45th Spi Ouest Regatta at Société Nautique de La Trinité-sur-Mer
by J-Boats 17 Apr 2023 00:54 PDT
7-9 April 2023
SPI Ouest France Regatta © Ademas Bregardis / Ouest France
As has been the Easter Bank Holiday tradition for several decades in France, the Societe Nautique de La Trinite sur Mer played host to their annual SPI Ouest France Regatta, the largest regatta held in France every year. This year 439 sailboats registered to participate in the three-day regatta sailing on Quiberon Bay with about 2,200 sailors wandering around the waterfront. Perhaps best of all, "Le SPI" was blessed with three days of wind, varying from bright and sunny with fresh breezes to lightish and misty grey.
Some J/Boats sailors had some commentary regards the upcoming regatta:
- Basile Bourgnon on the J/70 EDENRED/ PL YACHTING said, "We just arrived from sailing the Laura Vergne Trophy, we left from there to go straight for Le SPI! This is the third time I've taken part, and this year I'm on a J/70 with skipper Louis Giard (European windsurfing champion). It will be a new experience because I don't know this keelboat at all. It's always great to be a crew member on this event which brings together all the enthusiasts of sailing from across Europe."
- Gilles Prietz, owner/skipper of the J/109 FELIX sailing in IRC 2 division commented, "I sail with my son and my regular crew on Félix. I have sailed in about thirty SPI Ouests!! It is the Mecca of sailing, the high Mass of the year. The weather will not be bad, it will be light weather. A little sun, too, we know that it's very unpredictable, there will sometimes be erratic winds. The game will be complicated, but that's what's fun about sailing Le SPI against some of the best sailors in Europe!"
Day 1- Friday
Sun and rain, a blue sky hemmed with cotton candy clouds, a light easterly flow (between 7 and 10 knots), perfect conditions for a first day! Colorful, sunlit spinnakers against a backdrop of dark rain clouds, fifty-five J/80s starting as one in a symphony of white triangles framed against the cottony clouds... it was a magical start for the 45th Le SPI!
In fact, the night before, adding to that magical spirit for the regatta was none other than the famous offshore French sailor- Charles Caudrelier, winner of the last Route du Rhum, winner of The Ocean Race on DONG FENG, and multiple participants in the SPI Ouest-France sailing in the huge J/80 one-design class! Caudrelier officially greeted the sailors to kick off the 45th edition from aboard his 130 ft. maxi-trimaran "Edmond de Rothschild". It was a very nice way to greet this large family of sailing enthusiasts for whom "Le SPI" remains an unmissable event.
The first day brought tricky currents and a capricious wind. The sailors had to deal with a strong ebb tide current in the morning and then a heavy flood in the afternoon. It was a delicate game, requiring a lot of observation of the water, marked by weak winds in the middle of the day. The combination of strong currents and fickle winds forced the race committees to shorten the courses of the most exposed areas. Nevertheless, late in the day, the wind strengthened under the effect of a thermal breeze.
Day 2- Saturday
Unlike the previous day, Saturday dawned with tremendous promise for a full day on the water. The easterly wind of 12-15 kts, gusting to 20 kts enabled all courses to run a full slate of races. The grandiose spectacle was breathtaking, watching the fleet of sailboats sliding under full spinnakers, acrobatic maneuvers passing the buoys, and close-hauled crossings of mere centimeters between bows and transoms, all against a backdrop of blue skies and a slightly turbulent sea.
The exceptional weather allowed the race committees spread over the five racing areas to fire off their starts at a metronomic pace.
In the J/70 class, a duel was beginning to take shape between Pierre Laouenan's ECOLE NAVALE ELITE and Damian Michelier's SAGE ENGINEERS, with both well ahead of their competitors. In the first eight races completed by the end of Saturday, the two teams had accounted for ALL of the top two spots on the podium!
Similarly, the huge 55-boat J/80 class also saw two teams dominate the standings after two days of racing. After six races, the two nearly untouchable crews included Inigo Jauregui's ENBATA80 team from Spain and Luc Nadal's experienced French crew on GAN'JA.
Day 3- Sunday
The third and final day of competition brought the sailors true "champagne" conditions, sunny, southeast winds of 12-15 kts, beautiful warm day. It made for a memorable day for several J/crews.
Winning the duel in the 17-boat J/70 class was Laouenan's ECOLE NAVALE ELITE with a crew of Pierre Loic Berthet, Tiphaine Ragueneau, Jean Queveau, and Morgan Riou. After thirteen races, they did not have to sail their fourteenth and final race, posting an astonishing record of eight 1sts, three 2nds, and two 3rds for just 20 pts net. Even after racing in the Monaco Winter Series, and the famous Primo Cup- Trophee Credit Suisse, and winning the Corinthians Division in both events, Michelier's SAGE ENGINEERS Sailing Team had their hands full with Laouenan's ECOLE NAVALE ELITE. Every race between the two ended up being a match race toward the finish. Despite the experienced SAGE team, the French Navy academy team held the upper hand. The SAGE ENGINEERS team of Michelier, Alois De Guitaut, Clement Galliache, Jean Yves Martin, and Charlie Guth sailed a strong regatta, producing four 1sts, seven 2nds, a third and fifth in the final scoreline for 26 pts net. Rounding out the podium on the bronze medal step was Herve Leduc's PIERRE OCEANE with 55 pts net, a full 29 points behind second place. Leduc's team from La Rochelle Nautique- Stephane Barraux, Mikael Garret, Etienne Luneau, and Christine Briand- accumulated a few of the "leftover" podium finishes from the leaders- counting at least a 1st, 2nd, and two 3rds in their thirteen race tally.
When the smoke cleared off the J/80 race track of 55 boats, there was a bit of drama going on at the top of the leaderboard. While Nadal's GAN'JA team and Jauregui's ENBATA80 team led after the first six races, everything was about to change dramatically in the battle for the podium. In the first race of the day, Nadal's GAN'JA kept up their momentum with an opening bullet. Meanwhile, Jauregui's ENBATA80 posted an 11th, and the team that had been sitting in third place going into the finale- Simon Moriceau's PL YACHTING & ARMEN HABITAT- posted a disastrous 14th. Then, in the next race, the drama heightened still further, with the runaway leader- GAN'JA- getting a UFD black flag penalty for 56 pts! Plus, Moriceau's team won that race and Jauregui's crew had another forgettable race of 10th place! The final two races would determine the ultimate outcome amongst the top three teams. Nadal's GAN'JA could not afford another bad race, nor could the other two teams! The anxiety going into the penultimate race was palpable for those three teams. Proving they were "still worthy" to be counted as a regatta leader, the Spanish ENBATA80 crew sailed away with the 9th race, posting an easy 1st place, with GAN'JA taking a 4th and PL YACHTING & ARMEN HABITAT getting a not-so-good 9th place. It was all to play for in the final race if GAN'JA had a 10th or worse and the other two protagonists podiumed. But, showing their championship form, Nadal's GAN'JA family crew of David Nadal, Maureen Nadal, and Pierre Mousselon took a 2nd in the finale to win the regatta with 21 pts net. Winning the finale was Moriceau's team of Vincent Guillarm, Hugo Abeguile, Titouan Le Dem, and Julien Augereau; that enabled them to toss their 14th and close with 29 pts net to earn a hard-fought silver medal! After opening the regatta with a stunning 1-2, Jauregui's ENBATA80 team of Jaime Framis, Inigo Sanchez, and Cristian Roca had a 9th in the finale to take home the bronze medal.
In the world of offshore racing, there were several notable performances. In the 34-boat IRC 2 Division, four J/Teams finished in the top seven overall. After winning their first race and leading the division with a 1-3 on the first day, Didier Le Moal's J/99 J-LANCE 25 from La Rochelle Nautique couldn't duplicate their winning ways in the next four races, ending up with the bronze medal at 19 pts net. Tied on points with them, but losing the countback, was Samuel Prietz's J/109 FELIX VI, having to settle for fourth place. Then, two other J/99s sailed good series, with Phillippe Guennal's PL YACHTING- J-IN-MOTION taking 6th place and Herve Bihan-Poudec's CITY'ZEN & CITY'PRO taking 7th.
The 24-boat OSH C Division saw a phenomenally competitive fight for all three steps on the podium. The outcome was determined in the final race between four boats that finished within two points of each other! Samuel Blevin's J/109 AXILONE-JOKE took the silver medal on a tiebreaker at 12 pts each, having won three of the six races in the series. Then, finishing just "outside of the chocolates" was Pascal Rialland's J/88 JUMPIN JACK, sailing fast, a podium contender going into the final race, but got a DSQ in their finale to drop to 5th place!
Perhaps the big shocker of the 45th Le SPI was the amazing performance of a J/24 in OSH A class. Who knew, right!? Aorelian Garcia's J/24 JERONIMO took on a mixed bag of 22 to 28-footers in the seventeen-boat OSH A Division and after seven races walked off with the gold medal! Garcia's team of Adrien Dal, Guillaume Mainfray, Romain Hariveau, and Charles Edouard Broc started off modestly with a 5-3 on the first day to be declared the day's winner! Imagine their shock, amusement, and celebration! They continued their consistent sailing and closed the regatta with a bullet in their finale!
More Spi Ouest Regatta sailing information here.