La
Solitaire du Figaro - Communique 15
August
07, 2003
At
1300 BST Pascal Bidegorry was still leading the
Solitaire fleet on the final downhill straight
to La Rochelle after rounding the mark of Birvadeaux,
6 miles north of Belle-Ile at 11h56m20s French
time, with a whole hour ahead of second placed
Jérémie Beyou (Delta Dore) and an
additional half hour on Erwan Tabarly (Thalès),
the majority of the big names are where you would
expect at the top of the table except for leader
of most of the last leg, Marc Thiercelin in 37th.
For now the top duo are forming the getaway party
from the rest of the fleet who are packed solidly
together, though they aren’t exactly streaking
away at 1 knot of boat speed in 3 knots of wind.
Meantime the rookie war is intense with all eyes
on Marc Emig who has stormed back up the rankings
since his brief slide yesterday and is currently
on the top step of the rookie podium in 16th position
a couple of hours behind the overall leader Bidegorry,
with second rookie Yves Le Blevec breathing down
his neck and third rookie Sam Davies well in contact
to complete the rookie podium around 8 minutes
behind Emig with the end of this second leg of
La Solitaire Afflelou Le Figaro a mere 109.57
miles ahead of the fleet at 1430 BST. During the
night the majority of the boats took a big right-hander
on port tack, and most surprisingly passed Ile
de Yeu to seaward in search of a 12 knot north-easterly
en route to Belle Ile. All that is except for
a few dissidents like Marc Thiercelin (Bermudes)
and Ronan Guérin (Amandine & Chérie)
in particular. The fleet then tacked back as they
made the Vendée coast, reaching at around
7 knots on flat seas. After rounding Belle-Ile
this afternoon, the fleet are downwind sailing
under spinnaker towards the finish line in La
Rochelle with a north-westerly sea breeze dropping
out from 10 knots and a new ETA of 0500 to 0600
BST tomorrow. Jeanne Grégoire is now doing
well in 30th, escorted by the Navy vessel the
Cormoran after running aground on a beach in the
early hours.
This morning the leader Bidegorry was being shadowed
by Jérémie Beyou (Delta Dore), with
Erwan Tabarly (Thales) just 2.5 miles behind and
Thierry Chabagny (Petit Navire-Le Bon Goût
du Large) sitll well up with the leading pack.
As for those off to the west they have now got
back in touch with Alain Gautier (Foncia), and
Michel Desjoyeaux (Géant), two skippers
who held on to the median course for a long while
– Loïck Peyron (Fujfilm) was then 12th
less than 5 miles away. In contrast, over 55 miles
from the head of the fleet Basque Unaï Basurko
de Miguel (Bizkaia) is once again bearing the
red lantern with just one night’s sailing
to see if he can get back on the pace and make
up the miles. Dutchman Sander Bakker is fairly
well placed in 28th, and Italian, Agusta Corrado
was 39th.
Quotes
from the Boats
Erwan
Tabarly (Thalès) : "At
the head of the fleet we found ourselves without
wind but it has just kicked in again so I can
pass Birvideaux. At the moment, there is nothing
complicated about the strength of the wind. I
just have to round the lighthouse and look out
for the pebbles! Those behind have come back on
me and I haven’t been able to make back
the ground on the leading skippers. For the moment
my objective is to keep this second place and
try to get back with Pascal Bidégorry and
Jérémie Beyou but it’s not
going to be easy..."
Alain
Gautier (Foncia) : in fine form
at the noon radio session: Extract: “A little
traffic information for those in the vicinity
of Birvideaux tonight : It’s pretty busy,
don’t hesitate in leaving this evening.
Think about stopping every two hours paying particular
attention not to exceed 250 km/hr! It’s
very hot and I’m trying to get the boat
moving forward as you should. Pascal really looks
set to win so I’m going to try and play
with the other boats around me and we’ll
see. It isn’t over yet!
Loïck
Peyron (Fujifilm) : « I’m
putting on the cream, wearing a lovely hat and
I’m trying to make something of not very
much! I negotiated the early morning badly so
I was delighted to see them getting stuck up front
so I could come back on them. I noticed that I
had a plastic bag stuck in the keel so I got into
the water to get it off. I find it interesting
to sail in light winds, but I’ve still got
a lot to learn ! »
Marc
Thiercelin (Bermudes) : "The
evening of the start, I had a plan all thought
out and finally I decided to change it and head
further out to sea than the others. I really made
a serious mistake. I think I’ve lost my
Figaro! I should have made it simple and followed
by original idea and follow the little train of
others.”
Jeanne
Grégoire (Skipper AG2R) :
“I’m not very proud of what happened
last night so I’m going to try and find
the words to explain this mishap. In fact I fell
asleep at the wrong time. I had set my autopilot
so that it was at an angle to the wind, not on
a fixed bearing. When the shift kicked in the
boat must have moved towards the shore. As I was
out of sorts I didn’t wake up and found
myself on the beach. The boat was stuck there
with the keel in the sand. I managed to get out
of there under sail without unsealing the engine
so I’m still in the race but I’m going
to have to get the boat to La Rochelle to repair
it! When I found myself in this situation I called
for help for a bit on the VHF, and I know that
any one of the competitors would have come to
my assistance if it had been necessary. Everyone
has got my spirits up again. It’s really
a beginner’s error to have fallen asleep
and the sanction was immediate.”
Jérémie
Beyou (Delta Dore) - early hours
of today: «The morning may well see the
wind easing making it a delicate leg. Anyway,
for the moment we’re making good progress.
It was a bit frightening near the Sables d’Olonne
as the wind dropped out but we quickly got out
of it. Yesterday I was able to rest, but since
the beginning of the night it’s been getting
dangerous because of the buoys which aren’t
lit up and I have the impression that there are
some fishermen downwind of me.»
Kate
Jennings
...Official
site La
Solitaire Du Figaro
