The last race before the Transat Jacques Vabre, the 40’ Malouine SACIB smiled kindly on the duo Luke Berry and Tanguy Le Turquais.  After an impressive start under spinnaker sailing in front of the walled ramparts of Saint Malo, the Class 40’ Lamotte Module-Création  took the lead and held it right up to the finish of the 180 mile race the following morning.  A great result for the first race of the regatta weekend as our duo are in training for the Transat Jacques Vabre.  

Our dynamic duo Luke Berry and Tanguy le Turquais won the first leg of the crewed coastal race today, ably assisted by a great crew. In the second leg they gained a respectable 3rd place  (having encountered another lobster pot en route!). 
These great results meant that they won first place overall.  Well done!

Comments from our skippers on arrival of the major race

Tanguy: We had a great start that put us on the right tracks.  
Luke:  It has been a few weeks now that we have sailed together and have not been great at race starts, so this one is quite good.  
Tanguy:  Yes it’s great and we followed our route as planned and were first to pass all the markers.  When some strategy was required we managed to tack quite well and when the wind was with us we went fast.  
Luke:  Yes we had good speed and some good manoeuvres...there are still things to be improved upon but overall it was good!  
Tanguy: At night about 10pm we got caught up in a lobster pot!  Having managed to get ahead of the 2nd boat by about 4 miles we saw our lead start to reduce as we had to dive under the boat to release the  pot.  
Luke:  Not just under the boat: literally right down under the bulb at the bottom of the keel 3 metres down.  It was Tanguy’s turn..(laughter)  
Tanguy:  He had to do it while he was on my boat during the Tour de Bretagne à la Voile races, so it was my turn!  Finally we were able to keep ahead and we are really happy with the result.  It’s a great start.  
Luke:  Ah yes because it’s not over yet.  The races continue on Sunday with two crewed coastal races, but this is great training for us for the Transat Jacques Vabre which is our objective.  And thanks once again to the organisers of this race and to our partners.