A
big triangular course in the bay of La Napoule for the smaller classics;
two rounds in the Gulf of Cannes for the bigger ones; two windward/leeward
races for the Dragons close to Juan les Pins and three matches for the
12 Metres off the Lérins Islands: the Règates Royales invaded
the Cote d'Azur, offering a stunning show to the many spectators crowding
the beaches. One
needed to be everywhere at the right time to watch the multiple fights
of the 38th edition of the Régates Royales today.
The
75 classics and the 6 Tofinou criss-crossed the bay to cover the big triangular
coastal course. The three 12 Metres, all once owned by Baron Bich, had
their first ever encounter since 1970: France designed by
André Mauric, Chancegger created by American architect
Britton Chance and Sovereign, the Twelve representing the UK in
1964. And finally, 50 Dragons had two intense races close to the peninsula
of Juan les Pins, where international crews tried to break the Russian
monopoly on top of the scoreboard.
The
big fight
It
was not easy, even for the cunning and experienced international crews
in the Dragon class, to find the best tactical call today to disentangle
from the group and get into the lead in such a light and shifty breeze.
After yesterday's Russian domination, today it was yet another Russian
crew to shine on the water: Convergence skippered by Mikhail Senatorov.
His compatriot Vasaliy Senetorov on Even Better took third,
behind Finland's Christian Borenius on Thouban. The overall
results, as a consequence, were considerably shook up with yesterday's
leader Dmitry Samokhin on Melody Nelson falling down to 32nd
and Denmark's Soeren Pehrsson on Blue Lady getting
a disappointing 30th.
The
fourth race (the second for the day) changed the leaderboard once again
with Estonia's Vitamine-One (Mimkel Kosk-Niklas Jansson, Viljo
Vetik) in first place, followed by Germany's Smaug (Nicola Friesen,
Vincent Hoesch, Michael Lipp) and France's Ar Youleg (Christian
Guyader, Gwen Chapalain, Erwann Le Chat). At the end of the day, the Russians
on Even Better were back on the saddle with 9 points, in front
of the Germans on Smaug with 10 andfollowed by two more crews
from Russia: Melody Nelson at 13 points and Annapurna
at 16 points. With three more days and at least six races to go nothing
is carved in stone.
Match-racing
style
Slightly
more offshore in the Juan gulf, the 12 Metre racing had an air of nostalgia
to it with the three boats once owned by legendary baron Bich meeting for
the first time since 1970: Chancegger, Sovereign and France.
The three crews fought hard, alternating at the lead and looking for every
shift and puff. After three matches Sovereign, the oldest boat
on the water, came out on top with two victories, followed by France
that won the last match of the day and Chancegger in third.
Young
guns on top
The
75 classics raced on a big triangular course in the bay of La Napoule for
the joy of the many spectators on the beaches and at sea. In about 10 knots
of shifting easterly to south-easterly breeze, the bigger boats sailed
twice around and the smaller ones once. Not an easy race course to read,
but apparently the best tactical option was to keep inshore and close to
Cannes. It was hard work for all the crews, hoisting and taking down huge
spinnakers, balloon spinnakers, genoas and jibs...
At
the front, a real match-race between Cambria (23 metres long,
design William Fife III dating from 1928) and the huge Elena (55
metres, a replica of Nathanaël Herreshoff 's original from 1910) took
place, but this year the “Big Boats” series was revived by
the newcomers Puritan, Sincerity, Sumurun
and several more. Behind them gaffers clashed with classics,
one-tonners, Admirals' Cup boats or Marconi rigged boats, designed
by the some of the biggest stars of all times: Nathanaël Herreshoff,
Charles Nicholson, Olin Stephens, Clinton Crane, Arthur Tiller, Sparkman
& Stephens, François Camatte, William Fife, Eugène Cornu,
Henry Rasmussen…
The
full results are being computed and will be available later today on the
official website www.regatesroyales.com.
Weather
forecast
The
weather conditions are expected to be favourable for the whole week. Today,
Tuesday, the sky remained sunny, partly cloudy around noon but with summer-like
temperatures and flat seast. The Easterly wind was generated by a low pressure
active on the gulf of Genoa, that is expected to deepen tomorrow and get
lighter on Thursday. This could cause some rainstorms on Wednesday night
(TBC). Today the light northerly breeze veered to the East half-morning,
increasing to a good 10 knots, continuing to rotate to the right and becoming
a South-easterly of around 5/6 knots in the late afternoon, enabling the
fleets to have ideal sailing conditions.
Today's
programme
Today
the 5.5 fleet had its lay-day and will come back to the race course tomorrow,
Wednesday. Today will then record the debut races of the 12 Metres France,
Sovereign and Chancegger on the “Bravo” race
course, placed in the Juan gulf, just off the Lérins islands. Further
inshore, the 50 Dragons will be tackling their third race, with a good
chance to have more, given the favourable weather conditions. And finally,
the Classics and the Tofinou will be sailing in the La Napoule bay, starting
from noon on a coastal course spanning from the Lérins islands,Théoule
sur mer and Cannes.
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