The last days on Martha’s Vineyard island have been really epic, a storm which got the great idea to invade a large part of the North American continent! A snow storm touching New York and Boston, so really close to us, made drop hard the temperatures. And on saturday, last day of racing, we knew that the wind will blow strong, but the worry came from the windchill factor. Indeed, with 45 knots of wind, it was of course a negative one!!!

State Beach, under downpours and 50 knots of wind! Photo : Damien Leroy

And finally, it’s what happened on saturday afternoon… 6° celsuis only and a solid 45 knots…. and not a ray of sunlight because it’s pouring with rain!!! Definately not the best to motivate us to jump in the water but we are used to fight with those conditions and well equipped to : mittens and beanie ION, plus a so efficient ONYX 5/4 wetsuit will work perfectly!

Well equipped for the cold! Beanie, mittens and ION Onyx 5/4 wetsuit, perfect! Photo : Damien Leroy

During the hour which will last that leg, the wind will blow strong ( 50 knots in the gusts), and armed with my Bandit 5 8m i’m going to do a lots of runs. Rob has got his 9m and shorter lines than me and finally it will be a better setup. We are scoring the same Vmax, at more than 55 knots, but he keeps the best speed with a 50.99 average on 250m compare to mine @ 48,87.

Vmax at 55 knots on State Beach! Photo : Damien Leroy

In the evening, time for celebration! The prize giving ceremony is taking place in the very famous Yacht Club of Edgartown. One again, i would like to thank everyone who made this event possible on the American soil, with of course in first Rob Douglas and Bill Lynch, The Black Dog company, Cabrinha, and Lynch Associates on the sponsor sides, Brock Callen our race director (who gave us hard times all along theses two weeks but we will not blame him one second!), all the volunteers who help us even with theses hardcore conditions!!! Congratulations also to all the competitors and more particularly to my F ONE Team, with Charlotte Consorti (who ended 9th) and Christophe Prin-Guenon (who took the 7th place even if he left the comp too early because of an injury). Finally, big congratulations to the French team who won the first edition of the “Lynch Cup” : team F ONE plus Seb Salerno, Sylvain Hoceini, Jerome Bila and Patrice Menossi. See you next year for the revenge!!!

France won the first edition of the Lynch Cup! Photo : Damien Leroy

As a bonus, the last episode of the North American Speed Sailing Invitational shot by Damien Leroy, that end perfectly this sick event!

This second week on the American soil has been way better than the first one! A little bit more wind, nice racing conditions, once again wonderful landscapes and crazy spots, perfect to climb and secure the second place on the event ranking…

Anyway, i still have a “bitter” taste in my mouth, due to the lack of strong wind conditions, my smaller kite size was indeed a 11 sqm. But that’s a game, we’ve all accepted, we discovered a new spot and next year, i will be more prepared to defy Rob on his territory!

You can discover a bit more the atmosphere of this competition thanks to Damien Leroy, who shot and edited two cool videos (and who took the headline picture of that new by the way!)

I would also like to dedicate that news to our friend and teammate Christophe Prin-Guenon who had to left prematurely the competition on a wrist injury. We wish him the fastest recovery and comeback on water!!!

It happened so many things since we arrived on Martha’s Vineyard island, thursday 13th of october! Not less than 7 legs raced, in various wind conditions, on both starboard and port tack, from very light to medium-high wind… For the moment, i could only use my  Bandit 5 14, 12 and 11, not really the sizes i’m used to ride in speed, but we hope to get some stronger winds within the end of the week.

Riding full speed @ Cape Pogue! Photo : Damien Leroy

Rob Douglas, and his brother Jamie, are of course really familiar with their home spot, and they like these light wind condition but that’s the game! For the moment, my ranking is 3rd, 2 points behind Jamie but with the second speed of the comp at a little bit more than 45 knots. Rob is at 1 knots ahead, but he is now far away in front of the ranking, with 7 wins on 7 races…! By the way, the atmosphere on the competition is awesome, in and out of the water, riders are all smiling and everyone is really enjoying every minute of it. The island is beautiful, and full of spots, perfect for speed of course but also for freestyle and waves…It makes you want to come back here for holidays!

We should get some good winds again by the end of the week, with some cooler temperatures, that should be less funny… But with the happiness and smiles from the locals, it should be OK!

As a bonus, the video shot and mount by Damien Leroy of the first days, which should give you a good overview of the quality of the spots here!

I’m flying this morning to Boston with the F ONE speed team (Charlotte, Christophe and Manu) where we are invited to the first edition of the NASSI (North American Speed Sailing Invitational), that will take place from the 17th to the 31st of october, on Martha’s Vineyard island.

L'affiche du NASSI... USA vs FRANCE

The goal of the competition is simple : they invite the 12 best speed riders according to the WSSRC ranking (+ 3 wild cards) who will battle on the various spots available on the island to see who’s the fastest of course!

The US and French “drafts” are well represented (6 riders each) so it sounds like it’s gonna turn into a duel USA vs FRANCE, but well…. it’s written anyway on the poster!!!