La
Solitaire du Figaro - Start of the 2nd leg !
August
05, 2003
After
a general recall the 42 skippers in the second
leg of this Solitaire Afflelou set off calmly
under the fearsome Z flag threatening the addition
of a 20% time penalty relative to their race time
for any more false starters. The fleet then stole
cleanly through the heat haze at 1413 BST with
Jérémie Beyou (Delta Dore) best
placed upwind. The temperature in Gexto/Bilbao
was soaring above 30° in slightly wallowing
seas, blown by a 5 to 6 knot northerly. Initially
under mainsail and genoa, it was Armel le Cléach'
(Créaline) who was the first to round the
windward mark of the dog leg at around 1435 BST
at an average of 3.8 knots of boat speed, just
1.5 miles from the start line. Clearly out for
revenge after his poor time in the last leg, it
was Loick Peyron (Fujifilm) second and Erwan Tabarly
(Thalès) completing the lead trio, with
Alain Gautier seventh. In this now 370-mile leg
bound directly for Birvideaux (Belle Ile), the
fleet will dive any which way back down through
the islands to La Rochelle in predominantly light
winds and an ETA of Friday. By 1700 BST the visibility
was poor and the northerly wind had dropped to
between 3.9 and 4.2 knots on the race to the Radio
France Buoy, 8.5 miles from the start line. One
common thread linking all the competitors in this
Solitaire is the hunt for the elusive right-hand
windshift. For now up to ten knots of north north-westerly
are going to carry the fleet away from Spanish
shores
“We have decided upon this particular course
reduction with a view to maintaining the sporting
value of this second leg. There will still be
a fine crossing of the Bay of Biscay, followed
by a coastal course, explains Denis Horeau, race
director. To lead the racers along the coast of
Euskadi, and Asturias, as far as the mark on the
off Gijon in the calm forecast is quite frankly
of no interest at all in racing terms. I’ve
always said to the racers that we wouldn’t
go there if there wasn’t a synoptic”.
The
repercussions of this decision are that the racers
are now exempt from the 115-mile trek across the
stunning Spanish coast that seems to have come
as great relief in light of the little wind forecast.
“The Gijon mark was a guaranteed national
lottery. It was very dangerous. All the counters
could easily have swung back to zero after 115
miles of racing which may have been good for the
those behind but hard on the frontrunners”,
confirms Gildas Morvan (Géant Vert).
And
so it is that the fleet set sail in a north north-westerly
up towards Belle Ile (to be left to starboard),
free to choose their own paths between the bay
of Quiberon and the island of Yeu. “ Given
the weather forecast, the leg promises to be very
calm physically but difficult for the nerves,
Benoît Petit (Défi Santé Voile)
reckons “My objective is to stay in the
top ten and I intend to spark things off. We’re
really going to have to battle and remain vigilant,
concentrated and above all else fresh, right up
to the end.” Southerner Laurent Pellecuer
(Cliptol Sport) agrees, adding that “it’s
not about taking silly risks”.
A
similar view is echoed by Eric Pilat (Altaventure-SNSM),
a rookie from Brittany who lost a lot of ground
on the descent of the Bay of Biscay after initially
sailing up near the top of the fleet. “There
is a zone with an area of low pressure that will
generate light winds on the nose. It promises
to all be played out on the trimming and the speed
through the calm. There’s going to be some
coups to be had between Belle Ile and La Rochelle.
It’s a very open leg once again but that’s
why we’re here”.
Last
year’s outright Figaro winner, Kito de Pavant
(Crash Bandicoot) is hoping to make up his lost
time during this open second leg: “I have
to catch up and pull off a coup in the next leg!
For the climb up to La Rochelle, there is certainly
going to be very little wind. I’ve going
to leave it all down to feeling like before! Calm
or no calm, we’re all going to have the
same wind, but I prefer the calm anyway!”
“It’s
an upwind leg in fairly light, generally northerly
winds. It’s going to take a lot of weaving
around, and good use of the wind shifts, not to
mention inspiration and luck”, sums up Eric
Drouglazet (David Olivier), 2001 champion. I am
reputed to be very good in strong winds, but I’m
not bad in the calms either. I’ve got good
speed it’s just that the chance of winning
in light conditions is rather more chancy”,
he confirms.
“Everything
and anything could happen with this kind of weather
forecast but what I like about it is that it is
set to be very strategical”, says Damien
Grimont (Soletanche Bachy), going on the advice
of 1993 Solitaire winner Dominic Vittet. “There
are as many scenarios as weather patterns which
promises numerous options on the climb up the
Bay of Biscay. I think that instead of any radically
different moves there will just be some small
differences. The better it goes, the closer we’ll
be to the direct course obviously, but any one
of twenty skippers could take victory this time
– I’m certainly not going to be resting
on my laurels”, explains Yann Eliès
(Groupe Générali Assurances), very
concentrated less than an hour prior to rejoining
the front line on the water.
Alain
Gautier was rather more relaxed with the highlight
of his stopover being an encounter with Jose Luis
de Ugarte, a sailor originating from Bilbao and
ranking 6th in the Vendée Globe in 1993
on Euskadi Europa, a boat which is none other
than Alain’s former Generali Concord. The
same year Alain Gautier arrived in the Sables
d’Olonne as winner of the Solitaire. “It
was great to see him again. Jose Luis is 75 years
old now and still in fantastic shape!”
Echos
from the Pontoons
As is customary before the start of a leg, three
boats were selected at random to check that they
weigh in correctly. No more than the regulatory
100kg of additional material is allowed so that
any shift in ballast during the event is fair.
This Tuesday morning it was the turn of Géant
of Michel Desoyeaux, Bostik Findley of Charles
Caudrelier, and Cercle Vert of Gildas Morvan.
The former was cutting things pretty fine, weighing
in at 99.9kg due to one or two extra bottles of
water, according to Michel’s shore crew/physiotherapist
Christoph.
Eric
Lebreton (CYP): “I am confident and feel
rested. I’ve just had a massage before leaving.
We feared a calm but finally it seems to have
freshened up a bit. I can’t wait to get
to La Rochelle. It promises to be a contact regatta
but personally I like being alone on the water
and finding my own little corner. I know my boat’s
capable of going fast but I know there’s
still a lot of work to be done.
Translation
Kate Jennings
...Official
site La
Solitaire Du Figaro
