Sidney Gavignet’s elite MOD70 crew on Oman Air-Musandam was breathing a sigh of relief after crossing the finish line in Plymouth in first place after yet another thrillingly close contest in the third leg of the Route des Princes.
They swept across the line at 18h 53m 06s, posting a time of 2 days 7 hours 53 minutes and 6 seconds for the 500 mile leg from Dun Laoghaire in Ireland.
By their standards, it was a slow and tortuous leg, averaging less than nine knots across the course and enduring some lengthy and frustrating wind holes.
But it marked their second offshore victory of the Route des Princes after their resounding win in Leg 1 from Valencia to Lisbon and according to Gavignet, more than made up for the disappointment of Leg 2 where they were overtaken in the closing stages to finish third.
“We had a 40 mile lead yesterday but knew we were going into no wind,” he said.
“The wind died very abruptly – we were going along at 13 knots and 30 minutes later we were doing one knot and Edmond de Rothschild were a couple of miles away doing 14 knots.
“We didn’t panic but it was a bit painful. The memory of Leg 2 was very strong still so we spent all of today protecting our position and gave them no chance at all.
“It feels very good to have won. We really deserve this win.”
The light air conditions were perfect for Ahmed Al Hassani, the rising Omani star who was making his offshore debut in the leg after a career spent in dinghies.
“It was a good leg for me because the wind was calm and the seas were calm so I didn’t feel ill and I was able to learn a lot,” he said.
“I really enjoyed it and although we were a bit nervous last night about being overtaken, I feel so proud to be on the boat for a leg that we won.”
Neal McDonald, the British helmsman and tactician was on familiar territory when he sailed up Plymouth Sound and stepped off Oman Air-Musandam at the Mountbatten Centre since he spent a year at the Naval Engineering College there.
“I’m very fond of Plymouth so it is good to be here – it’s sunny too – but we won’t be celebrating just yet.
“We were pretty nervous last night – it was tricky and stressful because we were all parked up in sight of each other and it wasn’t looking good at all so we are very relieved that we were able to pull it off.”
Victory, McDonald said, was down to another masterful tactical decision by Gavignet who after looking at the weather in the opening stages of the leg, chose to stay close to the shore where there was more breeze.
“Sidney’s call at the headland was key,” he said.
“We managed to go inside where everyone else went outside and that was it. At the traffic separation zone, we went the other side to everyone else and again it paid off.”
After winning two of the three offshore legs sailed so far on the Routes des Princes multihull race around Europe, Sidney Gavignet’s Oman Air-Musandam now lead the overall MOD70 standings by the smallest possible margin. With only Friday and Saturday’s inshore race series and the last offshore sprint to Morlaix-France still to be raced, they top the table only on tie break.
The final round of inshore racing starts on Friday at 1400 on Plymouth Sound and continues on Saturday morning before the start of the final offshore sprint to Roscoff in France on Saturday night.
To stay posted on Oman Sail and Oman Air-Musandam, please go to www.omansail.com
To watch the latest Oman Air-Musandam web clip, click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3khSeoMl-8
For more information on the event and to see the results, please go to: http://www.routedesprinces.fr/en/overal-ranking.html
Oman Air-Musandam MOD70 2013 racing calendar
6-30 June: La Route des Princes (Valencia-Spain, Lisbon-Portugal, Dun Laoghaire-Ireland, Plymouth-UK, Roscoff-France)
8 August: Cowes Week Artemis Challenge
11-13 August: The Rolex Fastnet Race
3 November: Transat Jacques Vabre
Oman Air-Musandam MOD70 2013 race squad
Sidney Gavignet (FRA) – offshore
Thomas Le Breton (F
RA) – offshore
Fahad Al Hasni (OMA) – offshore
Neal McDonald (GBR) – offshore
Damian Foxall (IRE) – offshore
Ahmed Al Hassani (OMA) – offshore
Gilles Favennec (FRA)
Mohsin Al Busaidi (OMA)
