2025 Autumn Trophy, Bandol

Société Naitique de Bandol, 22-25 September 2025

27 entries for this event with 8 nations.
Mistral is here for this week.
Day 1
For this first day, we has been wind of north, north west between 18 to 22 knots with big waves.
Tim Petetin takes the lead with 1 and 3, David Bourne take the second with 3 and 2 and Ben Baabilo thake third with 5 nd 1.
After this day, all sailors take the welcome apéritif with some local wine and free beer.
Tomorrow first signal set to 11h.

Day 2
More mistral and big waves!
Today it’s a mistral between 18 and 22 knots rising to 20 knots with occasional gusts close to 25 knots.
Waves still a little bigger than the day before offering beautiful ramps and great surfing starts!
In these conditions, it was the Canadian Ben Baabilo who was the best with 1, 2 and 1.
Local Tim Petetin follows with 6, 1 and 2 and David Bourne with 3, 4 and 4.
Behind it is very tight and the places are exchanged throughout the heats!
Malte Pedersen has a good set of 2.
Stephen Butcher shows exceptional upwind speed and Tom Lonsdale is always on target!
Tomorrow the mistral promises to be stronger than the first 2 days.
The start will be brought forward to 10 a.m. in order to try to do at least one race in the Bay of Bandol before the arrival of the strong wind.

Day 3
Still mistral!
As mentioned yesterday, the start was brought forward to 10 a.m. in order to hope to sail in milder conditions in the Bay of Bandol.
The course was therefore a little shorter and the windward buoy located in front of the island of Bendor offered some quite interesting tactical moves.
The wind strength was around 18 to 22 knots for the first race and a little stronger for the second. The second race was sent on a shortened course in order to secure a second race before the arrival of the strong wind.
It was Ben Flower who won the 2 races of the day followed by Tim Petetin who tried to beat him in vain (2 and 3) and David Bourne 3 and 4.
Note the beautiful 2nd place of Stephen Butcher in the 2nd round of the day.
This evening it’s time for the runners’ meal for a good moment of conviviality as Bandol knows how to offer.
Tomorrow the mistral should be like the first 2 days.
The start will be brought forward to 10 a.m. in order to try to do 3 races and complete this championship of 10 rounds (breezy!).

Day 4
End clap for this edition of the Autumn Trophy 2025!
So it was at precisely 10 a.m. that today’s races began in a west, northwest wind of 18 to 22 knots (again!).
The course was located on the edge of the bay with the release buoy located outside.
David Bourne showed excellent tactics today allowing him to score 2,1 and 2. Followed by Ben Flower still imperial with 1, 2 and 3 and Tim Petetin with 3, 3 and 1.
If we are out of the top 3, we should note the great last round of Javier Estarellas 4th and Rafael Bestard 5th.
In the general classification, Ben Flower won ahead of Tim Petetin and David Bourne.
A big thank you to all the participants for coming to take part in this great event despite the bright weather!
A huge thank you to the Bandol nautical society, its president Laurent Petetin, its base manager Denis Carle, all the instructors and volunteers present on the water and especially to the volunteers on land who provided a flawless welcome and service!
Thanks also to the city of Bandol as well as the sponsors of this regatta: FLS and OVINGTON.

We wish the participants an excellent return and see you next year!