La Solitaire du Figaro - A frenzied finish under the cover of darkness
August 03, 2003

At the finish line of this first leg of La Solitaire Afflelou Le Figaro from the Sables d’Olonne to Getxo-Bilbao, the fleet filed in one after the other throughout the night sure of absolutely nothing until the clock stopped, battling through their exhaustion to claw back the precious places and seconds. After leading for the majority of the race the results came as a cruel blow to the experienced Marc Thiercelin.

After last night’s winner, Yann Eliès came Alain Gautier (Foncia), with Marc Thiercelin (Bermudes) just managing to hold onto the podium finish. Behind him were Pascal Bidégorry (Région Aquitaine) and Armel Le Cléac’h (Créaline), just 45mins20secs separating the five of them from the next run of 27 boats. Erwan Tabarly (Thalès), Romain Attanasio (Port Trebeurden), Michel Desjoyeaux (Géant), Jérémie Beyou (Delta Dore), Benoit Petit (Défi Santé Voile) completed the top ten separated by 1h09m46s from the leader, the top rookies losing ground at the final hurdle.Interestingly, despite the erratic nature of the arrivals under the cover of darkness, the top ten comprises nearly all the big names from the French sailing world, with some, like Michel Desjoyeaux, timing their comeback to perfection.

A few of them were dealt a heavy blow however with the highly experienced Gilles Chiorri (32 01 Météo Consult-Groupe Prosodie). Tumbling down the rankings to 19th by the end, just below 2001 Solitaire winner, Eric Drouglazet (David Olivier) in 17th place and Kito De Pavant (Crash Bandicoot), last year’s Solitaire winner in 15th. Obviously the biggest shock in the proceedings was the decidedly lowly position of top French sailor, Loïck Peyron back in 37th out of 42 competitors. The latter initially lost ground after a bad call rounding the island of Belle-Île and never came back into the game with 8 of the 10 rookies positioned higher than him overall.Marc Emig (Espoir Total Course au Large)- 12th and Yves Le Blévec (Rêve de Grand-Actual Interim) -21st ultimately fell from top ten in the closing hours after a stunning performance from both of them throughout this opening leg, a performance which is all the more incredible given their “rookie” status.

In hot pursuit, Dutch sailor, Sander Bakker (Egeria) was one of the few to hold onto his very creditable position mid-fleet after overcoming his initial spinnaker problems and completed a well deserved podium finish amongst the rookies. Just two places behind in 25th place, just behind Route du Rhum sailor Franc-Yves Escoffier, Sam Davies (Skandia) was also very much in the match all the way mid-fleet above the celebrated Lionel Péan (Nouvel Observateur) and was the first woman into Bilbao. The other woman in the race, Jeanne Gregoire, came a rather disappointing 31st, going on her general track record, after suffering electronic and autopilot problems since the outset. In 34th position, Italian, Corrado Agusta similarly was another rookie sailor who managed to fend off the experienced Peyron while local of the leg, Unaï Basurko (Bizkaia), was keen for a daylight deliverance in front of the home crowd, bringing up the rear of the fleet at 08h13m10secs this morning.

Quotes from the Pontoons

Marc Thiercelin (Bermudes) :
« I feel a bit choked by it all but I’m happy to be back in this event for madmen where you have to go further than just to the end. It’s an extremely lively race. I’ve gone through lots of different states of mind. It’s all good and it’s true that only La Solitaire can serve up such condensed mix » Pascal Bidégorry (Région Aquitaine) : « I’m happy with the boat as well as myself, almost happier than if I had been in front and won. I was surprised by my ability not to let go. If it’s like that for the next three leg I’ll sign! »

Loïck Peyron (Fujifilm) :
« My brain has played me two cards : the poor choice first of all. And then, it’s the first time on the water during a race that I’ve felt that : a huge need for sleep which I could do nothing to fight. So I have slept very well. In addition I have some very bad multihull reflexes: making more miles to touch wind. That doesn’t work in the Figaro.» Alain Gautier (Foncia) : « It was a very fine leg. I’ve been fighting all the time. I said to myself that after 20 years since my first leg victory in the Figaro, I could see myself winning again. But the little Eliès was there and he sailed very well. »

Kate Jennings

...Official site La Solitaire Du Figaro