Damien Duclos in action
Martigues, April 21-23. This year's National de Printemps was held on the Mediterranean coast, organized by the CV Martigues, which has a proven track record in this type of event and an ideal hosting structure. Every year, the event brings together BIC, RSX and Raceboard/RCO and, for the first time this year, foil windsurfing. With its new, spectacular and highly publicized aspects, foil windsurfing, aided by leaders such as Antoine Albeau, Antoine Questel, Pierre Mortefon and Delphine Cousin, logically "stole" the show from other, more traditional supports. A total of 218 competitors came from all over France.
Recently upgraded to inter-series, the raceboard raced alongside the raceboard open (RCO) for a single scratch classification for men and women for the 19 competitors present. The highly uncertain weather forecast left many doubts ... but in the end, sunshine, mild temperatures ... and wind were very pleasant surprises. As the icing on the cake, Didier Flamme, president of the race committee for the raceboard/foil round robin, set up a very coherent race format for this windy regatta, with an "Olympic triangle" course defined by upwind - downwind - upwind - broad reach and broad reach. The two long broadsides finishing the course in optimal speed and glide conditions were much appreciated for their technical ease and exhilarating speed.
On the racing front, Friday began with an afternoon in a good 12-14 knot southwesterly thermal, easing to 8-10 knots. Alain Cadre (CN Castelnaudary), one of the most experienced lightwind sailors in the fleet, got off to a flying start. A highly experienced sailor, he is unbeatable upwind on his round-hulled board, and takes the lead with 3 wins on the day. Jean Asia (YCPR Marseille) came 2nd with 3 rounds of 3rd place. Damien Duclos, a young local from CN Miramas and Jean-Baptiste François (CN Angoulins) are in ambush for the rest. Viviane Ventrin (AS Gerardmer) in the women's category and Hugo Boujean (SR Rochelaises) in the youth category also more than held their own, cruising along at the head of the race.
Saturday, thermals again, but in a completely different register. Announced at 15 knots, the wind only strengthened to reach 20/25 knots on the last run of the day. This increase in wind power was to surprise many, despite the fact that the water was still very passable and slippery for sustained speeds. In these "windy" conditions, Alain Cadre systematically took first place upwind, but the broadsides more favorable to the high speed of the Raceboards prevented him from winning again. Damien Duclos, recent young Medcup winner, and Jean-Baptiste François, 2015 French Raceboard Champion, will then be at the party to move up to 2nd and 3rd places, with the lead still held by Alain Cadre.
On Sunday, the last day, the wind shifted to the northwest, with a "light" mistral between 15 and 20 knots. Very uncertain in the forecasts, the mistral was finally present. The final ranking is far from certain, with the top 3 holding on to each other by 5 points. A slip-up is out of the question if you want to win. In this game, Damien Duclos came out on top with heats of 1, 2 and 1 in a huge battle between the top 4 on these 3 new heats. Damien had decided to go from 9.5 to 8.5 in anticipation of a strengthening mistral. Although his prediction failed to materialize, it proved to be the right race strategy to keep his rivals at bay. His three performances of the day enabled him to claim overall victory at the age of 19, by just a single point. He also takes first place in the provisional national rankings. A newcomer to raceboarding, Damien was the undisputed leader, this time beating two very experienced racers, Alain Cadre and Jean-Baptiste François, 2nd and 3rd respectively.
