La Solitaire du Figaro - Press Release 23 : Arrival in Dingle
August 15, 2003

Keeping up with the finishes in Dingle…
First in leg and first overall for Alain Gautier (Foncia), whose talent and success have been brought back to life in the spray and dead calm of La Solitaire Afflelou Le Figaro. The prize for the greatest disappointment goes to Pascal Bidégorry (Région Aquitaine), who has seen what ought to have been his first place in the leg slip through his fingers for the second time in a row. The prize for consistency goes to Armel Le Cléac’h (Créaline), always there to catch anything good that is up for grabs. So there you have the first three places of this third leg fought along both coastline and open sea between La Rochelle and Dingle in Ireland. The first three steps of the podium in the wake of a 536 mile long race, which has lacked nothing in terms of tactical intensity and speed but which will remain marked by very fickle winds. One minute apparently revelaing pre-determined rankings too early on, only to upset the apple cart later on. A leg which makes this year’s edition a fine one indeed, full of changes ! On the pontoons, after a calm night the whole pack has been seriously reshuffled. A feeling of bitterness for some and satisfaction for others …. Extracts from the reactions of the first skippers across the line…

Michel Desjoyeaux (Géant) : 4th in the leg, 5th overall in the provisional rankings, after three legs « What a crazy race this Figaro is turning out to be ! everyone knows it’s a madman’s race, but this year it is particularly so. In the first three legs, there have been so many unconvincing changes that you end up getting used to it. The last few miles of this leg were absolutely in keeping with what has gone before ! It boils down to making sure that you get some sleep in the day before the start to make sure that you are in fine fettle – especially on the last night, for the following day as that’s when it is all played out. Some folks say that speed makes you more intelligent, but I’m proof that that’s not the case as I’m not sailing that fast on quite a few points of sail. Some folks get upset when the going gets tough. The best thing to do is to laugh about it and try to make the best of it. Call it old fool’s wisdom if you like ! At Great Skellig all three of us were in the lead, but it was more of a hooded reference to our opponents and their youthfulness – they’re not that young in fact !

Pascal Bidégorry’s reaction at the finish in Dingle « This Figaro is still hell. I’d forgotten how you hard you can work to give it all you’ve got and even with a four mile lead, that all that hard graft can just fizzle out. All my hard work came to nothing. I’ve got the distinct impression that I’ve done two legs in the lead and for no useful purpose at all. Today, the word fatigue might as well be written the same way as stupidity ! There was just one rock at the finish. I looked at my charts several times … and then boom ! at 6 knots, I ran straight into it ! My boat must be all bashed up and we’ve probably got a lot of work on our hands. In spite of all that, I still had a great sail. I’m obviously really disappointed but Alain Gautier sailed a very fine race. When things decide that they are not going to work, they just don’t ! ».

Alain Gautier’s first reaction « This victory champagne tastes very good indeed… I’d even go as far as saying that it tastes better than the last time when I won the last leg of the Figaro. The 15th August is definitely a date which follows me everywhere I go ! Seven years ago, I fell overboard and was fished out. Six years ago I won the Kinsale leg. I’m going to have to keep a sharp eye out on 15th August each year ! I’(m really pleased with this Figaro. My aim was to win at least one leg and I’ve managed that ! I’ve won with little success in fact and I really am thinking about Bidégorry. He’s sailed the best race once again. Yesterday I was lucky enough to do well in dead calm and the icing on the cake is that I end up in the lead overall ! Yesterday I thought it was impossible to catch up with Pascal but with dead calm and counter-current, I found a little breeze inshore. »

Big gaps to keep an eye on … Alain Gautier’s win announced the arrival of the first boats. The first nine boats all arrived within 1h20 of each other. And then nothing. It was not until one hour later that the tenth boat came in. Marc Thiercelin (Bermudes)… the clock continued to turn and announced major ditances between the competitors. A high price to be paid for some of the big guys at the end of this third leg, which was supposed to offer the chance to improve things overall for ome. Eric Drouglazet (David Olivier), Gildas Morvan (Cercle Vert), Charles Caudrelier (Bostik Findely) or Gilles Chiorri (32 01 de Météo Consult) for example and many others too… More than 4 hours behind for some. Quite a pointer on the extent to which the race took a turn after a night when the fleet was becalmed off the coast of Ireland.

As for the first timers, Marc Emig (Espoir Total)confirms his place as first rookie, Samantha Davies (Skandia) finished at 14h40 and 16 seconds (local time) today after a fine leg indeed after starting out in the lead ends in 27th position in spite of the presure and very high level in La Rochelle.

At the position check at 13h30 (local time) Sander Baker (Egeria) was in 34th position 7 miles from the finish.

Agusta Corrado (Sector Watches) lay 20.72 miles from the finish in 41st position, Unaï Basuko (Bizkaia) was 24.52 miles from the line in 42nd position.

...Official site La Solitaire Du Figaro