Limited preparation time
Only a few hours separate the 3rd and the 4th round of the preselections. Indeed, it is at 7am that the last round is launched while the previous one had ended at 9pm the day before. As much to tell you that the time to arrange the material, to clean it, to prepare again some lines and to prepare again bags and sheaths, etc, the night fà "t very short! Not to mention the stressâeuros¦ For my part, I knew that my score of the day before had allowed me to stay in the Top 6, which is the ultimate goal of this competition. Indeed, the 6 best women and 6 best men ranked at the end of the 4 rounds become members of the French surfcasting team for the 2022 World Championship which will take place in Tunisia. The alarm clock rings at 4:30 am and my first instinct is to check the ranking on the website of the French Federation of Sport Fishing "seaside commission". As I predicted, I finished 5th of the previous dayâ??s round and this allows me to climb to 2nd place in the general ranking but the points are very close so nothing is won! I start this round more motivated than ever.
As the day before, fish is scarce
Dès the first strokes of the cane, a few rare competitors take out a mullet and some know that it is already won! But after this first hour where we see a tiny bit of mullet, the néantâeuros¦ Nothing more happens. How long the time is! I stay focused, I stay in the fishing and I remember the lesson of the 2nd round where I was too dispersed. The fishing conditions are very different from the first 3 rounds and I can see that fishing at long distance does not give much result while fishing in the first 40 meters seems to be more successful. Therefore, I concentrate on this area while sending a line further out from time to time that I frequently animate. I am looking for the mullet. One mullet would be enough. But it doesn't fitâ?¦ My neighbors can't find them either. The last hour arrives. I know that fish is rare and that from now on, my qualification is based on the number of people without fish if I don't make any, or else a live one would be enough... So, change of strategy. It is from now on the livebait that I track while letting a stack fish the mullet. I fish with a very light lead, small hooks, and I animate, "I scratch". I have to prospect as much as possible to find this small fish. Claire Sombrun, my neighbor on the right, finds one! A very small one but alas, this small catch, I dream of it! That is to say that the fish was rare and that fishing was sadâeuros¦ Then, Adeline Caballero, my neighbor on the left, finds a small mullet. I know she is qualified thanks to this fish. The vise tightens, the pressure rises but I remain focused on my goalâ?¦ in vain. 11 am sounds and no fish is pointed on my card. Ouch.
When it comes down to 0.5 pointsâeuros¦
My disappointment is immediate. I quickly calculate the fisherwomen being well classified and having made a fish today. I count five. But then who is the sixth? I calculate quickly and I understand that it will be tight. Either I just pass or I stay at the doors of the team. Ouch, ouch, ouch. And I quickly resign myself, I know that I am not in the 6 and indeed when the results fall, I am announced 8th. The 6th and the 7th are ex-aequo in number of points (32 points) and I am classified 0,5 point behind. When I told you that it was tight!
The end of a series
Since 2015, I have always managed to finish in the top 6. For six years, I had not let the French team go without me. So yes, it's hard. I am passionate, I am a competitor, I love the French team and I put 100% into this competition. But it was not enough, it's fishing, it's like that... It took me some time to get over the disappointment. I'm an optimistic person and I get up after a failure so I see this year off as a new opportunity! I will use this time to do other things, to focus on other adventures. The world championships have given me a lot, especially on my technique and my analysis. So I know that the members of the French team will learn a lot during this championship and they will come back stronger! The French team will be stronger on the international scene in the years to come.
Set course for 2021!
Two years ago, I had won the preselections that constituted the 2020 French team for the world championship taking place in France. Because of the covid, the championship has been postponed to September 2021 and has been moved to La Tremblade (instead of Mimizan). So I'm looking forward to defend the tricolor flag with my team. I promise, I will make you live this event as if you were there!
Women's overall ranking:
The six members of the French women's surfcasting team 2022 are : Claudine Gambier, Cindy Bonvoisin, Carole Everard, Peggy Durand, Adeline Caballero, Nathalie Timmerman.
Men's overall ranking:
The six members of the French men's surfcasting team 2022 are : Paul Delassus, Alexandre Puccio, Sébastien Maillet, Jean-Baptiste Villard, Thierry Chaigneau, Bruno Encausse.
To see photos and detailed rankings of the 2021 preselections, go to the FFPS Seaside website :
