French Championships 2021, Sailing Lacanau Guyenne

A superb 2021 French Championship after a two-year hiatus! Last year, it was cancelled the day before by the Bouches du Rhône prefect. In previous years, the heats had been run on a single day, due to a lack of wind in Brest, or too strong a wind in Quiberon. Quite a feat for the Raceboard, a versatile category par excellence, which can perform from 6 to 30 knots!

This year was therefore special in more ways than one, and it was with high hopes that raceboarders marked this All Saints' Day weekend off their calendars. It was also the autumn national for the Bic Techno youth classes. This year, the Olympic category (which has moved from RS x to IQ foil) managed its events autonomously and was therefore not present this weekend.

The New Aquitaine region took pride of place in organizing this championship with the CV Lacanau Guyenne. For the record, the CVLG was one of France's leading raceboarding centers in the 90s and 2000s, with a fleet and riders of international stature. Its knowledge of raceboarding is therefore total. For the occasion, the club had succeeded in mobilizing former racers such as Benoît Paillard, Grégory Bardinet and Vincent Braure. A surprise was not out of the question, given the achievements of these very good riders, such as Benjamin Longy, a local outsider who came in at the last minute to win the title for his club, CNBPP in 2017.

As far as the weather was concerned, we could look forward to all the conditions forecast for the three days of racing. Fairly light to medium westerly winds on Saturday, steadier on Sunday morning, shifting to a weakening westerly flow in the afternoon. Monday promised to be a very windy last day, with squalls!

So, in the pine forest of Lacanau, the twenty or so racers from all over France (Lille, Marseille, Lyon, Fouesnant, Gerardmer, Tours...) got together again after two years without a championship to start with three rounds on Saturday. The women raced with the men ... or vice versa! The result was a scratch classification with sub-classifications extracted.

On the evening of the first day, Jeanne was in the lead, followed by Benoit Paillard with two rounds of^3rd and a win. The light air specialists were also in the thick of the action, with Théo Halluite in^3rd place in every heat. The standings were wide open, however, with the top 8 separated by just a few points. Clearly, the rankings are likely to change on each leg, given the homogeneity of the fleet and the varied weather conditions forecast!

On Sunday morning, the wind was due south and increasing. Everyone takes to the water at around 10.00am. Some hesitate between 8.5 and 9.5. Doubts are on everyone's mind, given the forecast strengthening of the wind. The race committee decided to send out two heats early in the morning, then wait for the westerly shift in the early afternoon, when a good westerly flow is in place.

For the first two morning races, it's those who are comfortable in the breeze who are in for a treat. The wind is set at around 15 knots, gusting to 24/25. However, the water is not treacherous, as the strong reefs are clearly visible and do not generate too much rocking. So there's plenty of upwind and downwind sailing for all to enjoy. Raceboarding in funboard mode! Fred Becquart, at ease in these conditions, won both heats, moving up from ^7th to second place. Behind him, the rankings moved up and down, reflecting everyone's commitment. Jeanne took the lead with two runs of 5 and 6.

Back ashore for all, an opportunity to review equipment and exchange views on the windy conditions. The changeover took place and everyone was called back onto the water in new light airs conditions. Against all expectations, the wind didn't pick up as expected. So it was back to the light airs specialists. In particular, Jeanne Mailhos Vitel, who won both legs, untouchable, far ahead. Guillaume Gaudard, who until then had always been in second place, took advantage of the opportunity to move up to second place overall with heats 2 and 3. Best score after Jeanne, followed by the inevitable Théo Halluite in this type of weather. As for Benoit Paillard, he had a complicated afternoon, with a run of 7 and a broken mast on the next run, leading to retirement. Théo Vanbeselaere, who has been keeping a low profile but is coming into his own with two good runs of 2 and 6. One Théo can hide another!

On the evening of the second day, Jeanne was comfortably in the lead with 4 heat wins out of 7! followed by Guillaume Gaudard and Fred Becquart, who performed well in the breeze and limited the damage in the lighter winds. Monday will be an important day in any case, as the top 7 overall finishers will be in with a shout of a podium finish. A strong breeze is forecast for Monday, so the emulation and, for some, the "cogitation" are there, with the temptation to race before the race. But it's best to sleep on it...

Last day of racing, the westerly flow is well in place with a good 15 knots and 20/22 reefs, perhaps a little more in some cases. Given the stakes in the rankings, almost everyone is rigging their mainsail and breeze sail, 9.5 or 8.5. No one wants to make a mistake, especially as the weather models are forecasting gusts to 30 knots. There are two opposing strategies: try the 9.5 to never be under-watched and have to put up with the gusts, or go for the 8.5 to be well into the strongest wind but run the risk of being under-watched in the light airs.

3 races were scheduled, perhaps 4, but the race committee finally set 3 races to follow. Against all expectations, Fred Becquart, who had been the most at ease the day before in a steady wind, broke his fin just before the start on a shoal, close to the race committee, who had not informed everyone. He then had to race against the clock to find a spare fin and change it. Help came from Saint Guillaume (Gaudard) and Sainte Amandine, who enabled him to make the swap in record time. It's worth mentioning Guillaume's great sportsmanship as he plays the leaderboard against Fred Becquart. Meanwhile, the heat got under way and Benoit Paillard made up for his problems of the previous day by winning the heat with a good lead, followed by Théo Vanbeselaere and ... Jeanne. On the next run, Benoit repeated the feat with a series of frantic broadsides, closely followed by Fred Becquart, who was back in the game. Guillaume completes the podium this time.

Ahead of the final round, Jeanne is confident of retaining the overall lead. However, for the men's podium, there's a lot at stake between Guillaume Gaudard, Benoit Paillard, Théo Vanbeselaere and Fred Becquart. 4 for three places! The suspense lasted right to the end, with Théo taking the lead at the first mark, closely followed by Jeanne, Fred, Benoit and Guillaume. Fred managed to pass Théo to leeward by rounding the mark at the end of the first lap, with the other protagonists in close contact. All to play for. On the final downwind run to the finish. Fred was the first to be hit by a strong gust of wind, forcing him to start his broadside in rocket mode, unhooked from the harness. The others followed in the same mode. He managed to pass the last mark still in the lead to reach the finish 200 meters away ... but that was without counting on the god Eole, capable of sweeping away the established order, no pun intended. A colossal squall picked up at 40 knots by the finish boat staggered Benoît and Fred. It was hard to stay upright, and everyone had to either wait for the right moment at the end of the squall to set off again, or grit their teeth to avoid falling off! Incredibly, the championship standings were decided by a phenomenal final squall! The first to set off again was Théo Vanbeselaere, who crossed the finish line as winner of the round. Jeanne followed him against all expectations, in the same mode, with her sails spread as wide as possible. Fred Becquart, who saw his two companions pass him, managed to set off again to cross the finish line^{in 3rd place}. Guillaume and Benoit follow.

In this last epic chapter, it's hard to know who will win the men's trifecta. ... on the way back ashore, the club had already drawn up the rankings and Guillaume was first, tied on points with Théo! followed by Fred on two points, tied on points with Benoit!

However, Fred Becquart complained to the race committee about an unreported high point which had led to his mishap in the first run of the day. The jury agreed with him and reclassified him, removing from his second discard not a DNC run but a run of 7... taking him up 4.5 points and putting him back in first place for Men... behind the intractable Jeanne, first in scratch.

This championship, which can best be described as a re-run, produced two fine podium finishes for both men and women:

Jeanne Mailhos Vitel, Morgane Dubois, Mathilde Valentin and Fred Becquart, Guillaume Gaudard and Théo Vanbeselaere.

The Lacanau Guyenne Sailing Club is to be congratulated on its excellent management of the event, both on land and on the water, with a highly efficient race committee that took the right decisions to minimize expectations on the water, despite very changeable conditions.

All eyes are now on 2022, where France Raceboard is busy programming flagship events including :

• National Team Cup in spring,
• Summer Advanced Practice Course,
• Summer performance practice course,
• French Championship in autumn, possibly again at Lacanau.

... business to follow and announcements before the end of the year.

Photo credit: Amandine