The Solitaire du Figaro started yesterday at 11:50 AM (BST) in Paimpol, France under a grey sky for the 37 single-handed skippers. The weather didn’t dampen the spirits of hundreds of spectators who braved the weather to watch the start. Gildas Morvan (Circle Vert) led the fleet after the 8nm inshore section of this first leg, with rookie sailor Nick Cherry hot on his heels holding a top ten position. Sam Goodchild and Henry Bomby, the youngest skipper in the race, also got off to a good start in the top 20.
The inshore section of the race, broadcast live on France 3 and on the race website saw some tight racing and lead changes in the 18 – 20 knot winds and strong tidal currents. Nick Cherry had the best start of the Artemis Offshore Academy team favouring the buoy end of the start line, giving him a top 5 position for much of the inshore section. After a windless night he lay in 13th at the Portsall turning mark, the last before the fleet tackle the notorious Chanel du Four.
For rookies Bomby and Cherry there was a mix nerves and excitement before they left the dock. “I just want to get a good start,” reported Bomby. “To get away from the Bay cleanly with no major disasters and go from there.” Cherry, whose nerves were being replaced with excitement ahead of the start, commented: “I am feeling pretty excited. It is a pretty miserable day here and there isn’t much wind, but I am just excited to get stuck into it. I am feeling a little bit nervous, but less than I was yesterday. I am just excited to get going and to put some Frenchmen behind me!”
The first 24 hours of the race were always going to be tough with the fleet having to race in very light conditions with strong tidal currents as Sam Goodchild explained before the start: “We will be playing a tidal game and there’s quite a high chance of anchoring. It is going to be light all the way to the corner of Brittany and with 2-3 knots of tide, if you try and go offshore and it doesn’t work you are definitely going to be anchoring.”
By late yesterday afternoon the fleet had split into three groups with the majority hugging the shore to avoid the opposing tide change. This strategy required extreme vigilance to avoid hitting the rock-strewn coast off Perros Guirec, with Yann Ellis (Morbic) taking the lead ahead of Erwan Taberly (Nacarat) and Yoanne Richomme (DLBC) in second and third. It is unlikely that the skippers will have had any sleep since the start of the race as they pick their way along the North Brittany coast towards the notorious Chanel du Four between Ushant and mainland France. The fleet were originally expected to get to this channel late in the afternoon today but they are making good headway and with the tide turning in their favour, they should be through the narrow channel late this morning.
The three leading boats broke away from the main mass of the fleet and are now fighting their own battle with Yann Elies (Morbic) stretching his lead slightly over Fabian Delahaye (Macif 2012) and Morgan Lagraviere (Vendee). With six minute updates provided throughout the day, the ever changing leaderboard will take time to settle down, especially in these light conditions, where a small mistake can be magnified into a huge loss. For the rookies it is the duration of the race over 500 miles that will prove hardest for them as they learn how to manage the effects of sleep deprivation and racing single-handed over these distances. Rookies Cherry and Bomby have never previously raced single-handed over this distance and it will be a steep learning curve for this year’s newcomers to Figaro racing.
Once through the Chanel du Four, the course takes the fleet further round the coast, before heading out across Biscay to Spain. The forecast for this section of the leg has a significant high-pressure system stalled over Biscay, which may result in the total shutdown of wind, and the challenge will be to find the quickest route through to the other side of it before arriving in Gijon Spain at the end of what will have been an exhausting and fairly slow first leg. The race will restart with Leg 2 next Sunday no matter what their arrival time is into Gijon, arriving in the early hours of Friday morning won’t give much recovery time before the restart, providing an added incentive to get there quickly.
Ranking 15 heures
1 Groupe Queguiner / Journal des entreprises Yann Elies
2 SKIPPER MACIF 2012 Fabien Delahaye 0.2
3 VENDEE Morgan Lagravière 1.0
4 SKIPPER HERAULT Xavier Macaire 4.3
5 AGIR RECOUVREMENT Adrien Hardy 4.4
18 ARTEMIS 77 Nick Cherry 5.6
24 ARTEMIS 23 Sam Goodchild 6.1
30 ARTEMIS 37 Henry Bomby 7.9
From : Artemis Offshore Academy
Credit : A.Courcoux
The inshore section of the race, broadcast live on France 3 and on the race website saw some tight racing and lead changes in the 18 – 20 knot winds and strong tidal currents. Nick Cherry had the best start of the Artemis Offshore Academy team favouring the buoy end of the start line, giving him a top 5 position for much of the inshore section. After a windless night he lay in 13th at the Portsall turning mark, the last before the fleet tackle the notorious Chanel du Four.
For rookies Bomby and Cherry there was a mix nerves and excitement before they left the dock. “I just want to get a good start,” reported Bomby. “To get away from the Bay cleanly with no major disasters and go from there.” Cherry, whose nerves were being replaced with excitement ahead of the start, commented: “I am feeling pretty excited. It is a pretty miserable day here and there isn’t much wind, but I am just excited to get stuck into it. I am feeling a little bit nervous, but less than I was yesterday. I am just excited to get going and to put some Frenchmen behind me!”
The first 24 hours of the race were always going to be tough with the fleet having to race in very light conditions with strong tidal currents as Sam Goodchild explained before the start: “We will be playing a tidal game and there’s quite a high chance of anchoring. It is going to be light all the way to the corner of Brittany and with 2-3 knots of tide, if you try and go offshore and it doesn’t work you are definitely going to be anchoring.”
By late yesterday afternoon the fleet had split into three groups with the majority hugging the shore to avoid the opposing tide change. This strategy required extreme vigilance to avoid hitting the rock-strewn coast off Perros Guirec, with Yann Ellis (Morbic) taking the lead ahead of Erwan Taberly (Nacarat) and Yoanne Richomme (DLBC) in second and third. It is unlikely that the skippers will have had any sleep since the start of the race as they pick their way along the North Brittany coast towards the notorious Chanel du Four between Ushant and mainland France. The fleet were originally expected to get to this channel late in the afternoon today but they are making good headway and with the tide turning in their favour, they should be through the narrow channel late this morning.
The three leading boats broke away from the main mass of the fleet and are now fighting their own battle with Yann Elies (Morbic) stretching his lead slightly over Fabian Delahaye (Macif 2012) and Morgan Lagraviere (Vendee). With six minute updates provided throughout the day, the ever changing leaderboard will take time to settle down, especially in these light conditions, where a small mistake can be magnified into a huge loss. For the rookies it is the duration of the race over 500 miles that will prove hardest for them as they learn how to manage the effects of sleep deprivation and racing single-handed over these distances. Rookies Cherry and Bomby have never previously raced single-handed over this distance and it will be a steep learning curve for this year’s newcomers to Figaro racing.
Once through the Chanel du Four, the course takes the fleet further round the coast, before heading out across Biscay to Spain. The forecast for this section of the leg has a significant high-pressure system stalled over Biscay, which may result in the total shutdown of wind, and the challenge will be to find the quickest route through to the other side of it before arriving in Gijon Spain at the end of what will have been an exhausting and fairly slow first leg. The race will restart with Leg 2 next Sunday no matter what their arrival time is into Gijon, arriving in the early hours of Friday morning won’t give much recovery time before the restart, providing an added incentive to get there quickly.
Ranking 15 heures
1 Groupe Queguiner / Journal des entreprises Yann Elies
2 SKIPPER MACIF 2012 Fabien Delahaye 0.2
3 VENDEE Morgan Lagravière 1.0
4 SKIPPER HERAULT Xavier Macaire 4.3
5 AGIR RECOUVREMENT Adrien Hardy 4.4
18 ARTEMIS 77 Nick Cherry 5.6
24 ARTEMIS 23 Sam Goodchild 6.1
30 ARTEMIS 37 Henry Bomby 7.9
From : Artemis Offshore Academy
