Posted on December 8, 2014, 05:34 by Stavros
20141207_182324 (640x360)Calle Lindfords, Jouko Lindren (helm) and Hendrik Andersen Winners of Coupe d’Hiver.
23 boats participated in this years final event in Cannes, the Coupe d’Hiver over this first weekend in Dec. We had a complete mixture of weather with a 30 kt wind on Friday seeing all racing cancelled, followed by three great races on Saturday and one light wind race yesterday (Sun).
Olympic Helmsman Jouko Lindgren helmed FIN 83 “Lisa” extremely well & consistently to record three 2nd places on the Saturday which was enough to see him and his team of Lindfords Calle and Hendrik Andersen take the trophy. Jouko won an Olympic Medal back in “Tallin” 1980 and also won the opening race in this years European Championships in San Remo back in March. When I interviewed Jouko back in March at the Europeans he told me they only tacked once on each beat, well here they tacked twice so I hope that did not upset his rhythm too much….  :-)
In 2nd place overall was FIN 85 “Thouban” helmed by Christian Borenius and crewed by Richard Pernici and Chris Winter. At this event there is also an overall Trophy presented by Gavia for the best team without discard, this was also won by Christian and his team, pictured below.
20141207_181813         Runners Up FIN 85 Christian Borensen, Richard Pernici and Chris Winter.
In 3rd place overall was GBR 761 “Jerboa” helmed by Gavia Wilkinson-Cox and crewed by Mark Hart and Charlie Cruise who by winning the final race yesterday, just beat SWE 372 “Dancing Queen” on count back. However, Johan Larson crewed by his wife Catharina and local expert Partick Aucour sailed a very good regatta and were rewarded with 3rd place overall without discard. So well done to all the above teams, a nice way to finish the season.
In closing I would like to thank the PRO Jerome Nutte who managed to complete 4 races over this “testing” weekend and give the competitors as much sailing time as was possible despite some “mixed” weather conditions. The hard working staff and helpers at the Yacht Club de Cannes, led by Karine Grene’ really did a great job to get all the boats quickly out of the water and ready for the Prize Giving co-ordinated by President Jean Pierre Gailes. 
Jean Pierre invited everyone back for the Ski-Vole in January next year and also advised all of us to register early for the first Grade 1 of the year, the Cannes Grand Prix which will take place in February..
Higher, Faster, Longer…………..     Stavros.    (GBR 585).