Realstone Sailing finishes third at Decision 35 Grand Prix Grange & Cie

Realstone Sailing finishes third at the Decision 35 Grand Prix Grange & Cie © Christian Pfahl / Realteam

Realteam continues with its run of good form with a third place overall at last weekend's Grand Prix Grange & Cie at the Geneva Yacht Club – the penultimate event of the Vulcain Trophy. This result puts Realteam second overall in the season ranking; a position that they will fight to maintain going into the final race!

Geneva, 24 September 2013 – Jerome Clerc and the Realteam Decision 35 crew raced six races at the seventh event of the Vulcain Trophy hosted by the Geneva Yacht Club last weekend, winning two of them to post a third place overall behind Ladycat and Alinghi. This excellent result puts the team in second place overall on the season ranking behind Alinghi who, with one event to go at the Grand Prix du Beau-Rivage Palace, has won the 2013 Vulcain Trophy already.

"We are delighted with our weekend: we sailed well and consistently and the team spirit was excellent," said Denis Girardet, tactician onboard. The top three boats have moved ahead on points from the rest of the fleet with only five points between Realstone and Ladycat, who won the last event, and nine separating third from fourth. "We have been neck and neck with Alinghi all season! We were of course hoping to beat them overall for the Vulcain Trophy, but we can only congratulate them for winning and for their superb performance this year!"

The race committee managed to get six races off in a light 5-8 knot breeze on Saturday, racing was tactically challenging: "These light conditions were mentally very tiring," said the tactician. "And we had the additional challenge of a torn gennaker which we broke during the penultimate race of the day and which handicapped us heavily for the last race. We would have loved to race again on Sunday for more points towards the general ranking, but the light and shifty conditions made it impossible for the race committee to run a race."

Realteam hopes to finish the season on a high next weekend at the Grand Prix Beau-Rivage Palace: "Above all we want to defend our second place in the overall season ranking," said skipper Jerome Clerc. "If we can win the last Grand Prix of the season, well that would be even better!"

The team will train all week towards the Grand Prix Beau-Rivage Palace, final event of the Vulcain Trophy that takes place from the 27-29 September in Lausanne.

Realteam crew:

• Jerome Clerc, helmsman
• Denis Girardet, tactician
• Nils Palmieri, mainsail trimmer
• Cedric Schmidt, trimmer
• Thierry Wasem, floater
• Bryan Mettraux, bowman

1. Ladycat Powered by Spindrift racing 10pts
   
2. Alinghi 12pts
   
3. Realstone Sailing 15pts
   
4. Okalys-Corum 24pts
   
5. Zen Too 24pts
   
6. Tilt 25pts
   
7. Nickel 30pts
   
8. Veltigroup 30pts
   
9. Team SUI9 32pts
   
10. Ylliam-Comptoir Immobilier 46pts
    
11. Oryx 52pts

1. Alinghi 9pts
   
2. Realstone Sailing 18pts
   
3. Zen Too 21pts
   
4. Ladycat powered by Spindrift racing 25pts
   
5. Okalys-Corum 26pts
   
6. Team SUI9 33pts
   
7. Tilt 40pts
   
8. Nickel 43pts
   
9. Veltigroup 44pts
   
10. Ylliam-Comptoir immobilier 45pts
    
11. Oryx 57pts

• 27-29 September: Grand Prix Beau-Rivage Palace – Vulcain Trophy, Switzerland
• 3-6 October: Act 7 Extreme Sailing Series – Nice, France
• 14-17 November: Act 8 Extreme Sailing Series – Rio de Janeiro, Brasil