Image: Belgium & Uruguay lock horns at the start © Anne Beaugé /LGL
With a wind speed recorded at over 30 knots, the first elimination race of the Offshore Double Handed World Championship produced a high speed battle in full on conditions. Eleven teams started the Département du Morbihan Race - Elimination Race One, which was won by Charlotte Yven & Lois Berrehar (FRA). The top five teams will be awarded a place in the Offshore Double Handed World Championship Final to be held on 29 September.
Qualifiers for ODHWC Final
France 2 : Charlotte Yven & Lois Berrehar
Uruguay: Federico Waksman Justina Pacheco
Belgium 1: Jonas Gerckens & Djemila Tassin
Great Britain 1: Maggie Adamson & Cal Finlayson
Canada: Benjamin Daniel & Sarah Nicholson
Charlotte Yven & Lois Berrehar (FRA) finished the race of approximately 82NM in an elapsed time of 10 Hrs 40 Min 45 Secs, winning the race by over 40 minutes from Federico Waksman & Justina Pacheco (URU).
Just six minutes after the Uruguay team, Jonas Gerckens & Djemila Tassin (BEL) crossed the finish line to take third. Maggie Adamson & Cal Finlayson (GBR) was fourth. A thrilling battle for fifth, the ‘hot seat’ for the Offshore Double Handed World Championship Final, was taken by Benjamin Daniel & Sarah Nicholson (CAN). Agonisingly close to the top five was Barbara Karpinska & Kevin Morgan (USA) and Gerasimos Petratos Evangelia Delidou (GRE).
At the start of the race, the early leader was Karpinska & Morgan (USA), who made a big gain taking an inshore route. However after passing the lighthouse at the Glénan islands, Yven & Berrehar (FRA) and Gerckens & Tassin (BEL) found another gear to take up the lead. About five miles from the top mark at Cap Caval, Karpinska & Morgan (USA) took a tack north and Waksman & Pacheco (URU) carried on the same tack, moving into third place.
The French and Belgian teams made Cap Caval virtually side by side, the breeze was building and the sea state was approaching three metres. Both teams opted to hoist the gennaker not the spinnaker and set off for a wild reach, blasting along with water cascading down the deck. Later on in the downwind sleigh ride, with spinnakers flying, the leading boats were hammering along.
“We saw 32 knots of wind and a top boat speed of 19 knots,” commented Lois Berrehar. “We used the small spinnaker and we were happy with that, the risk was smaller than the reward.” Charlotte Yven added: “Our first goal was to familiarise ourselves with the boat and our competitors. As always, we try to do the best preparation and understand the weather conditions. After that, we try to find the way to make the boat faster, so we look at different settings and modes. This race was very good preparation for the final.”
Gerckens & Tassin (BEL) were flying along challenging the French team for the lead, but a problem with the spinnaker sheet forced them to take down their kite. “Our goal at the start was simple; make the top five, so we are happy” commented Jonas Gerckens. “It was a shame that we had a problem, but it was good to line up against Charlotte and Lois, they are one of the favourite teams for the world championship and our speed looked good against them.”
The fifth team to qualify for the final, was Ben Daniel & Sarah Nicholson (CAN). This was the first time the pair had raced together and although both are Canadians, they live 4000 miles apart on the East and West Coast of Canada. “Our goal was to make the final, so we are really happy with the result,” commented Sarah Nicholson. “We had a game plan to stay on the left as the forecast was for a favourable shift. At first, the plan didn’t work and we were looking at the transoms of quite a few competitors but by the Glénan islands, the plan was working. We had overstood a bit but coming in with the Code Zero with the scow bow was quick.” Continued Sarah Nicholson. “ After Cap Caval, the British team ahead of us started to pull away, but we felt comfortable in fifth with a fair lead on sixth place,” added Ben Daniel. “Like a few other competitors, we broached a few times and had problems with the spinnaker sheets. We kept looking over our shoulder but we never really felt threatened. Now we have made the final, we will have to set a new goal!”
Atool Sinha & Sweta Shervegar (IND) retired from the race due to an injury to Atool. The team are now safely ashore and a special mention to Tim Lemeer & Lisa Vos (NED) who retired and stood by to assist, placing another competitor’s safety before their own result.