by Vincent Borde
In weather conditions similar to those on the first day of racing, around ten knots of easterly wind, Groupama's crew of Franck Cammas and Sophie de Turckheim pulled a great performance out of the bag today with a second place in the provisional overall standing, sandwiched between the Dutch crews.
And yet the day hadn't kicked off very well for Franck and Sophie, who got off to a slightly laboured start in the middle of the line. Fifteenth at the first windward mark, they soon moved up through the fleet, as they did yesterday, to cross the finish line in ninth position, whilst another French crew, Vaireaux-Audinet, secured victory in style.
Probably boosted by this performance, the crew of Groupama hit hard from the start of the second race and were first around all the marks. Caught up by the Dutch crew on the final tack, Franck and Sophie just got pipped to the post on the finish line.
On the third and final race of the day, our crew were battling with the front runners once again, just astern of the flying Dutchmen, who took the win and the top spot in the overall standing. Overtaken on the home straight once again, this time by the Italians, Franck and Sophie finished fourth in the race and move up to second place in tonight's provisional overall standing, one point shy of the leaders and tied on points with third place.
Suffice to say that there's everything to play for and that in a breeze forecast to dish out a steadier fifteen to twenty knots of easterly, the positions of the head of the fleet could well be reshuffled. There is an extra obstacle for our duo too: Sophie's continuing backache.
Provisional overall standing after the first 5 races:
1/ Delnooz-De Koning (NED) with 17 points
2/ Cammas - Turckheim (FRA) with 18 points
3/ Groneveld-Begemann (NED) with 18 points
4/ Zajac-Franck (AUT) with 18 points
5/ Shuwalow-Klinga (SWE) with 23 points
Cammas - Groupama
ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyeres
