Spain’s Martinez and Pacheco win European Nacra 17 title 

Photo : Antoine Beysens

After starting their title challenge in the worst possible way, a hole in their hull after a simple collision on the first day, Spain’s Iker Martinez and Tara Pacheco finished off a long, difficult regatta La Grande Motte, France when they collected their first major title as a partnership by clearly winning the sudden death, tricky light winds medal race to secure the Nacra 17 European Championship. 

Representing a first success in the new Olympic chapter of the storied, supremely diverse career of the helm from Hondaribbia in Spain’s Basque country, and the former 470 champion Pacheco, the duo actually built the firm foundations of their success on Friday when they scored three back to back second places when all their main rivals failed to come close in terms of that level of consistency in strong wind conditions.

In today’s medal race the Italian duo Vittorio Bissario and Silvia Sicouri had to win with the Spanish pair in eighth if they were to be overturned.

But it was the wily Martinez and Pacheco who sneaked off the start line in the very light, fickle breeze and got into the biggest and best puff first. They lead Britain’s Olympic gold medallist Pippa Wilson and John Gimson around the windward mark on the first round.
France’s World Champions Billy Besson and Marie Riou rallied after a poor start and took the lead momentarily on the second of three windward legs, but with the wind making a big shift to the right the Spanish had regained the lead at the top of the final round, finishing comfortably ahead of Besson and Riou.

At one stage the Italians were deep enough in the ten boat fleet that it looked like second overall might go to the French – who had lead until yesterday when they capsized and had to count a 27^th in their final aggregate – but Bissario and Sicouri held their nerve and finish second with Besson and Riou content to have salvaged third.

Martinez and Pacheco paired up more 16 months ago and this is their biggest win to date. After Easter’s Princess Sofia Olympic regatta Pacheco had to have an operation to relieve carpal tunnel problems in her forearms which cost them training time, but the ever demanding, hard driving Martinez professed to be happy with their progress, even if he acknowledges that with their Olympic monohull background they still have many areas to catch up with catamaran specialists like Besson – an ex Tornado catamaran sailor who is also current F18 world champion, and the young Italian duo who sailed the Hobie 16 youth catamaran before:

“For sure we are very good where we are now, but the truth is this was a very special regatta with only one real set of conditions – pretty windy – and the medal race today was a little bit tricky, so it probably does not show exactly where every one is in terms of looking towards the World Championships.” Martinez ventured today.

“ I think the guys like Billy Besson and the Italians – I don’t want to say they are unbeatable – but we have to catch up with them. I think they have catamaran knowledge and obviously they are fast. That is where they have the advantage. They always have the boat well set up. We have to learn how to always have the boat well prepared and well set up and all these things. So still we are sometimes good, sometimes bad, sometimes good.”

La Grande Motte delivered mainly strong winds, even if the first day of racing was lost to a lack of breeze. And one full day was missed because of breezes which were too strong. That meant just three Finals races were sailed.  The French duo’s one aberration sullied an otherwise excellent performance which would otherwise have one them the title. The cruel irony is that when they capsized in Friday’s third race, they were sailing super conservatively with Besson off the wire and on the trampoline, holding third place. Their boat stalled in the back of a wave, the ebullient French helm was washed off the boat but for his leg and they capsized when he lost control of the helm.

Meantime Martinez and Pacheco are focused on winning the world title in Santander, where the Spanish sailing team do a lot of their strong winds training, their second home. A fourth Volvo round the world race awaits Martinez but he confirms his strong commitment to a programme which he hopes will bring him a second Olympic gold medal:

“It will be a difficult balance. Now from the Volvo to the Olympics there is much more time. But I probably wont do all the legs of the Volvo. It is not 100 per cent yet. My idea is to help the team as much as I can but I have a commitment here with the Spanish Olympic committee and with Tara and with everyone involved here. I cant stop completely but I will help the team as much as I can and try to make the Volvo team as good as we can. We don’t even have 100 days before the start and we have to prepare a boat and a team, the whole game. It is a pretty exacting, exciting project and a very busy year for sure.”

Final standings:

1 Iker Martinez/Tara Pacheco ESP  23pts
2 Vittorio Bissaro/Silvia Sicouri ITA 42pts
3 Billy Besson/Marie Riou FRA 46pts
4 Allan Norregaard/Line Just DEN 59pts
5 Jason Waterhouse/Lisa Darmanin AUS 62pts
6 Pippa Wilson/John Gimson GBR 67pts
7 Rene Groeneveld/Steven Krol NED 69pts
8 Thomas Zajac/Tanja Frank AUT 70pts
9 Matjas Bahler/Nathalie Brugger SUI 73pts
10 Nicole Van Der Velden/Thijs Visser 80pts

They said :

Iker Martinez (ESP) European champion with Tara Pacheco: “It means we are improving, slowly. We are improving and that is good news. We have done quite a lot of training but really not as much as we would have liked to do. It is not just a new class but Tara and myself are a new team together with a new coach. Santi Lopez is coaching us we had a long years of fighting for selection with him so it is nice to have him on our side now. He was the head coach for London for the team and now he is coaching us so we are very lucky to have someone with so much experience. We were mainly in Santander training but went to Morocco with the French guys and we travelled a lot. It all helps. Every day helps, we find new problems every day and we solve them and move one step forwards. For sure we are very good where we are now, but the truth is this was a very special regatta with only one real set of conditions – pretty windy – and the medal race today was a little bit tricky, so it probably does not show exactly where every one is in terms of looking towards the World Championships. I think the guys like Billy Besson and the Italians – I don’t want to say they are unbeatable – but we have to catch up with them. I think they have catamaran knowledge and obviously they are fast. That is where they have the advantage. They always have the boat well set up. We have to learn how to always have the boat well prepared and well set up and all these things. So still we are sometimes good, sometimes bad, sometimes good. Yesterday was great we were on the limit and it was very shifty and that was good for us. We did not have any major things.
Today it was the kind of day when it could be simple if we are in front. For the Italians to beat us they had to win and we had to be eighth. That sounds an easy one but after what we saw on the water we could have been first or last as easily. It was not a relaxing race for sure. I think it was down to the first puff and who got away. We were in front from the beginning. It was not simple but it could be under control.”

Vittorio Bissario (ITA) 2^nd overall: “We are happy to have held on to second place and on a day like today we are happy to have done that. It was not easy. It was really complicated. We know that in these conditions that luck can play a big part and so we are happy in our ability today. Now to relax. We need to take some time to relax and have a week off. Then we sail for one week on Garda and them move to Santander at the beginning of August to train there.
Here we feel complete. We are not maybe the best at starting, or the fastest, but all in all I think we are a complete team and I think that is why we can be always there, always regular. We never think of who we are sailing against. They are other boats to sail against not people far less people with Olympic medals. We just try to beat them all.

Marie Riou (FRA) third with Billy Besson "Here we made it to third step on to the podium and so our honour is saved! It was a good medal race despite our bad start and a complicated first beat. In the end we made some good calls on the first upwind and so rounded third and managed to finish second. We kept an eye on where the Danes and Italians were all the time. At one point we thought we could get second overall but the Italians got themselves back into it at the very last moment.”
 It was so shifty. Billy and I had done the Trophée Clairfontaine here and so we had a vague idea of what can happen. On balance we are very happy with our week. The format worked against us a bit in the end because we had to carry that 27^th but we sailed well otherwise, three wins and two second places. It’s not bad.”

Iker Martinez et Tara Pacheco Champions d’Europe.

Les tandems Bissaro/Sicouri (ITA) et Besson/Riou complètent le podium

Photo : Antoine Beysens

Ce samedi, au terme d’une Medal race (finale à 10 bateaux) rocambolesque, disputée dans un vent faible et très instable, le duo Espagnol Martinez/Pacheco s’est imposé et a enfoncé le clou au classement. Iker, l’ex champion olympique et triple champion du monde de 49er, associée à Tara, ancienne spécialiste du 470,  rafle ces Championnats d’Europe Nacra 17 2014. Les excellents  Italiens Vittorio Bissaro et Silvia Sicouri, revenus du diable Vauvert pendant la Medal Race, terminent deuxièmes, tandis que les Français Billy Besson et Marie Riou, dominateurs pendant tout ce championnat, sauvent l’honneur en se hissant sur la troisième marche du podium. 

Le vent du nord a été un des acteurs majeurs de ce Championnat d’Europe. La forte brise qui a sévi toute la semaine à La Grande Motte a en effet contrarié le programme sportif, avec deux journées sans régate, à terre. Sur l’eau, ces conditions de navigation très exigeantes pour les équipages (nombreux dessalages, quelques blessures et de la casse matérielle) ont donné aussi quelques images magnifiques.

Avec seulement 8 manches courues (plus la Medal Race), il fallait à tout prix éviter la moindre contreperformance en phase finale. Les Français Billy Besson et Marie Riou qui avaient dominé la plupart des courses  (trois victoires, 2 manches de 2^e) en ont fait les frais hier sur un dessalage qui leur coûte la victoire.

Elle revient finalement au tandem espagnol. Martinez (qui va bientôt participer à sa 4^e Volvo Ocean race) et Pacheco signent ici leur plus beau résultat depuis leur association il y a 16 mois en Nacra 17.  La deuxième place des Italiens, très en forme cette saison (vainqueurs de la World Cup à Hyères) n’est pas une surprise.

Au sein d’une flotte dont le niveau s’est sensiblement élevé depuis 2013, le top 10 de ces championnats regroupe la plupart des favoris parmi lesquels on compte de nouveaux visages, comme les Danois Norregaard/Just, qui passent de peu à côté du podium.

Les Français, eux, ont fait forte impression à leurs concurrents même si leurs résultats ne reflètent pas toujours leur consistance sur l’eau.

Prochain rendez-vous pour les équipages des Nacra 17 : le Test Event de Rio fin juillet, puis le très attendu Championnat du Monde à Santander mi-septembre.

Le top 10 du championnat d’Europe (71 participants) :

1 Iker Martinez/Tara Pacheco ESP  23pts
2 Vittorio Bissaro/Silvia Sicouri ITA 42pts
3 Billy Besson/Marie Riou FRA 46pts
4 Allan Norregaard/Line Just DEN 59pts
5 Jason Waterhouse/Lisa Darmanin AUS 62pts
6 Pippa Wilson/John Gimson GBR 67pts
7 Renee Groeneveld/Steven Krol NED 69pts
8 Thomas Zajac/Tanja Frank AUT 70pts
9 Matjas Bahler/Nathalie Brugger SUI 73pts
10 Nicole Van Der Velden/Thijs Visser 80pts
(…)
13- Franck Cammas/ Sophie de Turckheim, 70 pts
14- Moana Vaireaux/Manon Audinet, 73 pts
(…)
16 - Audrey Ogereau/Matthieu Vandame, 82 pts

Ils ont dit :

Iker Martinez (ESP), vainqueur du Championnat d’Europe avec Tara Pacheco : « C’est génial. Parce que c’est la deuxième régate la plus importante de l’année. Surtout que Tara s’est faite opérée (du bras) après Palma donc, on n’avait pas beaucoup régaté depuis. On est très content de cette Medal Race qui était difficile… Il aurait pu se passer n’importe quoi, il n’y avait presque pas de vent.  Heureusement, on s’en sort bien.  On a progressé parce qu’avant, on n’avait pas souvent battu Billy et Marie, ni les Italiens. Mais ce qui est une réalité c’est qu’ils sont toujours plus forts que nous. Je suis certain que si nous avions eu 5 jours de régates, 15 manches avec du medium ou du vent fort, ça aurait été vraiment difficile de gagner. Je pense que les Français sont toujours plus forts que les autres. Les Italiens aussi. Mais cette régate a été très spéciale : peu de manches en phases finale… Nous, je pense qu’on a été là dans les moments importants. On a eu un peu de chance aussi. Au final on gagne, c’est génial, mais on sait où on se situe : il y a encore des équipages meilleurs que nous. La suite du programme : on poursuit notre préparation en Nacra 17 même si je vais commencer à naviguer avec le gros bateau (le Volvo 65, en prévision de la Volvo Ocean Race). On va mener de front les deux programmes … j’ai beaucoup de travail devant moi. »

Vittorio Bissaro (ITA), 2e du Championnat d’Europe avec  Silvia Sicouri : « Nous sommes satisfaits d’avoir maintenu notre deuxième place, surtout dans des journées comme celles- là.  Ca n’était pas facile. C’était même très compliqué. On sait que dans ces conditions, la chance joue pour  beaucoup alors on est très content de ce qu’on a réussi. Notre force, c’est que nous sommes polyvalents. Nous ne sommes peut-être pas les meilleurs dans les départ ni les plus rapides. Mais au final, nous sommes assez complets et réguliers et nous sommes toujours présents.  Maintenant  : repos. On a besoin de faire le break pendant une bonne semaine. Ensuite, nous allons nous entraîner sur le lac de Garde avant d’aller à Santander début août en vue des Championnats du monde. »

Marie Riou, 3e du Championnat d’Europe avec Billy Besson : « On arrive à monter sur la 3e marche du podium, l’honneur est sauf ! On a fait une bonne Medal Race malgré notre départ moyen et un premier près compliqué. Au final, on s’en sort bien avec une super risée qui nous emmène en 3e position au vent. On termine 2e…on regardait derrière pour savoir où étaient les Danois et les Italiens. A un moment, on pensait pouvoir faire 2^e,  mais les  Italiens sont revenus dans le match au dernier moment.   Le plan d’eau était « très shifty ». En même temps, Billy et moi avions déjà disputé le Trophée Clairefontaine à cet endroit… on le connaissait un peu. Le bilan : on est assez satisfait de cette semaine. On a bien navigué. Le format était un peu particulier : on a dû garder notre plus mauvaise manche, celle où on a dessalé et qui nous coûte cher. Cela dit, sans celle-là, on a fait de belles régates : 3 victoires, 2 places de 2e… On est vraiment content de cette semaine.  La suite du programme : le test event à Rio fin juillet»

Spain’s Iker Martinez and Tara Pacheco lead into Nacra 17 European Champs Medal Race

Photo Antoine Beysens

On the strength of an exceptional run of three second places today in a challenging, shifty Tramontane WNW’ly which peaked at a stamina sapping 26kts, Spain’s Iker Martinez and Tara Pacheco lead the Nacra17 European Championships into the final day. 

In terms of sheer consistency double Olympic 49er medallist Martinez and Pachecho were on a different level, strong enough in their boat handling to capitalise on their excellent tactical choices over the three races which were contested in La Grande Motte’s gusty, cross offshore breeze which varied in strength and brought regular shifts in direction.

Their six points tally from the only three Finals races to have been completed was head and shoulders above any of their rivals. Until now it looked like France’s world champions Billy Besson and Marie Riou were on target to add the European title to their World Champions title but after winning the first race comfortably, their second was more ragged. They lead to the first windward mark but then ended up on the wrong side of the sequence of big shifts and dropped to fifth at the second windward mark, finishing eighth.

But it was only 400 metres from the finish line of the very breezy third race of the day when Besson and Riou’s European title challenge faltered. Lying fourth they capsized within sight of the line and struggled to get across the line in 27^th place. With only three Finals races sailed – and hence no Finals discard or chance of a discard - their error proves expensive.

It was another windy day in La Grande Motte, one which was again punctuated by long periods waiting. For the gold fleet there was a hold ashore into the evening to see if the breeze would abate enough for another Finals race. It proved to be in vain and so Martinez and Pacheco go into Saturday’s ten boat double points medal race with a lead of 13pts ahead of Italy’s young world ranked 1 pair Vittorio Bissaro and Silvia Sicouri who won the third race today, again showing their prowess in the really breezy stuff.

But helm Bissaro, who – with Sicouri - won the ISAF World Cup events this year in Miami and Hyeres , confirmed they were very disappointed with their first two races today from which they returned a 14^th and 10^th, considering they spent too much focus on their rivals rather than sailing their own races:

“Sometimes it is not easy to decide the compromise between tactics and strategy and with this kind of wind it is a lot easier to think about the wind and not the competitors and maybe we paid too much attention to the others and not the wind.”

“ Actually we are not very happy because we didn't sail well today. We were not good at picking the right shifts so we are not happy about the way we sailed in the first two races. At least in the final race we were able to win and that helps us a lot in the ranking. Now we are in second and that's good for the medal race.”

With Denmark’s Allen Norregard – sailing with Line Just – lying third, two of the top three helms going into the medal race are 49er Olympic medallists, Norregard wining bronze in Weymouth and Portland in 2012.

“ It’s a bit of a surprise we are doing so well. But it’s quite funny to see but I'm actually not that surprised that the 49ers are doing well because I feel that this is very similar to 49er racing so I think the 49er racers have a good way in. I did a bit of sailing on a Tornado as well, and on a 49er, but I think this boat is closer to the 49er than it was to the Tornado.”

“We are still not so good downwind because I am still a bit cautious and don’t want to push it as hard, we need more days like this and to go home and practice more in the big winds.”

“ It's really close. Everyone could take over each other so there will be no match-racing from anybody I think, it will be all about getting your own race.”

“With Iker I am good. We have always been fighting against each other so tomorrow we will have another fight.”

Hard galvanised experience over 15 years of Olympic 49er sailing, not to mention a gold and a silver medal as well as three 49er world titles grants the upper hand to Martinez, and Pacheco, going into the short, sharp Medal Race which starts at 1600hrs local time. They are 13pts up on the Italians and at 17pts up on the Danish duo the Spanish pair are almost assured of their first medal in the class. Besson and Riou are 21pts behind Martinez and Pacheco and their European title hopes are all but over. 

Martinez, who is looking to maximise their improvements before the ISAF World Championships which are on what more or less ranks on his home waters, Santander:

“ We are improving. Here it has mostly been windy and we seem to have been OK, but we are a long way to get to where the Italians and especially Billy and Marie are in all the conditions. We can be competitive in some conditions but not all of them. But a day like this we seem to do OK when some of those guys capsize or things like that. Overall they are still ahead of us, we have to keep improving. Today it looks like we have been better in the breezy stuff, we were good.”

Standings after 5 Qualifying Races and 3 Finals Races :

1. Iker Martinez/ Tara Pacheco (ESP246) 15+2,2,2. 21pts. 2. Vittorio Bissaro/ Silvia Sicouri (ITA200) 9+14,10,1. 34pts. 3. Allan Norregaard/ Line Just (DEN248) 12+3,11,13. 39pts. 4. Billy Besson/ Marie Riou (FRA1)  6+1,8,27. 42pts. 5. Euan McNicol/ Lucinda Whitty (AUS158) 15+5,9,7. 46pts. 6. Jason Waterhouse/ Lisa Darmanin (AUS133) 14+10,15,9. 48pts. 7. Renee Groeneveld/ Steven Krol (NED243) 27+11,12,3. 53pts. 8. Thomas Zajac/ Tanja Franck (AUT205) 34+17,3,6. 60pts. 9. Pipa Wilson/ John Gimson (GBR076) 28+27,1,5. 61pts. 10. Matais Bahler/ Nathalie Brugger (SUI220) 21+15,13,12. 61pts.

They said:

Iker Martinez (ESP): « I think Tara will sleep well tonight. It was not easy today. It was windy but it was not extremely windy, except in the second upwind it was pretty difficult. We had some good comebacks it was quite shifty. It was one of these days where you can find your way in the shifts. We had a problem on the first day when we had a collision and a big hole. And so I had to fix it and do two very quick races and then a lot of waiting around and then today with three races that is nearly half the regatta.

It is the Europeans and so it is the second to most important regatta of the year for us, the worlds are more important. We are building up to Santander. There worlds are the worlds and so there is always pressure there. I think it will be more busy for us there, but it is a place we know well. Here we like finishing the race and going home, there it will not be so easy.

We are improving. Here is has mostly been windy and we seem to have been OK, but we are a long way to get to where the Italians and especially Billy and Marie are in all the conditions. We can be competitive in some conditions but not all of them. But a day like this we seem to do OK when some of those guys capsize or things like that. Overall they are still ahead of us, we have to keep improving. Today it looks like we have been better in the breezy stuff, we were good.”

Vittorio Bissaro (ITA): “Actually we are not very happy because we didn't sail well today. We were not good at picking the right shift so we are not happy about the way we sailed in the first two races, at least in the final race we were able to win and that helps us a lot in the ranking, now we are in second and that's good for the medal race.

Sometimes it is not easy to decide the compromise between tactics and strategy and with this kind of wind it is a lot easier to think about the wind and not the competitors and maybe we paid too much attention to the others and not the wind.

We will just go on the water and do our best regatta. Yes we were waiting for another race but the wind actually is really strong so that's good. We will take whatever happens.

We were not happy when we came in because of the way we sailed but we just want to be focused about the championship and keep going. At the end the only things that say if you sailed well or badly is where you finished in the championship.”

Hopefully tomorrow we will get some lighter wind, we haven't really had very much light wind. For the result I think we are probably better off but we like to see where we are in lighter wind too.

Allan Norregaard (DEN): “We didn't really expect to do this good but we are very happy to be where we are.”

“ Today it was difficult. We were doing really good upwind but we struggled down-wind so we still have some way to go.”
“ We are afraid of putting it in so we are taking it a little bit more slowly than most of the fast guys are so we are losing a lot downwind  compared to the really fast guys so we need to go home and work on that.
I think it's good fun, we did it in Kiel it was actually a really good one. It was a nice short course so really intense racing so that was a nice race. We finished in the middle, I think we were fifth but it was good. A really, really fun race.

It's really close on the standings now. Everyone could take over each other so there will be no match-racing from anybody I think, it will be all about getting your own race.

That's quite funny to see (two of the top three 49er medallists) I'm actually not that surprised that the 49ers are doing well because I feel that this is very similar to 49er racing so I think the 49er racers have a good way in. I did a bit of sailing on a Tornado as well, and on a 49er, but I think this boat is closer to the 49er than it was to the Tornado.

Iker and I are good. We have always been fighting against each other so tomorrow we will have another fight.

Ends 

LES ESPAGNOLS PRENNENT LA MAIN A LA VEILLE DE LA GRANDE FINALE

Photo Antoine Beysens

Les phases finales ont débuté aujourd’hui pour les 40 meilleurs équipages (flotte Or) du Championnat d’Europe de Nacra 17. Pas de doute : les favoris sont là, à commencer par l’Espagnol médaillé olympique en 49er Iker Martinez et son équipière Tara Pacheco, qui grâce leur extrême régularité aujourd’hui (2,2,2) se hissent en tête du Championnat d’Europe devant les Italiens Bissaro/Sicouri et les Danois Norregaard/Just. La Tramontane a soufflé le chaud et le froid sur les favoris français Billy Besson et Marie Riou. Vainqueur de la première manche du jour, ils dessalent dans la dernière à quelques mètres de l’arrivée et perdent  leur leadership au classement général provisoire. Le top 10 est scellé pour la medal race qui se jouera demain samedi à 16 heures en public. 

De l’eau, de l’air et beaucoup de vie sur le plan d’eau des Championnats d’Europe avec une nouvelle journée de brise pour les équipages. Les conditions de navigation étaient magiques (eau turquoise, grand soleil,) bien que très sportives pour les tandems qui ont disputé trois manches dans une tramontane forcissante à plus de 25 nœuds l’après-midi.  Il y eu donc un peu de casse (dont un démâtage pour les Brésiliens), quelques bobos (muscle du bras déchiré  pour l’Anglais Andrew Walsh) quelques abandons en cours de route et surtout une grosse fatigue pour tout le monde.

Le groupe France a un peu rivalisé de malchance sur la dernière manche du jour très ventée : dessalage pour Billy Besson et Marie Riou alors qu’ils occupaient la 4^e place, safran cassé et dessalage aussi pour Audrey Ogereau et Matthieu Vandame, poulie de spi cassée pour Moana Vaireaux et Manon Audinet…

L’enjeu de ces régates était de se classer dans les 10 premiers pour participer demain samedi à 16 heures la Medal Race, course finale dotée d’un coefficient 2. Dans ce top 10, on retrouve la plupart des grands favoris de ce championnat, à l’exception du tandem australien Darren Bundock / Nina Curtis, des Néerlandais champions d’Europe en titre Mandy Mulder et Coen De Koning, et de quelques Français, à l’instar de Franck Cammas et Sophie de Turckheim (13^e). Billy et Marie, seul équipage tricolore en lice, se battront quant à eux pour monter sur le podium de ce championnat.

Le grand show

La medal race (finale à 10 bateaux) se disputera devant la digue Est, à l’entrée du port de La Grande Motte, comme pour le Trophée Clairefontaine. Les 10 finalistes régateront donc devant le public grand-mottois. Ces ultimes échauffourées seront commentées en direct.

Le top 10 après 8  manches

1- ESP 246 Iker Martinez/Tara Pacheco  21 pts
2- ITA 200 Vittorio Bissaro/Silvia Sicouri 34 pts
3- DEN 248 Allan Norregaard/Line Just 39 pts
4- FRA 1 Billy Besson/Marie Riou 42 pts
5- AUS 158 Euan Mac Nicol/Lucinda Whitty 46 pts
6- AUS 133 Jason Waterhouse/Lisa Darmanin 48 pts
7- NED 243 Renee Groeneveld/Steven KROL 53 pts
8- AUT 205 Thomas Zajac/Tanja Frank 60 pts
9- GBR 76 Pipa Wilson/John Gimson 61 pts
10-SUI 220 Matias Bahler/Nathalie Brugger 61 pts
(…)

13- Franck Cammas/ Sophie de Turckheim, 70 pts
14- Moana Vaireaux/Manon Audinet, 73 pts

(…)
16 - Audrey Ogereau/Matthieu Vandame, 82 pts

Ils ont dit :

Iker Martinez (ESP) : « Je pense que Tara va bien dormir ce soir. Ca n’était pas une journée facile. C’était venté, mais pas extrêmement, sauf dans les deux derniers bords. On a fait de bons retours en cours de manche, le vent était très changeant. C’était une de ces journées où il fallait exploiter les bascules. C’est bien, parce qu’on avait mal commencé le premier jour : une collision  et un trou dans la coque de notre bateau.  Notre équipage progresse. Ici, à La Grande Motte, ça a été venté et nous nous sommes bien débrouillés, mais nous avons encore du chemin à faire pour arriver là où sont les Italiens et Billy et Marie dans ces conditions. Mais bon, aujourd’hui, on était bien, on a pas mal assuré dans la brise, sachant que certains ont dessalé. »

Vittorio Bissaro (ITA) : “En réalité, nous ne sommes pas hyper contents parce que nous n’avons pas très bien navigué aujourd’hui. Nous n’avons pas été inspirés sur les risées. Parfois, c’est difficile de trouver le compromis entre tactique et stratégie. Mais dans ce type de conditions, on fait plus facilement attention au vent qu’aux autres concurrents. Heureusement, la dernière course a été la bonne. Nous l’avons remportée ce qui nous a permis de pas mal gagner au classement. Nous sommes maintenant en 2^e position ce qui est très bien pour attaquer la medal race. Demain, pour la finale, on va juste aller sur l’eau et faire la meilleure régate possible. »

Allan Norregaard (DEN) : “J’espère que demain, le vent sera moins fort. Visiblement, on est bien dans la brise. J’aimerai voir ce que ça donne dans un vent plus léger. Nous ne nous attendions pas à être aussi bien placés dans ce championnat. Et nous sommes très heureux d’être là où nous sommes. J’aime bien les medal race, c’est toujours très plaisant, très fun ces petites courses rapides. On en a déjà fait une à Kiel et ça nous a bien réussi. C’est toujours très serré. Tout le monde peut doubler tout le monde alors je peux vous assurer qu’il n’y aura pas de match race entre les uns et les autres, tout le monde va faire sa propre course. Nous sommes 2 anciens coureurs du 49er dans le top 3 ( Iker, médaillé d’Or et d’Argent aux J.O et lui, médaillé de bronze à Londres). C’est marrant mais pas si étonnant que ça. Le Nacra17 et le 49er se ressemblent assez. J’ai aussi navigué un peu  en Tornado. Mais je pense que le Nacra est plus proche du 49er que du Tornado. »

Les gars et les filles

Photo : Antoine Beysens

Pas de course aujourd’hui à La Grande Motte pour cause de vent trop fort (25/30 nœuds de tramontane). Le début des phases finales est donc reporté à demain vendredi. C’est l’occasion de se pencher sur un sujet d’actualité incarné dans son aspect sportif par le Nacra17 : mixité, parité et partage des tâches.

La grande originalité du Nacra17, c’est la mixité. L’imposition d’un gars et d’une fille à bord d’un même bateau. A partir de là se pose une cruciale : qui conduit  et qui occupe le siège passager ? Sachant que le passager en question est responsable des manœuvres et d’une grande partie de la stratégie. Pour l’instant, il y a plus d’hommes pilotes que de femmes : sur ce Championnat d’Europe, 1/3 des équipages présente des  filles à la barre (24 filles sur 71 teams).L’explication la plus naturelle à cet état de fait : les garçons  ont historiquement une plus grande expérience du catamaran de sport à haut niveau que leurs homologues féminines. On leur donne donc le volant. Pourtant, ils seraient plus aptes, physiquement, à être d’efficaces « manœuvriers ». Les conditions de navigation musclées qui sévissent sur cette épreuve mettent en exergue l’aspect très physique du Nacra 17  pour l’équipier.

Quel est donc la configuration idéale ? Pour l’instant, le haut du classement général provisoire est plutôt occupé par des tandems au sein desquels les garçons ont le manche. C’est le cas de Billy Besson/Marie  Riou (FRA), Vittorio Bissaro/Silvia Sicouri (ITA), Allan Norregaard/Line Just (DEN), Jason Watherhouse/Lisa Darmanin (AUS), Euan Mc Nicol/Lucinda Whitty (AUS) et Iker Martinez/Tara Pacheco (ESP). Les premiers à présenter une configuration inverse sont les Anglais Lucy MacGregor et Andrew Walsh (7^e), suivis de peu par Audrey Ogereau et Matthieu Vandame (FRA, 8e). Dans le top 16, on trouve six équipages où les filles barrent… exactement la même proportion que sur l’ensemble de la flotte. Quelle sera la tendance dans les prochaines années, alors que la classe n’a que deux ans et demi d’existence ? Chacun a son avis sur la question…

Franck Citeau, entraîneur de l’équipe de France : « Après Rio, c’est la fin des hommes qui barrent »

“ Pour moi, l’unique configuration qu’il y aura sur la prochaine olympiade, ce sera une fille à la barre et un garçon en tant qu’équipier. Pour cette campagne-là, il y avait beaucoup plus de garçons ayant une expérience du catamaran (issus du Tornado, de la Formule18), comparé aux filles. Du coup, ils  ont un avantage sur l’agressivité au départ, dans le maniement du bateau et dans la culture du réglage des catas. Une fois que les filles auront comblé ce retard, dès la fin de cette olympiade, ce seront les dernières heures des hommes à la barre ! C’est mon expertise personnelle. Peut-être ai-je tort. Mais tu t’aperçois vite, que ce bateau, dès qu’il y a du vent, impose  une grosse dominante physique. C’est un bateau qui demande d’être dominé.  Si tu ne le domines pas, c’est lui qui te domine. Il faut donc de la force physique dans les manœuvres. Je pense que les nations qui commencent à former des équipages avec des filles à la barre, comme les Hollandais ou les Anglais, seront au rendez-vous dans les prochaines années.

Mitch Booth, entraîneur de l’équipe hollandaise : « On devrait avoir deux séries : un cata féminin et un cata masculin »

“ C’est un bateau très physique pour l’équipier. Dans le vent fort, ce doit être exténuant. Donc, dans la brise,  il y a un avantage aux hommes qui équipent.  C’est plus facile pour eux. Je pense toutefois que toutes les combinaisons peuvent gagner, quel que soit le type de condition de vent. La preuve avec Billy Besson et Marie Riou.

Mais pour moi, honnêtement, le Nacra 17 devrait être un bateau exclusivement féminin et il devrait y avoir un autre multi aux J.O pour les hommes. C’est super que les filles soient là, en catamaran, même si c’est de façon obligatoire. Mais je pense qu’il y a la place pour un bateau pour les filles et un pour les garçons. Je ne pense pas que la mixité soit forcément une bonne idée. Peu de sports olympiques le sont. Il y avait le tennis, mais ça a fini par disparaître. On ne voit pas du lancer de poids ou de javelot mixte aux Jeux…

Comme je l’ai dit, je suis vraiment favorable à ce qu’il y ai des filles en catamaran, parce qu’on en manquait jusque-là et d’ailleurs le Nacra17 est un support parfait pour elles. Le poids moyen de l’équipage est de 120-140 kg mais la tendance est d’avoir des équipages de plus en plus légers. 120 kilos à eux, c’est trop léger  pour un garçon. Alors pour moi : deux filles sur un même bateau, c’est la configuration idéale, comme dans toutes les autres séries voile olympiques.

Lucy Mac Gregor, barreuse de GBR 42 : « Beaucoup de filles se blessent, plus que les garçons »

« Je pense qu’on pourrait avoir les deux configurations sans problème. Mais les bateaux sont très physiques. Je n’envie pas particulièrement les filles équipières. Elles doivent bosser super dur à l’avant du bateau et personnellement, je pense que c’est un avantage d’avoir quelqu’un de physiquement fort à ce poste. Toutefois, quand le vent n’est pas trop fort, ce n’est pas vraiment un problème.

C’est difficile dans une série olympique, parce qu’on est tous sur un pied d’égalité quoi qu’il arrive. A la fin, il y a Rio et il faut se qualifier, survivre jusque-là. Il y a pas mal de filles qui se blessent plus que les garçons. Mais il faut résister à ça, naviguer le plus possible, régater le plus possible pour être assez fort au moment des échéances.

 Il y a des filles talentueuses qui barrent en Nacra : Mandy, Renee, Pipa, les Françaises. Il y a une super ambiance au sein de la flotte et il n’y a pas d’équipage type. Personne ne sait si c’est mieux d’avoir une femme ou un homme à la barre. »

Il n’y a pas de tendance particulière chez les nouveaux équipages qui arrivent. Et on ne voit pas pour l’instant de paires qui échangent les postes. A la barre, il y a des gars comme Billy qui ont une grosse expérience du catamaran.  Moi et Pippa (Wilson, l’autre barreuse anglaise de l’équipe) n’avons pas la même expérience du multi et il faut rattraper ce retard. Par contre, on a beaucoup navigué aussi sur d’autres supports. J’ai fait beaucoup de match racing et je trouve que nerveusement, c’est plus facile en Nacra 17. Tu n’as pas à prendre une décision toutes les 10 secondes. En même temps, le match race, ça aide pas mal : la longueur des parcours, les croisements…

Girls and Boys

Photo : Antoine Beysens

The strong Mistral gusting up to 30kts at times meant it was too windy for the first scheduled Finals day of racing at the Nacra 17 European Championships. Racing is billed to resume Friday with a start sequence planned from 1000hrs local time.

There is no doubt that the Nacra 17 mixed crew catamaran will be one of the most exciting and closely watched of the sailing classes at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. All the forecasts and historical meteo data point to a light winds regatta favouring light sailors, but didn’t they say that about Qingdao?

At these Nacra 17 European Championships in La Grande Motte, France, which have so far been quite physical and breezy, in the top 16 placed after there are presently six crews with females steering. Women helms have been winning races here, notably GBR’s ex match race world champion Lucy MacGregor and Andrew Walsh, NZL’s Gemma Jones with Jason Saunders, and of course the current European champions are Mandy Mulder and Coen De Koening. Overall in the 71 strong fleet there are 24 teams with female helms.

In the stronger breeze conventional current thinking decrees that the girl crews need to be increasingly stronger and fitter. Around the boat park opinions vary as to what the likely trends are as the class moves first to its first ISAF World Championships in Santander, Spain in September and then through the Olympic cycle to Rio.

French multihull coach Franck Citeau is responsible for a team of four Nacra 17 crews of which one has a female helm, Audrey Ogerau who sails with Matthieu Vandame. They are lying eighth overall at the moment:

 “As far as I’m concerned, the only configuration possible for the next Olympics (2020 not 2016) will be to have the woman at the helm and the man as crewman. For this campaign, there were many more boys with experience of catamaran sailing (from the Tornado and Formula18 circuits) than girls. Consequently, they have the advantage of being that much more aggressive at the start, also in the way they handle the boat and in their knowledge of racing catamarans. Once the girls have caught them up, by the end of this Olympic cycle, it will be the end of seeing the lads at the helm. That’s how I see it now with my professional experience. I may be wrong. But you can easily see that this boat requires a lot of physical strength as soon as the wind gets up. We’re looking at a boat that needs to be under control. If you can’t achieve that, the boat will control you. So, you need a lot of physical effort when carrying out manoeuvres. I think that countries that are beginning to train women to take the helm, like the Dutch and English, will stand out in the next few years.”

The Dutch come to the Nacra 17 with crews with much more of a monohull background. But they have an excellent, experienced talent base and are being coached by Mitch Booth, double Olympic Tornado medallist. Booth says:

“ It's obviously a big physical job on the front of the boat, crewing, and in the strong wind I think it can be very tiring. So I think the guys that are crewing in the strong wind probably are more physical. They are probably having an easier time than the girls that are crewing but I still think that either combination is capable of winning in strong wind it doesn't really matter if it is a guy or a girl crewing or steering, either way it works.”

“ Billy Besson is proving that with a girl crewing in strong wind and then there are other teams with girls steering that are doing well in strong wind.”

Booth cites an ideal Olympic world where there should be two multihull classes:

“ Well it should change, the Nacra 17 should be for girls and there should be a multi-hull, I believe, for guys as well. I never agreed with it. I think it is fantastic that the girls are being, in a way, forced into catamaran sailing, which is great, but I really believe that there is the right place for a girls discipline and a guys discipline on catamaran.”

 “ I have said I am all for bringing the girls into the sport, particularly into catamaran sailing because we never had enough of that but this boat is perfectly suited to two girls because it is 120-140kg bracket and now we are seeing that the crew weights are going down, down, down and now I think as we get to the Olympics I think the best crew weight will be 120kgs which is too light for a guy to get to otherwise he is going to be nothing.”

“ Two girls sailing on the boat is the best configuration. That's the best configuration. I mean take the other classes in the Olympics, you have Laser Radials, Laser Standard, you have 470 men and women, you have 49er and 49er men and women FX so it should be a multi-hull the same way. We have the same amount of girls in the game then and it's more appropriate to represent the sport. In my own view anyway.”

GBR’s Lucy MacGregor is currently the top placed female helm:

“ I think generally in most of the events we have seen on average there are more male helms than female helms but I think a lot of that has come from the experience beforehand. If it has been an experienced guy helm and continuing to helm then that is the way they have stayed. To be honest I think most of the year you could probably do it either way around. The boats are very physical and I certainly don't envy the female crews at all, they have to work hard at the front of the boat and personally I think it's an advantage to have the fitter stronger person at the front but actually a lot of the time, as I say, it is pretty light and then it's not such a big deal.”

It's hard with Olympics sailing because at the end of the day we are all here for the same thing and that is the end thing and that's Rio, but you have to get there. You have to qualify, you have to do event after event and survive and there's a lot of female crews with a lot of bandages on them at the moment here, likewise there’s quite a few male crews with injuries but you have got to be able to get through the whole proccess and be able to do enough events to learn enough to actually get to the end game, Rio”

“ At the end of the day I think a lot of people are loving the boats. They're exciting, they're fast and a lot are really enjoying the challenge, for sure. It's a step up from what a lot of people have done before in terms of the physicality of it and you look around and the whole fleet looks really fit and healthy and that’s a great thing for our sport that it is moving to more athletecism. I think there is the odd day like yesterday.”

“It's been a relatively windy season so far and you only need one breeze and that can decide the fleet a bit.”

“ There doesn't seem to be a trend in terms of new teams coming in or teams switching. As I say, they stick coming in to who is suited to which role best and get on with it that way. I haven't seen that many swap.”

You see some of the guy helms like Billy (Besson) for example, who have done a lot of cat' sailing, are very experienced, myself and Pippa (Wilson, Olympic Yngling gold medallist) for example haven't done much catamaran sailing and are playing catch-up a little bit on that. We have all done a lot of sailing though.”

I think the boats are fairly evenly set out who does what, there's not that many options of who does what but you do see some of the guys take the main sheet upwind, but to me that just means a loss of performance because why wouldn't you just trim it as hard as you can all the time.”

“ Tactically, I think it depends a bit on the sailors. For us, the more I get used to the boat the more I can get my head out of the boat, the more I can give tactically. So at the moment Walsh has been doing a lot of it but we are trying to make it a bit more equal and there's different conditions that suit different roles. I don't think its like 470s much where it is all on the crew upwind because the helm is just so in the boat, there's a bit more leniency for people to share that out.”

“ Fitness compared to the Elliott match racing, it's very different, I think it helps to be very agile in the boat, to get around quickly, because when you do need to do something you need to do it quickly and powerfully. When it is that infrequent time where you end up doing something on the main sheet you do need to do that with some power so for sure I want to get fitter and stronger for the boat but well different because for example my leg strength is nothing like it was in the Elliot right now. So it's just a different type of physicality really and in many ways I am finding the racing less stressful on the mind than the match-racing. Often I would come of the water after the match-racing and be really tired mentally whereas here it's just different because you just don't have to be making decisions every ten seconds whereas sometimes you were in the Elliott.”

“ I think it helps because the racing is short and sharp generally and a bit bigger race-crosses here but often we are seeing 30 minute long races where things are happening quickly and you have to be on your toes.”

“ You have some fantastic sailors in there: Mandy, Renee, Myself, Pippa, a couple of the French girls, some awesome sailors in there. There's a great feeling in the fleet that there isn't a set way it should be there isn't a set size yet. No one knows that it should definitely be female helms or male helms yet. I think you get that even this week, it's a really nice atmosphere. We're racing really hard on the water but you come ashore and it's friendly and we're kind of sharing ideas a little bit without sharing too much.”

Ends

World Champions lead into Finals

Photo Antoine Beysens

Counting no worse than second places World Champions Billy Besson and Marie Riou lead the overall standings after five races at the Nacra 17 European Championships at La Grande Motte as the fleet split into a 40 strong Gold fleet and 31 Silver fleet. Two further races were sailed in very variable, shifty offshore and cross offshore winds which rose and fell between 5 and 25kts. Besson and Riou were the most consistent in the fleet posting two secure second places, matched for best aggregate tally for the day by Australian cousins Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darman who scored 1,3 to qualify in fourth, just ahead of compatriots Euan McNicol and Lucinda Whitty and Spain’s Iker Martinez and Tara Pachecho.

To try and beat the forecasted strong Mistral winds the racing schedule was advanced by two hours, but the efforts proved largely in vain as the winds initially were too strong. But – contrary to the expected trend – the breezes died away enough to allow two difficult races to be contested for both qualifying fleets. The crews were kept guessing some of the time, with big changes in wind direction from leg to leg, especially later in the day. The veering wind became harder to read as it came more off the shore, making consistency elusive.

Waterhouse and Dalman, past ISAF Youth Worlds champions and Hobie 16 Youth world champions, won the first race of the day, leading from the windward mark and staying ahead of Besson and Riou with Darren Bundock and Nina Curtis third.  In the other fleet Franck Cammas and Sophie De Turckheim won their first race here, sailing better in the tactical, shifty conditions than they did on their opening day, Tuesday. And in the second race for this fleet Lucy MacGregor and Andrew Walsh profited nicely when the breeze went right, they gybe set and were able to rise from second to first which they held across the finish, qualifying the British duo in seventh.

Besson and Riou have medalled at all their regattas since last year, Besson holding both the F18 and Nacra 17 world titles at the same time, and they remain on dominant form carrying forwards two second and two first places,  even if the French duo until now – have been more focused on working up their new boat here. But Besson notes that the competition is hotting up behind them

“ In reality we are focusing mainly on working up the new boat and polishing how we work together on board.  We are in good shape but there are some new teams emerging in recent days. There are the Danish (Norregaard) and even all the Danish team I think are strong. The Argentinian (Santi Lange) has raised his game and as soon as there was a breeze, we see that the New Zealand and Australian team are all right up there "

The young Aussies are relishing the forecasted strong Mistral conditions which they hope will materialise on cue.  Waterhouse said:

“ It's lovely, the breeze is good, I love this weather forecast for the next few days.”

“ We did well I think just by really trying to keep the head out of the boat and picking the right shifts every now and then. It was really up and down so Lisa did a great job of keeping the boat going fast and I just kept my head and pointed the boat in the right direction essentially. We've been sailing this for about a year now. We are multihull sailors coming through from the Hobie16 days. I do a bit of A-class stuff, I just got second at the European Championships. I did the F18 World Championships as well but I haven't won any, Billy has been winning them all apparently. Lisa and I won the ISAF youth world's together in 2009 in Brazil. Hopefully we can go back to Brazil in a couple of years and win again. We're cousins, we've been sailing together since 2007 and I have known her for a long time before that as well. So we get along just great.”

“ The ultimate goal is Santander and the ISAF Worlds however a result here would be really nice to help us. Naturally I think as Australians we are quite strong in the breeze but in saying that, particularly this season we have been working on our light wind stuff. Last year I would have said I hate the light wind and now I'd say I actually quite enjoy it.”

Racing for the Gold fleet starts 1100hrs Thursday with a forecast for up to 25kts of breeze.

Standings after five races counting four (discard)

1. Billy Besson/ Marie Riou (FRA) (5)1,1,2,2. 6pts

2. Vittorio Bissaro/ Silvia Sicuori (ITA) 1,(6)1,3,4. 9pts

3. Allan Norregaard/ Line Just (DEN) 2,2,4,4 (6). 12pts

4. Jasion Waterhouse/ Lisa Darmanin (AUS) (6) 4,6,1,3. 14pts

5. Euan McNicol/ Lucinda Whitty (AUS) 2,(10) 4,8,1. 15pts

6. Iker Martinez/ Tara Pacheco (ESP) (DNF) RDG 3,2,4,6. 15pts

7. Lucy MacGregor/ Andrew Walsh (GBR) 3,3,(13) 11,1. 18pts

8. Audrey Ogereau/ Matthieu Vandame (FRA) (22) 10,2,6,5. 23pts

9. Matais Bahler/ Nathalie Brugger (SUI) (BFD) 8,5,7,3. 23pts

10. Nicole Van Der Velden/ Thijs Visser (ARU) 8,7,3,5 (9).  23pts

They said:

Mandy Mulder NED : It was weird. The first race the wind was really up and down and shifting a lot. We came out of it well with a second but are disappointed to get a BFD. The first upwind on the second race it was very windy and for the downwind too. But then the wind dropped and shifted 50 degrees to the right and we had to reach down to the mark. We got a seventh out of that which a struggle but we were happy to get that. La Grande Motte has been quite challenging so for but we are quite happy. We are doing OK. Hopefully the winds will be kind for us in the next days when it counts.

Ben Saxton GBR: “It was a tricky day really shifty, quite nice overall but winds were from five knots to 25kts and averaging around ten knots. We had some kite issues on the first lap but came back and did better in the second race. We are doing better today. Yesterday we were happy with our speed but the decision making was not so good. Today was a hard day for the decision making but we did that well. It is good to know we can do it. There is lots of wind forecast for every day but it did not materialise. In the greater scheme of things we seem to be able to put in a result at every event which is nice, but we are a bit disappointed with yesterday.

Andrew Walsh GBR:  It was a pretty even upwind. The second beat we got to the right and the breeze rotated to the right slightly and that got us up to second. On the last run we were the first to gybe set and that got us straight into the lead. It is good to get a win under the belt. It is set up to be a windy regatta and our boat speed is good. It went light at times, yes, but the rest of the time there was plenty of breeze. Not getting too excited about making changes straight away is good, then picking the best settings just before the start is good, otherwise you can get yourselves into problems. It is such a great fleet, in among these sailing superstars, your Bundocks, Iker and Cammas, and then you have the very good up and coming sailors. It is a brilliant mix and so it is always good to get a win.

Franck Cammas (FRA), winner of Race 4 with Sophie de Turckheim: "There might be a protest against our race win but we’ll see. It was really difficult today. We had a big black cloud and the wind went up and down from five to 25kts. There were some big shifts. On the second round we were almost reaching on the upwind and downwind was almost too tight for the kite. We had a bit of everything. It was changeable but good learning.  We got the right sides of the shifts and that was not easy to be safe all the time. We made it simple and seem to have good speed upwind in these conditions.”

Billy Besson (FRA) at the top of the standings with Marie Riou: "It's not too bad! It's always good to finish top of qualifying because it all counts. So we have done OK so far even if we are still a bit away from winning the regatta. In reality we are focusing mainly on working up the new boat and polishing how we work together on board.  We are in good shape but there are some new teams emerging in recent days. There are Danish (Norregaard) and even all the Danish team I think are strong. The Argentinian (Santi Lange) has raised his game and as soon as there was a breeze, we see that the New Zealand and Australian team are all right up there "