The Yacht Club de Cannes in the French Riviera played host for the French J/70 Sailing League Finale on the Mediterranean for 15 sailing clubs from across France. The three-day event saw sharp racing amongst the top teams, tightly fought starts and close racing due to very even boatspeeds amongst the competition. After 12 races for each team (a total of 36 races completed), it was SR ANTIBES that won the regatta winning 10 of 12 races sailed. However, it was not enough to take over the overall French Sailing League series; that title went to the very consistent sailing of APCC VOILE SPORTIVE that won seven of their 12 races to take second in Cannes and be awarded first overall.
Day 1: The rain in the Bay of Cannes did not disturb the good progress of the event since three complete flights and nine races were run from 1400 hours and onward in an oscillating wind. Leading was Sofian Bouvet’s team on SR ANTIBES with three out of three victories. Sitting in second was Simon Bertheau’s crew on APPC VOILE SPORTIVE with a 1-2-1 tally. Third was a top French woman skipper, Mathilde de Kérangat, of the SR ROCHELAISES team with a 3-1-1 record.
Day 2: Clears skies and a breeze from the south swept the race course with 13-18 knots all day. Excited about the big waves and planing-mode winds were Bouvet’s SR ANTIBES team, posting four bullets and a third to pull further away from the fleet. Also reveling in the conditions were Bertheau’s Nantais crew on APCC VOILE SPORTIVE, winning three of their races and sitting just four points back from SR ANTIBES. The big mover for the day was the CV Saint Aubin Elbeuf team, winning three races and adding two deuces to climb into the bronze position for the regatta.
Day 3: On the Sunday finale, the teams were greeted with big breaking waves and 20-25 knot winds offshore. Taking the big seas/big winds in stride was Bouvet’s SR ANTIBES crew, posting a record of 1-1-3-1 to win the Cannes event with ease for a total of 16 points. Their nemesis all weekend posted an even better scoreline of 1-2-1-1 to take second with 19 points. The bronze went to the CV Saint Aubin Elbeuf team, winning their last race in the big breeze to win a tie-breaker over CV ECOLE NAVALE at 23 points each. For the overall French Sailing League series, APCC VOILE SPORTIVE won a tie-breaker over CV SAINT AUBIN ELBEUF. Both had identical scores of 2-3 in both Léry-Poses and Cannes. However, the Nantais on APCC VOILE SPORTIVE won by virtue of a higher score in the final event in Cannes. Thrilled to race up the overall leaderboard from fifth place after Léry-Poses to the bronze on the podium were the team from SR ANTIBES. For more French Sailing League information, visit http://evenements.ffvoile.fr/lnvoile/actus/.