French Dominate Day Three of F18 Worlds in Italy

Three French teams are dominating the podium after six qualifying races followed by the Dutch duo of Heemskerk/Tentij  in fourth and the Brits have dropped down to fifth place overall.

Photo: © cdvg/sailingandtravel.com / Fabrizio Gandini

Westerly winds of  12-18 knots provided competitors at the Formula 18 Worlds with another great day of sailing today as the 161 strong fleet have raced in the final two heats of the qualifying phase of the competition.

Photo: © cdvg/sailingandtravel.com / Fabrizio Gandini

The French teams masterfully dominated the racing action to claim all three podium positions on the leader board. First overall is Gurvan Bontemps and Benjamin Amiot (FRA 004) who enjoyed a perfect day with two bullets. With 10 points they lead Billy Besson and Jeremie Lagarrigue (1,2) by just one point.

Photo: © cdvg/sailingandtravel.com / Fabrizio Gandini

Third went to Francois Gabart and Matthieu Vandame (4,4) on 14 points. Snapping at their heels with one win and a 10th is this morning’s leader Mischa Heemskerk (NED 1796) followed by Brit Hugh Styles in fifth and Jorden Veenman (NED 2010) in sixth on 27 points.

Photo: © cdvg/sailingandtravel.com / Fabrizio Gandini

The Italians also performed well today with Vittorio Bissaro and Lamberto Cesari (ITA 13) improving their score thanks to a seventh and a sixth. They are now on 35 points and in ninth position overall, just behind Reiss/Whitehead’s USA 888 (35 points) and Mitch/Jordi Booth (ESP 1910) in seventh on 28 points.

Photo: © cdvg/sailingandtravel.com / Fabrizio Gandini

Tomorrow the fleet will be split into two divisions with teams who finished in 1-81 positions battling it out among the Gold fleet while the rest will compete in the Silver group.

Quotes:

Gurvan Bontemps, Helmsman FRA 004:

“It was a good day. We sailed well. The regatta is a long way from over. There are still two days left and so we have to stay focused. Everything has been perfect the last few days: the course is fun, the wind is excellent, the surroundings are stimulating and…the pasta is fantastic!”

Francois Gabart, Helmsman FRA 301: 

“The course was just perfect today. We’re hoping to get the same conditions over the next few days. I personally am happy. Our strategy was to compete without taking any risks and we did just that. We’re third which is very close to first and so all our goals are within reach. I have to say that I didn’t expect things to go quite this well in the qualifying rounds.”

Vittorio Bissaro, Helmsman ITA 13: “We had two good races today. We tidied up the starts a little as they were the thing that worked least well over the last few days, so we’re happy about that. The standard is incredibly high. We can’t really set ourselves any goals for the finals yet. Except to keep pushing and trying to stay in the top 10.”

Provisional standings after six qualifying races

1. FRA 004 - Bontemps/Amiot - 4, (80 OCS), 2, 2, 1, 1 - 10 points
2. FRA 1796 - Besson/Lagarrigue - 1, (6), 5, 2, 1, 2 - 11 points
3. FRA 301 - Gabart/Vandame - 2, (81 BDF), 1, 3, 4, 4 - 14 points
4. NED 1796 - Heemskerk/Tentij - 2 RDG, (18), 1, 1, 10, 1 - 15 points
5. GBR 7 - Styles/Mason - 2, 1, 2, 3, 7, (9) - 16 points
6. NED 2010 - Veenman/De Waard- 3, (35), 6, 8, 5, 5 – 27 points
7. ESP 1910 - Booth/Booth - 1, 8, 6, (11), 6, 7 - 28 points
8. USA 888 - Reiss/Whitehead - 7, (21), 5, 7, 4, 12 - 34 points
9. ITA 13 - Bissaro/Cesari - 8, 4, (14), 9, 7, 6 - 35 points
10. FRA 5 - Dodé/Moreau - 4, 9, 11, 10, 2, (21) - 36 points

For full results see>>>

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