Then, they managed to put a boat between them and Région Ile de France, this was Pierre-Loïc Berthet and the Epure by Lierac boat, and Thierry kept the advantage till the end of the race.K-Challenge 2 got on his side from the 11th to the 5th position on this race, which was a very good come back John Cutler and Nicolas Charbonnier who didn’t make a good start.

On the 6th race, K-Challenge 1 left on the right hand side of the sailing area to take control of Epure by Lierac, and Région Ile de France took this opportunity to put Nantes Saint-Nazaire behind. In the downwind leg, lots of boats messed up as the wind was really strong, and all the placing was changed…

So Nantes Saint-Nazaire managed to get back in the first part of the final general placing in front of Marseille Cap Sport which came back nicely after having touched a boat.Marseille Cap Sport and K-Challenge 1 left on the left hand side of the sailing area, while Epure by Lierac and Nantes Saint-Nazaire went on the right ; This is when Marseille Cap Sport took the opportunity to lead again in the upwind leg, with the amateur team Entra’cte- Les Copains A Bord just behind, which was a really good surprise !

In the last downwind leg, K-Challenge 1 managed to take the lead back from Epure By Lierac, Les Copains A Bord and Marseille Cap Sport, showing till the last minute how they managed the boat and sailing area very well.

So this is the second time that Thierry Peponnet wins the Pro-Am Cup with the K-Challenge team. He is more than proud as we can imagine to have been able to keep his title, and he is decided to come back next year to carry on the performance !

Classement Général Final

Groupe PRO-AM 2003 après 6 manches (5 retenues) (23 Inscrits)

Rgs Concurrents Points m.1 m.2 m.3 m.4 m.5 m.6

1 K-CHALLENGE 1
 PEPONNET THIERRY 6.00 1 1 2 (7) 1 1

2 EPURE BY LIERAC
 BERTHET PIERRE LOIC 9.00 (7) 2 1 1 3 2

3 K-CHALLENGE 2
 CUTLER JOHN 23.00 2 4 3 (bfd) 5 9

4 THEOULE MANDELIEU
 CHTOUNDER SYLVAIN 31.00 4 6 (-) 6 8 7

5 REGION ILE DE FRANCE
 PAUCHET NICOLAS 33.00 (14) 14 4 3 2 10

6 CHACAL
 PALLU ALEXANDRE 33.00 3 3 5 (14) 10 12

7 ELVSTROM
 LE CLEAC’H ARMEL 33.00 5 9 7 4 (15) 8

8 MARSEILLE CAP SPORT
 DERUELLE DIMITRI 34.00 6 7 8 (dsq) 9 4

9 TOULON-PROVENCE MEDITERRANEE
 HENRY FABIEN 35.00 9 5 (11) 10 6 5

10 VILLE DE BANDOL-CASINO DE BANDOL
 CHEVALIER JEAN-FRANCOIS 44.00 11 8 6 8 (17) 11

12 ORLOFF-NANTES SAINT-NAZAIRE
 SAMBRON LAURENT 45.00 (16) 10 16 2 11 6

12 COTES D’ARMOR
 BIARNES VINCENT 46.00 8 (13) 9 12 4 13

13 KEEP COOL
 BAULER CLAUDE 53.00 (17) 12 10 9 7 15

14 ENTR’ACTE-LES COPAINS A BORD

PORTUGAL VINCENT 68.00 21 17 12 15 (23) 3

15 TRIGA 5
 PECLARD CHRISTOPHE 69.00 15 15 (18) 5 18 16

16 DEFI JEAN BART

 PATOU CHRISTOPHE 72.00 12 18 13 16 13 (22)

17 VILLE DE DOUARNENEZ-ARMOR LUX

LE GARREC LOIC 73.00 13 (-) 15 11 20 14

18 ISR 1
 ROTSHTAIN URI 80.00 (22) 16 14 17 14 19

19 DINARD
 BASSET ERIC 81.00 19 11 17 (20) 16 18

20 BIENNE VOILE
 MULLER LORENZ 86.00 18 19 (20) 13 19 17

21 T-SERVICE INTERIM BRUXELLES

PILATE JULIEN 89.00 (23) 20 19 18 12 20

22 AEOLUS
 LAMBERTUS E.P.DALMOL 97.00 10 21 (-) - 21 21

23 SILICON THEATRE SCENERY

PRONK ROBERT 104.00 20 22 21 19 22 (-)

The Pro-Am Cup was created in 1997 by K-Yachting. This regatta allows amateur skippers to fight equally with the world top sailors. The race gathers the Mumm 30 owners (9m length regatta one design) and professional skippers especially invited and selected. Loïck Peyron, Franck Cammas, Bertrand Pacé, Jochen Schuemann are part of the `stars` who already came for the challenge.

The Pro-Am Cup shall be governed by the ISAF (International Sailing Federation) sailing rules, as well as the French Mumm 30 Class rules.

2 general placings will be produced : the `Pro-Am Cup` one for all the boats registered in the regatta, and the `Amateur` one for all the boats which has been given this status by K-Yachting.

Source: Stephanie Nadin