| MARSEILLE, FRA-(19-10-2002) The three firsts are now surfing high at the top of the provisional general placing : there has been today 3 really nice races in 12 to 15 knots under Marseilles great sunshine, and here we are with our daily and magic recipe in a regatta which has been keeping us aware for 2 days.
Thierry Peponnet and François Brenac gave a huge lesson to their « friends », by winning on K-Challenge 2 the 2 last races of the day with a comfortable advance in the finishes.
But, Nantes Saint-Nazaire threatens this fragile balance, as the winner of the « Tour de France à la Voile » proves with its second place in the provisional general placing, that they came to play and win, and only one small point separates the two firsts. Otherwise, they seem to be also in the move to get a French Mumm 30 champion title… could they win both ?
Everything is still possible, as not less than a dozen of protests are being judged tonight, and the general placing could seriously be rocked.
Ex-aequo with this team, Vasco Vascotto, (the Pro-Am Cup’s Italian star), still strongly defends his title : a very well-organised team on board and which nearly always makes the good tactical choices, so that they can only pretend to fight for the first podium step.
Ville d’Antibes NEC comes a little bit further with a 4th position, with 9 points more : they had a good start in the first race of the day, but it seems the 2 lasts have not been that easy.
On the amateurs side, Asterix team keeps on leading the troops, they also made a huge difference with the Triga 5 Swiss team, but we can notice that they are above all 7th in the PRO-AM general placing : this shows that the concept works perfectly : they are fighting with K-Challenge 1 and take the lead on Marseilles, #8. Shall we perhaps conclude that they are not really amateurs ?
Competitors only have one more regatta to race tomorrow, it will then share the points between them one more time, with of course protests that are going with final results today.
The Pro-Am Cup was created in 1997 by K-Yachting International. This regatta allows amateur skippers to fight equally with the world top sailors. The race gathers the Mumm 30 owners (9m length regatta monotype) and professional skippers especially invited and selected. Loïck Peyron, Franck Cammas, Bertrand Pacé, Jochen Schumann are part of the “stars“ who already came for the challenge.
The Pro-Am Cup shall be governed by the ISAF (International Sailing Federation) sailing rules, as well as the French Mumm 30 Class rules.
2 general placings will be produced : the “Pro-Am Cup” one for all the boats registered in the regatta, and the “Amateur” one for all the boats which has been given this status by K-Yachting International.
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