First blood to France at the Offshore Double Handed World Championship

Qualifiers for ODHWC Final

• France 2: Charlotte Yven & Lois Berrehar
• Uruguay: Federico Waksman Justina Pacheco
• Belgium 1: Jonas Gerckens & Djemila Tassin
• Great Britain 1: Maggie Adamson & Cal Finlayson
• Canada: Benjamin Daniel & Sarah Nicholson

Charlotte Yven & Lois Berrehar (FRA) finished the race of approximately 82NM in an elapsed time of 10 Hrs 40 Min 45 Secs, winning the race by over 40 minutes from Federico Waksman Justina Pacheco (URU).

Just six minutes after the Uruguay team, Jonas Gerckens & Djemila Tassin (BEL) crossed the finish line to take third. Maggie Adamson & Cal Finlayson (GBR) was fourth. A thrilling battle for the fifth, the ‘hot seat’ to make the Offshore Double Handed World Championship Final, was taken by Benjamin Daniel & Sarah Nicholson (CAN). Agonisingly close to the top five was Barbara Karpinska & Kevin Morgan (USA) and Gerasimos Petratos Evangelia Delidou (GRE).

At the start of the race, the early leader was Karpinska &  Morgan (USA), who made a big gain taking an inshore route. However after passing the lighthouse at the Glénan islands, Yven & Berrehar (FRA) and Gerckens & Tassin (BEL) found another gear to take up the lead. About five miles from the top mark at Cap Caval, Karpinska &  Morgan (USA) took a tack north and Waksman & Pacheco (URU) carried on the same tack, moving into third place.

The French and Belgian teams made Cap Caval virtually side by side, the breeze was building and the sea state was approaching three metres. Both teams opted to hoist the gennaker not the spinnaker and set off for a wild reach, blasting along with water cascading down the deck. Later on the downwind sleigh ride, up went the smaller spinnaker on both boats with boats accelerating to close to 20 knots.

“We saw 32 knots of wind and a top speed of 19 knots,” commented Lois Berrehar. “We used the small spinnaker and we were happy with that, the risk was smaller than the reward.” Charlotte Yven added: “Our first goal was to familiarise ourselves with the boat and our competitors. As always, we try to do the best preparation and understand the weather conditions. After that, we try to find the way to make the boat faster, so we look at different settings and modes. This trace was very good preparation for the final.”

Gerckens & Tassin (BEL) were flying along challenging the French team for the lead, but a problem with the spinnaker sheet forced them to take down their kite. “Our goal at the start was simple; make the top five, so we are happy” commented Jonas Gerckens. “It was a shame that we had a problem, but it was good to line up against Charlotte and Lois, they are one of the favourites for the world championship and our speed looks good.”

The fifth team to qualify for the final, was Ben Daniel & Sarah Nicholson (CAN). This was the first time the pair had raced together and although both are Canadians, they live 4000 miles apart on the East and West Coast of Canada. “Our goal was to make the final, so we are really happy with the result,” commented Sarah Nicholson. “We had a game plan to stay on the left as the forecast was for a favourable shift. At first, the plan didn’t work and we were looking at the transoms of quite a few competitors but by the Glénan islands, the plan was working. We had overstood a bit but coming in with the Code Zero with the scow bow was quick.” Continued Sarah Nicholson. “ After Cap Caval, the British team ahead of us started to pull away, but we felt comfortable in fifth with a fair lead on sixth place,” added Ben Daniel. “Like a few other competitors, we broached a few times and had problems with the spinnaker sheets. We kept looking over our shoulder but we never really felt threatened. Now we have made the final, we will have to set a new goal!”

Atool Sinha & Sweta Shervegar (IND) retired from the race due to an injury to Atool. The team are now safely ashore and a special mention to Tim Lemeer & Lisa Vos (NED) who retired and stood by to assist, placing another competitor’s safety before their own result.

The ODHWC Race Committee are expected to make an official announcement that the Region Bretagne Race (Elimination 2) is expected to be delayed until Friday 27 September, the ODHWC Race Committee are expected to make an official announcement later today. Keep up to date with all the action in the Offshore Double Handed World Championship with LIVE TRACKING https://www.lorientgrandlarge.org/fr/evenements/offshore-double-handed-world-championship/cartography . For more information visit: www.lorientgrandlarge.org