SAILING:IT COULD be aptly described as the "Kish Bank two-step" but for Yann Guichard on Spindrift it was simply a case of submitting to another maestro of offshore racing as Michel Desjoyeaux nipped in to the lead less than 20 miles from the finish of the MOD70 European Tour 1,400-mile first leg leg from Kiel to Dún Laoghaire.
Having had a full range of conditions since Sunday afternoon’s start in Germany, the fleet of five brand new one-design trimarans were able to deliver impressive speeds, though the finish itself was one grade above a drift-a-thon at about two knots. But that was enough to deliver victory for Desjoyeaux, or “Le Prof”, who brought his Foncia into first place with 31 seconds to spare over Guichard.
Having led for most of the race, it was a tough outcome after over-coming steering problems and holding the fleet at bay.
In fact, the top three boats were separated by just 77 seconds as Seb Josse and his youthful crew on Groupe Edmond de Rothschild placed third and were followed a bit later by Steve Ravussin on Race for Water, while Sidney Gavignet on Oman Sail took fifth place 90 minutes behind the winner.
Gavignet counts Brian Thompson as one of his senior crew members and the British sailor recalled his previous visit to Dún Laoghaire 19 years ago when he sailed with the late Steve Fossett along with Cathy MacAleavey and Con Murphy on Lakota to set the round Ireland speed sailing record of 44 hours 42 minutes. That unbeaten record could yet be reduced considerably in the right weather window by this generation of modern multihull and an attempt in a MOD70-footer could emerge from this visit to Ireland.
Meanwhile, following a rest day today, the five-boat fleet will be racing close to Dún Laoghaire’s East Pier for the next three days, where grandstand views and near perfect winds are expected.
Murphy and MacAleaveys’ Olympian daughter Annalise will be taking part in tomorrow’s programme. Racing begins at 3pm today and tomorrow and continues until 6pm while the second stage of the European tour gets under way to Caiscais in Portugal on Sunday, also at 3pm.
