All the great sailors met in the bay of Pornichet (44) to race the Atlantic Grand Prix. This first stage allowed the skippers to sail in the same conditions as the Tour de France à la Voile, which will take place in the same place next July.
Friday, April 17
The sailors ran 4 races, out of the 15 organized, in the bay of Le Pouliguen. Wind of 15 knots and rough sea. This was the first time the fleet tested the configuration of the Tour de France à la Voile. It was divided into 3 groups (A, B and C) with starts closer to the beach and reaching (crosswind, the fastest speed).
The regattas were contested in contact, the first and the last being separated by a few minutes. The leaders of the Spi Ouest France had confided before the start that they would not give up. The two Spindrift crews (White and Black) took the lead in the general ranking, ahead of Pierre Pennec's Groupama.
Saturday, April 18th
On the program, a coastal raid of 42 miles along the coast Sauvage from 10 am, followed by several courses in Stade Nautique in front of the bay of Pouliguen. Conditions: 10 knots of fresh wind and calm sea. The Diam 24s crossed the start line towards Priac. Groupama shone in this exercise, dominating the fleet during a large part of the raid before winning after 3 hours and 20 minutes of racing. Behind them, Sébastien Rogues (GDF Suez), Kito de Pavant (Made in Midi) and the two Spindrift crews who took turns in the leading pack. In the end, it was Yann Guichard (Spindrift White) who took 2nd place e place, just ahead of Sébastien Rogues.
In the afternoon, the crews went back to sea for two rounds of Stade Nautique. The fleet was divided in 2 groups. The wind came in on the first race, but eased throughout the afternoon. The race committee was forced to cancel the second race of group B and rewrote the course to restart the race. Vincent Riou on PRB retired for the end of the day after his port rear float broke in a collision with the crew of Sydney Gavignet (Oman Sail).
The first round in the water stadium was won by the young sailors of Vannes agglo âeuros Golfe du Morbihan, skippered by Matthieu Salomon. It is placed on the 3 e step of the podium, behind Spindrift Black and Combiwest in the second race.
Sunday, April 19th
For this last day, the weather conditions were idyllic at the beginning with flat sea, big blue sky and 18 knots of wind. The 24 Diam 24 raced 3 races in the morning. But the wind picked up, 25 knots, giving the competitors a hard time. At the end of the 3 e the winner of the Grand Prix de l'Atlantique de Pornichet has been announced and it is Yann Guichard (Spindrift White) who wins with 23 points. "There's still a long way to go, but we're going to start by appreciating this great win, because we sailed well from day one to the last day. We took heat after heat. We had first and foremost work objectives for this regatta, as it was the first opportunity to have the same format as the one that will be used in the Tour de France à la Voile this summer. On top of that, we won, so it's fantastic" said the skipper.
On the 2 e step of the podium, Groupama, skippered by Pierre Pennec. The 3 e place goes to Spindrift Black, skippered by Xavier Revil (winner of the Spi Ouest France), who loses his second place due to a maneuver error. However, these two crews finished on equal points and were separated by the number of races won over the whole event.
General ranking of the Atlantic Grand Prix :
Gold Group
âeuros Spindrift White (Yann Guichard) : 23 pts
âeuros Groupama (Pierre Pennec) : 32 pts
âeuros Spindrift Black (Xavier Revil) : 32 pts
âeuros Vannes Agglo Golfe du Morbihan (Matthieu Salomon) : 39 pts
âeuros CombiWest (Frédéric Guilmin) : 44 pts
âeuros West Courtage Ecole Navale (Simon Moriceau) : 51 pts
âeuros Macif (François Gabart) : 63 pts
âeuros Votre Plus Long Périple (Loïc Fequet) : 63 pts
âeuros Armor Lux âeuros Comptoir de la Mer (Erwan Tabarly) : 66 pts
âeuros Dynamique Voile (Emeric Dary) : 68 pts
âeuros Radio Vinci Autoroutes (Jean-Baptiste Gellée) : 69 pts
âeuros Banque Populaire (Armel Le Cléac'h): 76 pts
Silver Group
âeuros Made in Midi (Kito de Pavant): 52 pts
âeuros PRB (Vincent Riou) : 61 pts
âeuros Grandeur Nature Vérandas (Frédéric Duthil) : 66 pts
âeuros Courrier Choc (Pierre-Loïc Berthet) : 66 pts
âeuros Sodebo (Daniel Souben) : 69 pts
âeuros Oman Sail (Sidney Gavignet) : 72 pts
âeuros Ramouna (Charles Hainneville) : 72 pts
âeuros GDF SUEZ (Sébastien Rogues): 75 pts
âeuros Prince de Bretagne (Lionel Lemonchois) : 85 pts
âeuros Agrival (Pauline Chalaux) : 94 pts
âeuros 30 Corsairs (Alexia Barrier) : 97 pts
âeuros Cheminées Poujoulat (Barnard Stamm) : 97 pts
