Article translated from Dominique Malécot, Secretary General, CVB Erquy
Last Sunday, Nicolas Touchot (YC Saint-Lunaire) and Alexandre Hamel (Centre Nautique Paul Vatine) won 2021 Costarmoricaine Raid in Erquy, sailed with a wide range of wind conditions, from running gale to dead calm, passing through medium westerly breeze.
On top of pandemic health constraints which have forced the CVBE to reduce the event to three legs instead of the usual five, a strong gale, with gusts over 37 knots, did not allow the fleet to reach Bréhat Island by sea on the first racing day. Whatever the case, competitors finally reached the Arcouest by road, before using Bréhay shipping service to join the island, and to enjoy the warm welcome and excellent food of Crec’h Kerio, creating the usual friendly atmosphere among the sailors.
Returning to Erquy on Saturday by the same means, the crews were then able to complete a 50 mile course in Saint Brieuc Bay, leading to a very tight provisional ranking, the first three teams finishing within one minute…
Once more, and similar to many previous editions, the last leg sailed on Sunday, starting from Erquy, rounding Cap Fréhel, Fort la Latte, and back served as a justice of the peace, and determined the winners…
Francis Ferrari (CVBE) & Raphael Maniglier (CN Nice) took second place, less than three minutes behind the winners, and one minute ahead Romain Bellet (CN Chatelaillon) & Emeric Dary (CN Sablais). Pretty small timing differences, assessing the tense fight between the leading teams at the front of the event.
It is to stress the strong helping hand lent by the Centre Nautique Municipal de Plérin, with special mention to Sébastien Allard, who kindly accepted to replace last minute usual Race Director Pierre-Charles Barraud following leg injury.
Whatever the case, organizing team already started preparing 2022 edition, which should recover the usual five days format.