The first of the official “indicator” events was completed last week with a coastal race towards Marseille and back. The forecasted winds were quite light and after a detailed briefing from Sylvain Mondon, our meteorological expert in Meteo France Toulouse headquarters, it was decided that a realistic course of approximately 77 miles should be set with an 1100 start on Wednesday and finished sometime after midday on Thursday. 

As in all things weather related the wind did not behave quite as expected and the breeze filled in meaning that the fleet had all finished by 0300 hours on Wednesday morning. The race itself was interesting for some and frustrating for others.  The first to round the windward mark were Jean Pierre Nichol followed closely by Simon Hiscocks, leaving the remaining boats to all round the mark in a very tight formation with some gybing immediately to get clean air whilst others stuck to a bear away set.  The course then took them out to the east and into the night. 

Sam Goodchild did not have a good start to the day having fallen off his bicycle on the way to the boats and then getting a rope around his prop as he left the dock.  With things happening in three’s he also had a faulty pilot during the race which did little to improve his day.

Phil Sharp finished first out of the Squad members

Places changed throughout the race and whilst Simon Hiscocks led for a significant part of the race the final positions were:
  1. JP Nichol
  2. Phil Sharp
  3. Marc Emig
  4. Simon Hiscocks
  5. Mathiew Girolet
  6. Damien Guillou
  7. Sam Goodchild / Nick Cherry

Rod Carr OBE, previously CEO of the Royal Yachting Association and Artemis Offshore Academy Advisory board member, was our VIP for the week and the squad were pleased to see him and benefit from some insights on the water.  Rumour has it that he even went solo mini sailing during a coaching session with Becky!

Figaro 77 damaged stern

The week finished with some boat on boat training on Friday where unfortunately a collision between Figaros 23 and 77 meant that number 77 needed to be lifted and repaired over the weekend to get it back in action for this weeks indicators.  A local boat builder stepped up to the challenge with a little persuading from Franck Citeau, the Centre D’Entrainment coach, has done a very good temporary repair and Rhys will come down at the end of the month to complete a more permanent repair. This kind of situation is where Franck is so helpful and has the connections to get things done.

Figaro 77 after repairs

After that it was back to school with forecasting and routing.  Saturday and Sunday spent in the company of Chris Tibbs.  Whilst we do a lot of work on meteorologically during briefings it was really great to not only have the insight of a real expert but also have it in English!!!

Today starts with some short course indicators followed by a longer coastal race tomorrow night.