2014_French_Nationals

49 Entries, predominantly from across France, were joined by crews from SUI, GER and GBR to contest the 2014 French 505 National Championship at Crozon Morgat,Brittany from 12th to 15th July. The Centre Nautique CrozonMorgat (CNCM) was located more in the Morgat side of the peninsula and was quiet and friendly with excellent restaurants and bars. Overall, the weather was mild but conditions changed quickly throughout each day but always ended up warm and sunny by late afternoon.

Day 1 started with poor visibility and NW offshore breeze of 7-10 kts. In the first race of the championship the beat appeared to favour the right hand side of the course. Things went a little inside out towards the windward mark and this let in boats from the left hand side making for an interesting downwind leg. Ian Pinnell and Alex Davies led the charge back out to the right hand side of the course and half way down they cashed in on the higher pressure closer to shore. Managing to work their way back in to the leeward mark those boats banked a considerable lead from those choosing to square run down the middle of the course. Pinnell / Davies were able to work through the tricky, ever changing conditions, to take their first win from Caroline and Philippe Jacot (SUI) 2nd, Xavier Boise/ Nicolas Des Jamonierers 3rdand Philippe Boite / Erwan Grossmann 4th.

Race 2 started in the best breeze of the day. Reaching the runs paid all race and Pinnell / Davies sailed brilliantly downwind and once again moved into the lead never to be challenged and so ending a perfect day for them. A challenge for second place ensued between Boite / Grossmann, Jocot / Jacot and Andy Smith / Tim Needham. At the final leeward gate the boats split with Boite and Jacot rounding to starboard and Smith / Needham to port. This allowed Smith / Needham to cross Jacot and lee bow Boite / Grossmann to finish 2nd followed by Boite / Grossmann in 3rd and Jacots 4th.

2014_French_Nationals_2Day 2 provided some champagne sailing in bright sunshine and 12-18 knts for three scheduled races. Race 3 The right hand side of the course was paying once more. As the breeze began to increase Smith / Needham were able to put the bow down on the second beat and moved into the lead. Pinnell / Davies overtook Boite / Grossmann to move into 2nd and these positions remained through to the finish with Jocot/ Jacot in 4th. In race 4 Boite and Grossmann hit the right and rounded first by a huge margin after starting late and benefitting from a left hand shift which came through as the pathfinder opened the gate. Pinnell / Davies, Jacot’s and Smith / Needham headed the chasing pack. After a number of place changes throughout the race Pinnell / Davies took 2nd, Smith / Needham 3rd and Alexander Holzaplefel / Stefan Worm (GER) 4th. In Race 5 the breeze had moved a little further left leading to a movement of the windward mark. With the leaders favouring the right for the first beat all was looking good for them until the breeze began to knock AND KNOCK. Herve and Guillaum De Kergariou rounded in first place. Smith / Needham led at the bottom of the run from Boite / Grossmann and Jacot / Jacot. The leaders chose to work the middle of the course but all of the chasing pack opted for an aggressive strategy, hitting the left very hard. Boite / Grossmann used this to their advantage to lead at the next mark. By the final leeward gate Smith / Needham had closed the gap to one boat length. On the final beat some place changing took place between the leading boats and Jocot’skeeping a watching brief in 3rd. Towards the finish, Boite sailing correctly to the French sailing instructions, sailed directly to the finish whilst Smith / Needham, sailing correctly to the English version of the sailing instructions, failing to manage to roll over the top of the French boat, had to slow and dip Boite in order to round mark 1 before finishing! This gifted a race win to Boite / Grossmann with Smith / Needham 2nd Jocot’s 3rd and Pinnell / Davies 4th. Smith / Needham’s request for redress being initially granted also giving them 1stplace being over thrown 24hrs later in favour of the French version of the sailing instructions being correct! C’est la vie,as they say!

2014_French_Nationals3To close out the days events many of the sailors descended on one of the local bars to watch the world cup final between Germany and Argentina. We were all pleased to see our German friends lifting the trophy…

Day 3 was French Bastille Day. The breeze was from the WSW giving a more open race track with 10–12 kts and more chop than the previous days. This was a day for the Brits. Smith / Needham showing great upwind and downwind speed winning them the first race of the day by some distance. They just managed to hold off Pinnell / Davies to win race 7 and a second place in race 8. Pinnell / Davies showed incredible speed downwind, especially as the wind reduced below 10kts. They won race 8 by a huge margin, second in race 7 but unfortunately after crossing the line 4th in race 6 found that they were OCS! Boite / Grossmann, Holzaplefel / Worm,Jacots and Boise/ Des Jamonierers battled hard all day in the leading group behind Pinnell and Smith. At the close of day 3 Smith / Needham had taken the overall lead of the championship by one point from Pinnell / Davies with Boite / Grossmann in 3rd and Jacot’s 4th. Bastille Day was party day and CNCM took part in a Moules and Frites evening with the locals with plenty of live entertainment the day closed out by an impressive fireworks display.

Day 4 – Final day of racing. Unfortunately Smith / Needham were unable to sail on the final day. This was due to the work commitments of crew Tim rather than too much wine the night before! It was to be an interesting day. Only one discard (as per French SI’s!). If only one race were to be completed Smith / Needham would end on 19 points guaranteeing at least 2nd place. Any more races and it would be all over! Pinnell needed a 6th or better to beat Smith. However the visibility was poor, precipitation high and there was very little wind! Would there be any sailing? If so how many races and could Pinnell finish 6th or better?

2014_French_Nationals2In the event one race was sailed in light and variable conditions. The skies had brightened up by the end of the race but the wind was very light. Boite / Grossmann took the win, Aline Martin / David De Monteil 2nd and Jocot’s 3rd, Pinnell / Davies 12th they believed! This was enough for Smith and Needham to take the title from Boite / Grossmann and Pinnell/ Davies in 3rd. As the de-rigging began the talking in the boat park became louder and louder. It transpired that there had been an issue with the shortened course and all but one boat were believed to have finished incorrectly! After much deliberation as to whether the race was valid or whether all boats but one would be DSQ. Finally the decision went with the latter and the victory for race 9 was awarded to FRA 5975 Jean Claude Loiseau crewed by Cedrick Gire.

The hospitality from the French 505 association and CNCM was fantastic as was the company of all the 505 sailors from across Europe. The sailing was great so too was the food and wine. The Brittany ferry from St Malo to Portsmouth, highly recommended!

Learning points from the event:

Always read the French version of the SI’s!

Know how to finish in the case of a shortened course!

Always leave more than 3hrs for the trip from Crozon Morgat to the Ferry terminal in St Malo!