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2007/07/09 - 21h01
Groupama, 2nd in the iShares Cup in Marseille
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iSahres Cup, Marseille
Le Vieux Port and Le Roucas Blanc, 7-9 July 2007 |
| The second stage of the iShares Cup came to an end this Monday afternoon with the victory of the British crew of Basilica,
just ahead of Groupama and Holmatro. For their very first participation in this 40 foot one-design circuit, Franck Cammas
and his crew pulled off a great performance to take a very fine second place. The weather in the harbour of Marseille also
dished out the best it had to offer to the seven teams competing in this 3rd and final day of racing. A steady twenty knot
breeze and big seas set the scene this Monday.
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Basilica - a second consecutive win for the leader of the iShares Cup
Winner of the opening event in Munich at the end of May, Basilica confirmed its leader status in Marseille today; a leadership
which was nevertheless shaken by Groupama in Saturday's light conditions. In fact Franck Cammas and his band had a great introduction,
creating a stir by winning three of the four races contended that day.
However, after leading at the end of the first
day, Groupama clocked up a three point deficit on the leader, Basilica, on Sunday evening. Franck and his crew were unable
to make up their loss against Robert Greenhalgh's team, who were particularly at ease and effective in the breezy conditions.
Contrary to yesterday, the mistral continued to blow across the Roucas-Blanc race zone this afternoon, even filling in as
racing progressed. "We may have lacked a little lucidity on a tactical level today, which often lead us into situations
that were complicated to deal with. However our main area of weakness was the control of manoeuvres and the lack of experience
of the race format in the breezy conditions" explained Franck. Stève Ravussin went on to add: "Our crew may also have
been a bit light for the type of conditions we encountered."
Discovery of the "Extreme 40"
"I
love sailing whatever the craft. It was desire and enthusiasm which drove our participation in this Marseilles leg of the
iShares Cup. We jumped at the opportunity of racing this circuit in France and what better place than Marseille to come and
see the Extreme 40 close up. The crew of Groupama are delighted with this discovery. It's a fantastic exercise to sail on
a high performance boat that we know very little about, against overseas crews and breeze for most of the time to cap it all
off. This was a chance to test the water and the past few days have certainly encouraged us to come back and race again...
but not this year!" concluded the skipper from nearby Aix en Provence, who already has a very busy schedule between the
season on Groupama 2 and the record attempts on Groupama 3.
The Mediterranean interlude of Team Groupama ends
this evening. From tomorrow afternoon, Franck Cammas and a few members of his shore crew will be back on the campaign trail
once again in Lorient, preparing to deliver Groupama 2 a little further up the Breton coast to Douarnenez. This is where the
next leg of the Orma championship will be held from 13th to 15th July with the Défi de Douarnenez (Douarnenez Challenge) -Penn
ar Bed Finistère Record.
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8th
July 2007, after 11 races
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Final ranking of the iShares Cup
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Race |
Points |
Pos. | |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
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Basilica |
2 |
1 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
153 |
1 | |
Groupama |
1 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
4 |
6 |
4 |
131 |
2 | |
Holmatro |
6 |
5 |
6 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
4 |
5 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
126 |
4 | |
Offshore challenges
sailing team
|
3 |
2 |
4 |
6 |
6 |
5 |
3 |
1 |
4 |
4 |
5 |
4 |
5 |
4 |
5 |
109 |
3 | |
Tommy Hilfiger |
4 |
6 |
7 |
5 |
5 |
rdc |
6 |
4 |
5 |
5 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
3 |
3 |
100 |
6 | |
Team Slam/
ABN AMRO |
5 |
4 |
5 |
7 |
4 |
4 |
5 |
7 |
6 |
7 |
6 |
6 |
7 |
7 |
6 |
90 |
5 | |
Volvo Ocean Race |
7 |
7 |
2 |
4 |
dnf |
dns |
dnf |
6 |
7 |
6 |
7 |
7 |
5 |
5 |
7 |
76 |
7 | |
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