A-Cat French Nats 2019: Emmanuel Dodé 1st

Photos by Emmanuel Dodé. Excellent and detailed Report below kindly sent by Christian Stock who won the Classic Division and finished 4th overall sailing a mighty combo Nikita/Landenberger.

French A-Class Nats 2019 Report by Christian Stock

A difficult autumnal weather situation in Western Europe resulted in tricky racing conditions at the French Nationals in Maubuisson near Bordeaux. “Normally” you can wear a T-shirt and enjoy the mild sun of late October. This time the 51 competitors from 8 nations had to keep up with a wild mixture of heavy rain squalls, low temperatures, dead calm, gentle breeze and in the end even T-shirt-wheather.

The race committee managed to get in 6 valid races in 4 racing days. Not perfect but ok considering the circumstances. 37 classic A-Cats fought hard for the separated classic ranking, 14 foilers had to arrange themselves with this armada. Most classics were technically up to date eg. with decksweepers. Even some retrofitted foilers were among them.

The first 3 races in winds between 10 and 20 knots and heavy rain squalls saw the foilers doing very well. No surprise so far. Emmanuel Dodé was a league on his own, he displayed perfect boat handling, excellent speed and solid tactics. Gert-Jan Kos from the Netherlands and Great Grand Master Matthias Dietz from Germany (he is 69 years old!!) performed also outstanding.

The next 3 races in light winds from 5 to 7 knots changed this picture a little bit. The classics tried to reign the fleet, especially Albert Roturier and Christian Stock with their superior downwind speed were pushing it hard. But it worked only partially since Emmanuel Dodé (Exploder AD3, North Sails) and Matthias Dietz (Exploder AD3, Landenberger) were extremely fast upwind and lost just 200 hundred meters or so on the downwind legs. Some of the not so well doing foilers might not like the message but the truth is: A well sailed foiler is fully competitive in the light wind stuff even compared to best classics! Which is also hard news for the classics…

In the end it was all clear: Emmanuel Dodé is the deserved winner oft he French Nationals, followed by Matthias Dietz and Albert Roturier (Bimare XJ, X-Voiles). In the separated classic ranking it was Christian Stock (GER, Nikita, Landenberger) who gained victory with just one point ahead of Albert Roturier. Great Grand Master André Casanova (Scheurer G6, Pink Hammer Sails) completed the classic’s podium. Best female competitor was Capucine Bertorelli. Best regards, Christian Stock (GER 100)

Tope Ten Classic Division, Full results at Classics: https://www.cerclevoilebordeaux.com/regates/resultats-2019/national_classea_class.htm

Top ten Open Division Results: Complete list at cerclevoilebordeaux.com/regates/resultats-2019/national_classea_g.htm