Sunday was the last day of this fun, three day event down at the Port. A good crowd turned up to watch and the atmosphere hummed with press and spectator side-by-side, eager to see whether the hot favourite (Peyron) would actually pull it off. With varying breeze and no-one taking a flyer to come storming up from the rear, Luc Dubois (Alinghi Red) sailed a good race to come in first, followed by Nicolas Charbonnier, who looks like a fun sort of guy, with Loïck Peyron (seven times winner of this event) in third place.
Score Board, for those who like the details
Claire Leroy (women's match racing world champion 2007/08) and her all woman crew suffered a capsize early in the first race and had to be brought back to shore. Looking shaken and disappointed there was some confusion as to what happened to the third crew member. The race continued but later we saw a stretcher being taken away by ambulance on the far shore. A press release from the organisers' office would have been good but nothing was forthcoming. We trust she is now fully recovered.
Capsize of Leroy
From years of sailing in The Solent the bliss of guaranteed sunshine and at least a bit of breeze made me yearn to be out there on the water. But after an extremely scary capsize on a Hobie Cat some years ago, perhaps a glass of wine in the safety of the press enclosure among sensible people was the way to go ... maybe ....
All in all it was a great event and, at the prize-giving, with a history of looking the wrong way at the right moment, I managed to get sprayed with champagne; a sticky end to an almost perfect day.
Getting ready to go racing
A puff of breeze
The winner, Alinghi Red, Luc Dubois
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