Valencia inshores, day 1: Edmond de Rothschild tops the leaderboard with Spindrift Racing
With three inshore races run this afternoon in Valencia, the Route des Princes’ crews got down to business. It was beneath a cloudy, even stormy sky, brushed by an easterly wind that eased as the day went on, that the crew of Edmond de Rothschild and its adversaries opened hostilities. There were three winners in as many races, testifying to the uniformity of the fleet and the closely-fought competition that lies ahead, much to everyone’s delight. Second in the opening race, then winner of race 2, prior to securing third place in the final race of the day, Sébastien Josse and the men of Edmond de Rothschild are leading the provisional ranking this evening. They’re sharing the top spot with Spindrift Racing since the two one-designs each boast twenty-four points. Jean-Pierre Dick and his crew complete this provisional podium.

“Three races and three different winners: it’s close!” exclaimed the skipper of Edmond de Rothschild. “The courses were relatively short – between 1 and 1.5 miles – which made it a physical exercise for the crew, who had to carry out a series of manœuvres. Today we were able to see that a good start wasn’t necessarily synonymous with victory and the reverse of that. We won the second race ahead of Oman in the final few metres thanks to better manoeuvring. It was a very positive day aboard Edmond de Rothschild, even though we encountered a slight technical issue in the 3rd and final race. In the first downwind run, our furler sheet went over the element attached to the front of the boat and we weren’t able to furl in the gennaker. It was pretty hot and our participation in the race was under threat for a while. However, we managed to find a solution and thus remain in front of Oman Air. The crew remained very calm despite the situation. We’ve really enjoyed ourselves and the very pleasant atmosphere reigning aboard augurs well for the next stage of the competition,” Sébastien Josse admitted on his return to the dock in the Marina Real Juan Carlos I. 

For Sébastien Col, the tactician aboard Edmond de Rothschild, today was a first. Given the results, it’s a successful baptism of fire for the match racing specialist: “It was a great day with close contact and lots of action! The crew manœuvres very well, which really makes my work as a tactician easier, and it enables me to be more ambitious with our choice of tacks. These races were my first inshore races in MOD70 racing so there’s bound to be some adjustments to be made. I’ve already identified certain points to be improved on, which I’ll try to put into practice tomorrow. The wind was easing – between 16 and 10 knots - whilst the grib files were forecasting the opposite. The weather wasn’t the usual kind of thing you get here at this time of year. It has been very hot inshore over the past few days, with a fair bit of humidity and I think these phenomena together explain the very cloudy, stormy skies we can see. Tomorrow, we aren’t likely to be in a classic pattern so the wind will blow in from a different direction. It’s still hard to tell what kind of wind strength we’ll have to deal with.”

In the ranking, the trimaran fitted out by Baron Benjamin de Rothschild and Spindrift Racing are tied on points in first place with twenty-four points each. Jean-Pierre Dick and his crew, authors of a fine victory in the final race of the day, have secured a provisional third place. “This evening, we’re tied on the top spot with Spindrift, which is the reference boat. However, the idea isn’t to go match racing and forget about Oman and Virbac, that would be a mistake. Tomorrow we need to continue to do what we know best, by trying to get some good starts and putting up as consistent a performance as possible and applying ourselves to the tactics,” the skipper of Edmond de Rothschild concluded.

Though the weather conditions, which await the sailors tomorrow still seem too tricky to accurately predict, the programme has already been established. The fleet of MOD70s will be back on the Spanish race zone for three new inshore races from 1600 hours. After these races, which should finish off around 1900 hours local time, we’ll know the winner of the Valencia Inshores.

Ranking for the Valencia Inshores – Day 1

1 tied. Edmond de Rothschild (Sébastien Josse) – 2 – 1 – 3 / 24 points
2 tied. Spindrift Racing (Xavier Revil) – 1 – 3  - 2 / 24 points
3. Virbac Paprec 70 (Jean-Pierre Dick) - 3 - 4 – 1 /20 pts
4. Musandam – Oman Air (Sidney Gavignet) – 4 - 2 - 4 / 16 pts

The crew of Edmond de Rothschild for the Valencia inshores

Sébastien Josse (skipper)
Charles Caudrelier (navigator) / Sébastien Col (tactician) / Thomas Rouxel (trimmer) / Olivier Douillard (trimmer) / Cyril Dardashti (grinder)  / David Boileau (grinder) / Florent Chastel (bowman)

 

 

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