All 36 solo sailors competing in La Solitaire du Figaro – Eric Bompard Cachemire have arrived in Saint Gilles Croix de Vie, after Gildas Morvan (Cercle Vert) secured second leg victory at 23.58pm on Tuesday July 3rd.
Morvan was followed home in second by Nicolas Lunven (Generali) who completed the course 3 minutes, 17 seconds later. Yann Elies (Groupe Queguiner – Le Journal des Entreprises) completed the podium and provisionally tops the overall ranking after winning two stages.
The remainder of the fleet streamed into the Vendée port over the early hours of Wednesday, July 4th, with half an hour covering the top half of the fleet.
There was a shake-up in the competition for first ‘Bizuth' in the race, with Briton Nick Cherry (Artemis 77) leading the rookies on the long reach to Saint Gilles Croix de Vie, while holding off a sustained challenge from Corentin Horeau (Bretagne – Credit Mutuel). However, in the final approach to the line, racing in lighter winds inshore of the Ile d'Yeu the French skipper was able to slip through to take the advantage, finishing in 23rd. First international skipper was Sam Goodchild (Artemis 23) in 24th, with first-timer Julien Villion (Seixo Promotion) taking 25th one ahead of Cherry. The fleet was completed by the arrival of Henry Bomby (Artemis 37), who arrived at 02.43am.
Quotes from the finishers:
Gildas Morvan (Cercle Vert) 1st:
“Starting from Gijon, my goal was to put everything back in place after my bad first leg. I had to be attacking and to be aggressive enough as soon as crossing the starting line. This was the main idea. It was necessary to be ahead of the ridge to get out first of this high pressure area and reach the wind first. There is a morning I could not get out in front of Lunven and I did not quite understand why. I had a plastic bag on the keel which was impossible to remove. I had to haul down the spinnaker, go backwards and restarted behind him. After that, it was a great fight. I then managed to overtake him just before crossing the West of Sein and I knew it was a key point there. I knew that getting out in first position there would enable me to have the best current to until La Basse du Lis and then towards the Raz de Sein with the backing tide. There were a few shots to play by getting the current to Tevennec. I'm happy because I managed to lead over almost the whole race. I was aggressive when I needed to be and I did not give up. I was in good shape on the last day because I slept well before and I really did not want to miss that one. To stay focused on the settings: you had to be on it to avoid being overtaken. I managed to hold on to Nico Lunven, for me it's fabulous. The goal is to win the third stage where there are plenty of manoeuvres to make with currents to play in."
Nicolas Lunven (Generali) 2nd:
"I'm really happy, but the hint of disappointment is that I did much of the Bay of Biscay as a leader. I tried to analyse this little slump and I cannot explain where Gildas passed me. I then managed to scrounge a little bit back but not enough to come back and overtake him. So I miss the leg victory down to one small mistake, but I am very, very happy to be second. It was a great stage, I had a lot of fun. I cannot wait to be in a good bed, I'm pretty tired. Between Groix and Belle Isle and I managed to rest a little but I have spent my whole time sailing the boat."
Yann Eliès (Groupe Queguiner Journal des Entreprises) 3rd:
"I'm happy with this third place because at one point the picture wasn't looking so good, once we got out of the high in the Bay of Biscay. The leaders were 4-5 miles ahead with the possibility to increase that lead on the inshore, but I finished 7 minutes behind Nicolas Lunven and so it is not that bad. I still gain some time on my 1st leg-fellows. I'm glad it worked out like that.
"I'll have to be more careful on the starting line. For now this is not my strong point and it could cause me some issues. I've managed to salvage it every time. It's more complicated when you start to come back with a long speed run as compared to an inshore course where you have more opportunities. I slept well this afternoon. We had a long reaching leg where my backup autopilot helmed properly, so I arrive tonight pretty much rested."
Sam Goodchild (Artemis 23) 24th:
“It was very difficult, I lost a lot of miles at the beginning of the leg and then spent a lot of the leg trying to catch up, and struggling mentally and physically to catch up. In my head it was pretty difficult to try to get to grips with what was happening – in the Figaro you're on your own, there's no one else to talk to so I did a lot of fighting by myself, and then I had a nice little race with Nick and a few other guys came back in so it was ok, but generally very, very difficult.”
From : La Solitaire
Credit : A.Courcoux
Morvan was followed home in second by Nicolas Lunven (Generali) who completed the course 3 minutes, 17 seconds later. Yann Elies (Groupe Queguiner – Le Journal des Entreprises) completed the podium and provisionally tops the overall ranking after winning two stages.
The remainder of the fleet streamed into the Vendée port over the early hours of Wednesday, July 4th, with half an hour covering the top half of the fleet.
There was a shake-up in the competition for first ‘Bizuth' in the race, with Briton Nick Cherry (Artemis 77) leading the rookies on the long reach to Saint Gilles Croix de Vie, while holding off a sustained challenge from Corentin Horeau (Bretagne – Credit Mutuel). However, in the final approach to the line, racing in lighter winds inshore of the Ile d'Yeu the French skipper was able to slip through to take the advantage, finishing in 23rd. First international skipper was Sam Goodchild (Artemis 23) in 24th, with first-timer Julien Villion (Seixo Promotion) taking 25th one ahead of Cherry. The fleet was completed by the arrival of Henry Bomby (Artemis 37), who arrived at 02.43am.
Quotes from the finishers:
Gildas Morvan (Cercle Vert) 1st:
“Starting from Gijon, my goal was to put everything back in place after my bad first leg. I had to be attacking and to be aggressive enough as soon as crossing the starting line. This was the main idea. It was necessary to be ahead of the ridge to get out first of this high pressure area and reach the wind first. There is a morning I could not get out in front of Lunven and I did not quite understand why. I had a plastic bag on the keel which was impossible to remove. I had to haul down the spinnaker, go backwards and restarted behind him. After that, it was a great fight. I then managed to overtake him just before crossing the West of Sein and I knew it was a key point there. I knew that getting out in first position there would enable me to have the best current to until La Basse du Lis and then towards the Raz de Sein with the backing tide. There were a few shots to play by getting the current to Tevennec. I'm happy because I managed to lead over almost the whole race. I was aggressive when I needed to be and I did not give up. I was in good shape on the last day because I slept well before and I really did not want to miss that one. To stay focused on the settings: you had to be on it to avoid being overtaken. I managed to hold on to Nico Lunven, for me it's fabulous. The goal is to win the third stage where there are plenty of manoeuvres to make with currents to play in."
Nicolas Lunven (Generali) 2nd:
"I'm really happy, but the hint of disappointment is that I did much of the Bay of Biscay as a leader. I tried to analyse this little slump and I cannot explain where Gildas passed me. I then managed to scrounge a little bit back but not enough to come back and overtake him. So I miss the leg victory down to one small mistake, but I am very, very happy to be second. It was a great stage, I had a lot of fun. I cannot wait to be in a good bed, I'm pretty tired. Between Groix and Belle Isle and I managed to rest a little but I have spent my whole time sailing the boat."
Yann Eliès (Groupe Queguiner Journal des Entreprises) 3rd:
"I'm happy with this third place because at one point the picture wasn't looking so good, once we got out of the high in the Bay of Biscay. The leaders were 4-5 miles ahead with the possibility to increase that lead on the inshore, but I finished 7 minutes behind Nicolas Lunven and so it is not that bad. I still gain some time on my 1st leg-fellows. I'm glad it worked out like that.
"I'll have to be more careful on the starting line. For now this is not my strong point and it could cause me some issues. I've managed to salvage it every time. It's more complicated when you start to come back with a long speed run as compared to an inshore course where you have more opportunities. I slept well this afternoon. We had a long reaching leg where my backup autopilot helmed properly, so I arrive tonight pretty much rested."
Sam Goodchild (Artemis 23) 24th:
“It was very difficult, I lost a lot of miles at the beginning of the leg and then spent a lot of the leg trying to catch up, and struggling mentally and physically to catch up. In my head it was pretty difficult to try to get to grips with what was happening – in the Figaro you're on your own, there's no one else to talk to so I did a lot of fighting by myself, and then I had a nice little race with Nick and a few other guys came back in so it was ok, but generally very, very difficult.”
From : La Solitaire
