Lake Geneva presented a challenging third day of racing for the TF35s, but the light-to-no wind forecast eventually rewarded the patience of the teams and perseverance of the race committee, who were able to hold one successful race.
In this, it was Spindrift, helmed by Yann Guichard, that mastered a clean start closest to the pin in the delicate 6 knot breeze. She found good pressure alone on the left as the rest of the cutting-edge hydro-foiling catamarans went right.
“It was the only race, but it was good for us,” explained Guichard . “I’m really pleased with how we sailed today. We had a good start. Yann Jauvin, our tactician, had already made the call to go left, and it was the right decision. It wasn’t easy to stay in flying mode, but this was the key, keeping the boat flying as long as we could.”
Downwind the only real threat to Spindrift’s lead came from Jérôme Clerc on Realteam. When the call to finish the race at the windward gate came through on the radio, Guichard’s team found a pocket of pressure and lurched across the finish line ahead of their rivals.
Of the conditions today Guichard admits: “The boats are very sensitive, so sailing in the light winds is an entirely different skill from the stronger winds of yesterday. You have more time to think, make tactical moves, to consider what is happening on the lake.
“You also need to keep the boat flying, which takes a lot of concentration from everyone on board. It‘s a real team effort to win a race.”
Despite several attempts to set a course for a subsequent race, as the fickle lake gave glimpses of more breeze on the horizon, the ever-hopeful Principal Race Officer, Benoit Deutsch, finally admitted defeat at 1700hrs and ended the day.
Making the most of the downtime, a group of 15 young people from Léman hope, a Lausanne based charity that supports, inspires and empowers young people in recovery from cancer through sailing, joined each of the TF35 teams.
There may not have been enough wind for a reliable race course, but there was enough for the crews to take their young guests for a blast on the foils.
Overall rankings after four races with one discard:
- Realteam for Léman hope – 1 1 3 2 – 4
- Alinghi Red Bull Racing – 2 2 1 3 -5
- Spindrift – 3 5 2 1 – 6
- Team Sailfever – 7 3 4 5 – 12
- Zen Too – 5 6 6 4 – 15
- Vitamina Sailing – 6 4 5 7 -15
- Ylliam XII – Comptoir Immobilier – 4 7 8DNF 6 – 17
Follow the racing from the final day via the trac app or the http://www.tf35.org home page
