La Solitaire du Figaro - Streaming into La Rochelle
August 08, 2003

On the horizon the Figaro Bénéteau fleet eased slowly towards the finish line in La Rochelle, a wave of colour under spinnaker. And it was Armel Le Cléac’h on Créaline who finally snatched victory at 10h43’58” French time today under blue skies on flat seas with barely a breath of heavy air under full main and gennaker. Just over 12 mins later Michel Desjoyeaux (Géant) crossed in second after working hard out on the foredeck easing the gennaker sheet in line with every whisper of wind, continually casting a glance at the rapidly advancing pack behind him. Finally the pressure lifted at 10h55’20”, Erwan Tabarly on Thalès completing the podium at 10h56’28”. Former leg winner Yann Eliès just missing out on the podium by 20 seconds at the end of what has been an extremely eventful second leg, in this Solitaire Afflelou Le Figaro. In the general ranking the current podium is Yann Eliès in first place followed by Armel Le Cléach and Alain Gautier.

Armel Le Cléac'h : "Super! It’s a great moment to win a Figaro leg. I can’t take in what has happened yet. It was hard right up to the end, especially last night as we had very little wind. My victory was played out early this morning when Pascal Bidégorry found himself caught up in a fishing net. It isn’t over until you cross the line, we have the proof today! I warned my friends that I would pull off a good coup. It risks being pretty close in the general rankings but regularity pays off!"

Just behind him the pressure was tangible with Michel Desjoyeaux (Géant) angrily brushing away the enveloping press boats. “You wouldn’t dream of approaching a footballer on the middle of the playing field would you?” he launched, desperately hanging onto his second place just a handful of minutes from victory. On form after the finish he seemed fairly resigned. “It’s just a normal Figaro leg. Hard, tiring and as a result you lose a bit of lucidity. You have to keep on believing you can do it though. There’s always little options to play but it’s always risky, you make good progress then you’re becalmed. That’s the name of the game.”

Erwan Tabarly (Thalès) was clearly delighted with his third place. “It wasn’t just the end that was difficult! It was rather tough with the heat and very weak wind. We didn’t have much luck with the fleet coming right back together again – every time you got ahead the others would play the accordion effects and come back from behind. I’m very happy with my position and the structure of the boat is holding together” he said ironically as the boat glided through the calm.

Twenty seconds from a podium finish Yann Eliès (Groupe Générali) was rather disappointed. “It didn’t start off well. It’s not party time! When we set out from Bilbao the main route taken seemed to me to be a bit extreme so I decided to stick on the direct course. Loick Peyron and Alain Gautier did likewise so it struck me as a reasonable choice. The last miles were tight to say the least.”

After rounding Belle-Ile with a one-hour lead on the fleet yesterday, Pascal Bidegorry (Région Aquitaine) was robbed of victory overnight, finally taking the line back in 5th nearly 14 minutes behind the leader, tears of frustration welling up.

Alain Gautier (Foncia) was not even a minute behind in 6th. “Hard, hard, hard! he said spontaneously, “well not hard, easy conditions but really difficult to keep up your speed. There was a bit of sea during the leg and lots of plastic bags to slow you down. Then I was becalmed at Belle-Ile and tried to get going again at Bivorgeaux but was ensnared by a net again. The end of the night was considerably more productive. I managed a coup in a stable 12 knots of winds and shot by a good few skippers. Pascal (Bidegorry) really did well to be going at such speed.”

Seventh placed Jérémie Beyou on Delta Dore came in 20 seconds behind in 7th after losing five places in the same cruel weather system as Bidegorry. “Things didn’t get off to a good start. The result is very disappointing. This morning Pascal and I had a good lead and then it was just gone and we were swallowed up by the chasing pack. But that’s how it is with the Figaro. You keep trying little coups but essentially it’s down to trajectory, then you get in front and the wind decides to head round!”

Loick Peyron on Fujifilm in 8th was the very image of dejection nearly 18 minutes behind the leader, the morale ever present though in his jokes. “That’s my family there” he said of the small cheering crowd lining the entrance to the port as the boats filed home. The lack of wind was really frustrating because you don’t make any progress but you can’t sleep either.” Laurent Pellecuer (Cliptol Sport) and Charles Caudrelier on (Bostik Findley) completed the top ten in this second Figaro leg.

Marc Emig took the honours in the rookie class with a 13th place 26’43” after the overall winner, in very good company amidst some of the former winners, familiar names like Eric Drouglazet, Kito de Pavant and Gilles Chiorri. It was a disappointed Yves Le Blevec who came in about 10 minutes later in 19th and Brit Sam Davies (Skandia) putting on a fine performance overnight to complete the rookie podium in 29th place with a time of 11h38’14”. “It’s been a long difficult second race, again! None of the legs are going to be easy. I was the first rookie up to Belle-Ile but had a big piece of algae on the keel. As I was getting it off Marc Emig and Yves Le Blevec got past me and then I gybed in the wrong direction. Mark got the best run at it and got ahead and stayed ahead – impossible to catch up. I’m learning all the time about my boat and how to sail it in relation to others. I’m looking forward to the next race”.Dutch sailor Sander Bakker (Egeria) in 34th suffered a similar fate to Jeanne Grégoire (Skipper AG2R) in 31st, falling asleep and running aground. Fortunately he too was able to continue the race and was characteristically buoyant mood. “We were in very light winds and when I went down below to have a thirty minute nap we were two hours from the beach given the conditions. Unfortunately I slept through my two alarm clocks and was woken when I ended up on the rocks. The little waves there kept picking up the boat and slamming it metre by metre further inshore. I spent 20 minutes trying to use my jib to bear away, even hanging onto the end of the boom at one point to try to lift the back end out of danger. Finally it all came good with all the effort. Just prior to the incident I was really enjoying the sail, filling up the ballast in 17 knots of true wind speed earlier on, and I was just 4.4 miles from the leader. Things can only get better!”

Corrado Agusta (Sector Sport Watches) was 40th and Unai Basurko de Miguel completed the foreign contribution to this Solitaire Afflelou Le Figaro with the latter and last due in before midnight.

Kate Jennings

...Official site La Solitaire Du Figaro