Tour de Bretagne a la Voile - Race 5

IN BRIEF:

* SKANDIA FINISH IN 12TH PLACE of final offshore race of Tour de Bretagne...best result in series : "We had the most perfect first upwind leg and were inside the top 10 for most of the race - it is just the best way to finish the final offshore race after 280 tough miles racing round the Brittany coastline..." said Davies.

* The 12th place today moves SKANDIA into 20th place overall: "This is about a long-term investment," said Davies: "You have just got to keep learning and it's going to take more than one season to learn to race against these guys. Typically it takes some of the very top Figaro sailors two or three seasons to get to the top of this fleet. We are really pleased with the progress we have made this week."

* Cercle Vert (Morvan/Pacé) score third win of the series to give them a 4-point cushion at the top of the leaderboard ahead of Bostik Findley.

* TOMORROW FINAL STAGE OF TOUR...two inshore windward-leeward races at Lorient.

IN DETAIL:

It was the morale boost Sam Davies and Emma Westmacott needed after six days of intense racing in the hotly contested Figaro Tour de Bretagne a la Voile event...a 12th place in the final offshore race. The sailing duo knew the event would be a baptism of fire and it was: "The pace has been relentless but we were never disappointed with where we were finishing because we knew it would be like this," said Davies. "But to finsih 12th out of 26 of some of the best solo sailors in the world is a great feeling."

The first start was a general recall and SKANDIA had been well placed at the favoured end of the line with space around them and good boat speed. At the re-start most of the skippers had sussed the right end of the line so things were more crowded second time round for SKANDIA. Davies and Westmacott thought there was more wind on the right and tacked off - it proved to be the right decision: "We saw the wind shift and went for it," said Davies. "After that every time we tacked the wind shifted with us - it just got better and better. We had great boat speed and reached the first mark in 8th place just behind Loick Peyron on Generali Assurances." Figaro style the top 10 boats were just metres apart and there were no changes on the next reaching leg. "On the third leg it was a spinnaker reach," said Davies, "SKANDIA just took off and we got past two boats including Generali Assurances and Crealine but at the gybe mark, we had a bad gybe that lost us a few places."

On the final spinnaker run SKANDIA were in 11th place but could not get in the right position to defend against Thierry Chabagny and Corentin Douguet on Petit Navire. But the gybing duel continued right to the line with the French boat just sneaking a boat length ahead on the final gybe.

"Overall we were much better prepared today," said Davies. "We were out on the water earlier, had the boat set up how we wanted it and our minds were into the race 100% well before the start. The boat speed was good all day and we never strugled to keep up with anyone."

Tomorrow SKANDIA will race two inshore windward/leeward races and Davies and Westmacott will not be easing off: "Once you do better, you want to keep on doing better," said Davies. "Today has been a huge boost to our confidence."

RESULTS TOUR DE BRETAGNE - AFTER 5 LEGS:

Skipper / co-skipper / boat (L1-L2-L3-L4-L5=pts)
26 starters

1st Gildas MORVAN / Bertrand PACE - CERCLE VERT (11-1-2-1-1=16)
2nd Charles CAUDRELIER-BENAC / Pascal BIDEGORRY - BOSTIK FINDLEY (6-2-3-4-5=20)
3rd Jeremie BEYOU / Gilles CHIORRI - DELTA DORE (4-4-7-6-2=23)
4th Benoit PETIT / Tangi MAHE / DEFI SANTE VOILE (3-6-5-7-4=25)
5th Erwan TABARLY / Philippe VICARIOT - THALES (1-8-8-3-10=30)
6th Eric DROUGLAZET / Hans BOUSCHOLTE - DAVID OLIVIER (10-3-10-2-8=33)
7th Yann ELIES / Loick PEYRON - GROUPE GENERALI ASSURANCES (5-7-6-10-6=34)
8th Thierry CHABAGNY / Corentin DOUGUET - PETIT NAVIRE (7-5-11-5-11=39)
9th Armel LE CLEAC'H / Nicolas TROUSSEL - CREALINE (16-10-1-8-7=42)
10th Bruno JOURDREN / Jean-Marie DAURIS - D'AUCY (9-12-9-11-9=50)
20th Sam DAVIES / Emma WESTMACOTT - SKANDIA (21-25-23-22-12=103)