La
Solitaire du Figaro - Bye Bye Bilbao
August
04, 2003
The
smouldering beauty of this Bilbao stopover on
Spain’s northern shores has brought welcome
rest and relaxation for the skippers preparing
for the second leg in this Solitaire Afflelou
Le Figaro that heads off to the traditional Figaro
port of La Rochelle tomorrow at 1400 BST. The
course for the 42 competing Figaro Bénéteau
has been modified with the racing committee doing
away with mark 1, the “Amosucas Nord”
buoy in the seas off Gijon. Instead the fleet
will head directly to mark 2 “Phare des
Birvideaux”. One of two courses will then
be taken depending on whether a north or southerly
wind is dominant tomorrow. What is certain, at
this stage, is that the leg will be 494 miles
long and the skippers will get another chance
at rounding Belle-Isle – whether they want
to or not! Ahead of the competitors lies an initial
low to the south of Ireland of 1018 hPa, stretching
out under the form of a second low relative to
the centre of the Bay of Biscay. During the evening
the first low will fill in as it is directed towards
Ireland while the second will centre over the
mouth of the Gironde. The high pressure present
over the Atlantic centre will be directed towards
the west of the Bay which will be blown by a weak
northerly air flow. On start day tomorrow, the
proche Atlantique anticyclone will strengthen
to 1022 hPa as it climbs towards Ireland. The
relating depression 1017 hPa will stay over Charentes
and northerly air flow at the edge of the anticyclone
over the west of the Bay will lead to weak north-easterly
wind to the north of the depression. On Wednesday
strong breezes are likely along the coast with
SW Force 3 in the afternoon and only time will
tell just how, or indeed if the fleet are going
to make use of them. ETA Friday 8th August...
And so the fleet will leave this opulent Basque
city and the mine of information at the futuristic
Bilbao Guggenheim Museum opened in 1997 and designed
by Frank Gehry. The museum is right in the heart
of the city next to the river and its titanium
glass and limestone frame spans out across 24,000
square metres. Politics are a big part of the
Basque Country with the world renowned ETA (Euskadi
ta Askatasuna, Freedom for the Basque Country)
a way of life amongst the inhabitants, who are
rightly proud of their roots. The two local boys
in the race, Amaiur Alfaro and rookie, Unai Basuerko
de Miguel will doubtless want to put on a show
tomorrow afternoon in home waters.
Along
with learning from their mistakes, Bilbao has
also been a chance to focus on the positive things
about the last 400 mile leg. After 80 odd hours
of sailing Dutch Hope, Sander Bakker was just
over 16 minutes behind leading rookie Marc Emig,
with Brit Sam Davies less than 1 minute behind,
with experienced Route du Rhum sailor, Franck-Yves
Escoffier, squeezed between them. A little over
15 minutes behind them was the only French woman
sailing, Jeanne Gregoire (Skipper AG2R) who would
normally be ahead had she not suffered electronic
problems. She, like Italian, Corrado Agusta in
34th, will be hungrier than most to make up the
lost time.
Certain
sailors seem to just out for the ride in this
Solitaire however, at least that’s what
they say.“I came to this Solitaire to get
back the pleasure of sailing. I’ll take
each leg the same. The general ranking doesn’t
interest me. I just want to apply myself and sail
some good legs. During a stopover like this in
Getxo-Bilbao, the primary objective is to sleep
as much as possible and make the most of the time
to rest, without any pressure…” said
Alain Gautier, who came in second.
For
British hope, Sam Davies (Skandia) the image is
very different. "It's really hard to work
out how to sail the boats when you are sleeping...even
with the pilot on it's never 100%...mentally it's
hard to know that if you put the pilot on you
will be going a little slower...I am still finding
the method to sail a Figaro... I think for me,
it will be about five years before I am as good
as the good guys at the front of the fleet. But
that's what I am aspiring to...to do that and
that's why I am here. I am learning, learning
all the time and after this leg I'm going to try
and look back and work out where I could have
done better. Most importantly, really need to
work out how I can manage to sleep at the same
time as making my boat go fast because that seems
to be the biggest ingredient for doing well if
you work hard you can get there”.
The
final thought, less than 24 hours from the start
of the second leg in this Solitaire Afflelou Le
Figaro, has to stay with Sam: "I was just
thinking 'my god, I can't believe I have to do
this again three more times and just the thought
of having to push that hard non-stop for four
days three more times and having that many boats
that good around you - when you think about it,
it seems physically impossible to do. So it is
a daunting task and I try not to think about it
too much."
Kate
Jennings
...Official
site La
Solitaire Du Figaro
