La Solitaire du Figaro-Eric Bompard

Deauville-Plymouth, 08.06.2014 -Übersicht

Sunday, June 22, 2014
A good start in Roscoff for Safran-Guy Cotten

At 1500hrs (French time), the 38 competitors in La Solitaire du Figaro - Eric Bompard cachemire set off on the third and penultimate stage of the race. In a north-east wind of around 15 knots, the Figaro Safran-Guy Cotten set sail for Les Sables d'Olonne. A mixture of navigating along the coast of Britanny and offshore racing in the Bay of Biscay, this 505-mile leg (926km) will be played out downwind, reaching and upwind in winds shifting from 5 to 20 knots. There will be difficult and varied conditions, but it is a challenge that Gwénolé Gahinet is ready for. Currently 16th overall and 2nd in the rookie ranking, the skipper of Safran-Guy Cotten has only one desire: to make his mark and have a great leg.

A sleepless night ahead
At the halfway point of the 45th edition of La Solitaire du Figaro, four days of rest in Roscoff have done a lot of good for the skipper of Safran-Guy Cotten, who started this Sunday on the complex and demanding 505-mile leg to Les Sables d'Olonne. The first 24 hours of the race along the Breton coast will not be pleasant and will require vigilance at all times with management of the currents and the tides and navigation through rocky areas. “For the start, we’ll have a sea breeze 15 to 20 knots and it will be more testing than for the previous two legs,” Gahinet said just before 1300hrs, as he left Roscoff. “After the eight-mile coastal course, we’ll be going fast under spinnaker. From île de Batz, it’ll be strategic, it’s a very interesting way to start the leg.” Though he knows a little bit about “shaving rocks”, the skipper of Safran-Guy Cotten said he was keen to discover the new parameters demanded by this race. "Now we are going to have to sail along the rocks so that we’re not going against the current,” he said. “I'll have to be observant and opportunistic. Positioning will be very important. It’s going to be about playing with a few metres, always with that stress of not hitting a rock. I really like this element of the unknown, I’ve already prepared all my waypoints so I can concentrate on just sailing the boat.”

Finally downwind Thirty-eight differently-coloured spinnakers along the coastline and islands of Brittany will provide a magical spectacle. Lifted by a northeast wind of 17 to 20 knots, the fleet is expected to make rapid progress downwind at the beginning of the race, before slowing a bit that night when they are level with Raz de Sein. “Downwind, the boat is flatter and the sailing is relatively comfortable even if the weather will be a little bit exciting,” the skipper of Safran-Guy Cotten enthused. “Since the Transat AG2R, where we spent long days under spinnaker, I’m very comfortable in these conditions. So it’s fine with me.”

A Change of pace after Belle-Ile From tomorrow (Monday) at midday, the wind should ease off significantly, especially at the rear of the fleet, and the gap between the leaders and the last could well widen. That emphasises the importance of thinking clearly in the first part of the race in order to be in the right group for the second part off the Bay of Biscay. "At Belle-Ile, we’ll probably be dealing with the effects of a sea breeze,” Gahinet said “There’ll be a transition zone with a wind that will go northwest while we head offshore to the ODAS buoy, about 150 miles to the south-west of Belle-Ile.” Then they will be reaching and then upwind as they continue their marathon to Les Sables d'Olonne via the BXA buoy, 15 miles from the entrance to the Gironde estuary.

The 38 skippers of La Solitaire du Figaro are expected to arrive in Les Sables d'Olonne between Wednesday night and Thursday morning, after three and a half days of a very varied leg. It will be an exciting race to follow on land, a long and gruelling test for the skippers.