Guy de Picciotto’s Zen TOO made the best start today to the final deciding event of the 2024 TF35 season when they won the first race, took third in the second race and followed it up with another victory in the third windward-leward race.
Racing in a light but stable six-knot NE’ly Sechard wind was enough to see the TF35 high-performance catamaran foiling up and downwind. Still, the featherlight breeze put a premium on the skill of the crews boat handling and their ability to sail clean and out of trouble. In both the first and third races, Zen TOO started well mid-line, sailed conservable, tacking off early and taking a more central line up the first beat, and extended downwind to creep into the lead by the second windward gate.
“We had a good day, but we know there’s still a long way to go. We’re a little ahead, but it’s very tight, so we’re going to have to stay focused. We’re all happy, we’ve worked hard for this and it’s cool to be here at the last Grand Prix and to put in a performance like today,” said helm Loïc Forestier.
“For tomorrow, we’re going to take it one race at a time and then we’ll see what happens depending on the conditions and the result. The TF35 fleet has become so dense that everyone is capable of putting in some great races, so if you start thinking about how to strategise in relation to the other teams, you can only lose,” he adds.
Another team that stayed out of trouble today was Ylliam XII – Comptoir Immobilier, with owner Bertrand Demole at the helm. A second in the second and third race of the day put them three points behind leader Zen TOO in the overnight ranking.
‘It was a beautiful day on Lake Geneva at the end of summer. There were some light airs, which is tactical. It was more or less the usual pattern. You go up to Versoix, there’s a hill effect on the right, a lot of teams start off on port tack, and then you have to find the right places to tack,” explained Demole after racing.
“We’re happy with the result. It’s actually pretty good because we’re going 4-2-2, but our direct rivals [Zen TOO] are doing better. So we’ll have to fight a bit harder tomorrow”.
Despite posting a 3 4 3 scoreline, circuit leaders Realteam Sailing find themselves in fourth place at the end of the day and, most notably for them, tied on points with rivals Sails of Change 8 but behind on countback after Yann Guichard’s crew took the lead on the first run of the second race and managed to open out more distance to take a comfortable victory.
With light winds on the forecast again for tomorrow, the race committee has already called to delay the skippers meeting to 12:00, with the first warning at 13:00.
TF35 REALSTONE CUP FOR LÉMAN HOPE: (after three races)
1. ZEN Too (SUI 4) – 1 3 1 – 5
2. Ylliam XII—Comptoir Immobilier (SUI 12) – 4 2 2 – 8
3. Sails of Change 8 (SUI 8 ) – 5 1 4 – 10
4. Realteam Sailing (SUI 7) – 3 4 3 – 10
5. Ylliam 17 (SUI 17) – 2 6 5 – 13
6. Sails of Change 10 (SUI 10) – 6 5 6 17
TF35 TROPHY OVERALL RANKING 2024: (after five events with one discard)
1. Realteam Sailing (SUI 7) – 2 1 2 1 – 4
2. Sails of Change 8 (SUI 8 ) – 1 2 1 2 – 4
3. ZEN Too (SUI 4) – 4 3 5 3 – 10
4. Ylliam XII—Comptoir Immobilier (SUI 12) – 3 5 3 4 – 10
5. Ylliam 17 (SUI 17) – 6 6 4 5 – 15
6. Sails of Change 10 (SUI 10) – 5 4 6 6 – 15
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