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Franck Cammas is synonymous with the name Groupama so it was appropriate the Frenchman helped Miss Scarlet take line honours in the Cercle Nautique Caledonien Groupama Race this week.
Miss Scarlet took line honours in the Groupama race. Photo: Boris Colas.
Miss Scarlet, skippered by Graeme Wilson and William Goodfellow, won the 654 nautical mile race around New Caledonia in a time of 3 days 52 minutes 43 seconds, 46 minutes ahead of fellow New Zealand boat Ran Tan II. The roles were reversed last week in the Auckland to Noumea race.
Miss Scarlet held on to win the Groupama race after one-third of its red hull vinyl wrap peeled away on the port side. Ran Tan II reduced the gap to 4.6 miles but ran our of runway to catch their rivals.
"It was tough, a very good race," said Cammas, who skippered both Groupama 2 and Groupama 3 before then leading the Groupama team at last year's America's Cup. "We were fighting against Ran Tan, he was just behind us all the time.
"I am new in the group so we had to have good communication. "[The New Zealanders] are very good sailors so it's easy to sail with them, easy to win with them. It's hard to understand the Kiwi jokes."
Cammas returns to Europe to race next week on a GC32 in Portugal while Miss Scarlet, which also scooped the main IRC trophy in the Auckland Noumea Yacht Race, will prepare for August's Hamilton Island Race Week and Magnetic Island Race Week.
Ran Tan II recorded a top speed of 26 knots and made ground on Miss Scarlet during the final night which fuelled hopes of a win.
"Last night we did entertain some hopes we would catch them," Petsersen said on arrival.
“We had a lot going on, a lot of sail changes and time spent on strategy, not a lot of time for sightseeing. We slowed down at times but never saw three boiled eggs on the speedo. We didn’t get that much sleep; that goes with the territory."
Patrice finished third on line hounours and Rushour was the first multihull.
Full results can be found here.
