agglo). Helmsman François Morvan was very frustrated : « it hurts. We don’t have the overall results yet but it’s going to be bad. The crew is going well but I keep making some stupid mistakes that are very costly ».
The performance of the day was from Prince de Bretagne and Armor-Lux, who scored their best result so far, respectively 3rd and 4th of this day of Stadium Racing. « Yesterday we finished 5th in the Coastal Race, and 4th today, so we are very very happy », said skipper Erwan Tabarly. « It’s a great progress and it’s a great moral booster for us before heading to the Med tomorrow. When we take a good start we can play an equal game with the best teams. Now we have to keep this momentum. We are getting more confident and we enjoy sailing together, so I think we are on the right track ».
Tonight the boats are dismantled to be delivered by truck to Roses, on the Mediterranean coast, for Act 6 to start on Friday with a coastal race.
“Jo”
