As one could have expected, first leg of Martinique Cata Raid, 2020 F18 Raid Worlds has been very much contested by top teams, pair Cammas-Vandame succeeding in keeping the lead until finish line laid at the end of Le Marin Pass, after three hours racing.
Franck Cammas, winner of leg 1: “We had an average start, but we then benefited from the wind rising up from the front. I guess we had a good speed, and we kept increasing our advance, by the exception of the last part of the course where we played upside down, but nothing serious, thanks to the small margin we did preserved.
Matthieu Souben (2nd): “We feel rather satisfied as the course was pretty long and tricky. Having said that, everything remains to be done, as it was only the first leg. But this is a nice icebreaker for us”.
Nicolas Gilet (3rd) : “Our aim was to get fun on the water with no stress, as the skill level is pretty high this year. Idea was to get a good start in order to be freed from all the other competitors, and we sailed to the right side of the course in Fort de France Bay from the very beginning, being rewarded in return. We got a really good speed, and we gained over the fleet at this moment. We then played closer to the shore, getting back to second position near Sainte Luce, finishing third at the end. Nice performance for us, because we were doubtful yesterday about boat tuning.
Good speed today compared to the others, so great performance for us and we are happy for our sponsors.”
Orion Martin (4th) : “Interesting course with many wind shifts. We were a little bit late on the start, hence we were unable to do what we planned. We have gone aground too, what is rather unpleasant for the equipment, but we did succeeded in finishing the course. Just before entering Le Marin pass, we had a pretty nice lift, thanks to a tack off the coast. We are definitely happy to get this final position, as we are coming from so far…