Thursday, 5th August 2010
Solitaire du Figaro: Second one to Le Cleac’h? Watch out for the new kids on the block
After more hours of exhausting sailing, in choppy seas and strong breeze
with gusts at 30 plus knots, Armel le Cléac’h has imposed his supremacy once
again at Saint Nazaire. Jérémie Beyou and François Gabart keep alternating
in second position, ready to lauch the final attack. The latest ETA for
leaders is around midnight. Brilliant performances by the newcomers to the
race Francisco Lobato and Anthony Marchand.
At 21h57 last night, Armel le Cleac’h Brit Air’s skipper and winner of the
first leg, rounded SN1 mark getting Grand Prix GMF Assistance, young
François Gabart (Skipper Macif 2010) and Jérémie Beyou (BPI) followed him
shortly. The fleet then attacked the long stretch along the Brittany coast.
Tacking upwind towards Brest in a northerly/north westerly breeze the 45
sailors had to put their best helming, manoeuvring and strategic abilities
to the test on the last 115 miles in tricky.
The new kids on the block. He was last in Gijon at the end of a catastrophic
leg for him, but on this second stage Francisco Lobato, the naval
engineering student from Lisbon racing on ROFF/TEMPO-TEAM, seems to have
quickly recovered from the setback and has conducted a magnificent second
stage. His sixth position overall and second among the newcomers say it all.
He is being duelling with “colleague” Anthony Marchand on Espoir Region
Bretagne to be first rookie in Brest and at the latest position reports they
were less than one mile apart They not only fight for the honour of being
the best young skipper but also for the Bénéteau special ranking that awards
each winner’s leg with a cheque worth 800 Euros.
Italian Pietro D’Alì on I.NOVA.3 has just left the scoreboard top ten and is
now 11th but well into the leading group at only 4.50 miles form the leader.
Other non French skippers are Swiss Bernard Stamm (Cheminée Poujoulat)
in19th leading on Isabelle Joschke (Synergie) by a tiny 0.10 miles and under
10 miles from the top whilst Briton Jonny Malbon (Artemis) has nearly 17
miles disadvantage on the fleet. But Jonny has informed the race management
team of the Solitaire du Figaro that he has an auto pilot problem, which
explains his last place and difficult sailing. Jonny's team are unable to
clarify whether the pilot is working at all or not but Jonny is in for some
extended helming periods, and will clearly be off the pace.
A major setback for Frédéric Duthil (BBox Bouygues Telecom). Strong French
skipper at 8h03 a.m. today called Race Direction to announce that he was
abandoning and was heading to Lorient. Frédéric decided to take part to this
years' La Solitaire du Figaro despite having broken his right elbow some
weeks previous to the start. He made every possible effort to be on the line
in Le Havre and to race. But last night his condition worsened and the pain
being nearly unbearable, he decided to abandon La Solitaire. The race is
undoubtedly losing one of the race's favourites.
Race Management issued the newest ETA for the leaders who could sail past
the finish line, placed just a few hundreds metres from shore and the
Oceanopolis Aquarium, at around midnight, which could mean a huge public
waiting to welcome the sailors on the pontoons.
Quotes from the sailors:
Armel Le Cléac’h (Brit Air)
“I try to sail as I want to, after SN1 we’ve been upwind, tacking
frequently. I do my best to keep at bay my nearest competitors Jerem and
François (Beyou and Gabart ed. note). It’s stressful, that’s for sure. The
game is not over and you can’t be somewhere else, we made our choice. Feels
fine to be in the lead once again but Brest is still way to go. Physically
I’m all right, I ate, changed my clothes, dried the boat that was pretty
wet, there was water everywhere, actually… I will concede myself one or two
naps before Penmarch to be ready to deal with the Bay d’Audierne, the raz de
Sein and the final miles to Brest.”
Francisco Lobato (ROFF/TEMPO-TEAM)
“I feel good, it’s a weird sensation to be in the leading pack. Yet, there
is still a long way to go. I broke my spinnaker boom, made some temporary
repairs with what I could find on board but I guess we don’t need to use it
to get to Brest. I’ve been sailing in Armel’s group since the start, then he
sped away and now I can see Fabien and Anthony Marchand… The first night was
hard, didn’t sleep much and, all in all, I never slept for more than 15 or
20 minutes in a row. I’m starting to feel tired.”
Nicolas Lunven (Generali)
"We’ve got some work to do! My strategy to get across the Bay of Biscay was
not so brilliant, didn’t know exactly when to gibe, when to hoist the
spinnaker. I was not so inspired and tended to copy my mates’ ideas. The
last part up to Brest will be interesting. Almost all upwind, tacking, the
game is not over yet. In a minute I will take a little pleasure, I will
change my clothes as I’m completely soaked and my boots leak. I guess I will
feel better later! When you’re racing on a Figaro you never rest enough and
I concede myself short naps of 5 or 10 minutes every now and then.
Gildas Morvan (Cercle Vert)
“At Groix I was sailing in a small group of boats, we were having fun, going
very close to the rocks, I was in front of that flock and everything was
fine but I didn’t look closely at the chart and there was a rock just in the
middle… and I hit it, I crashed into it. I saw it but it was too late, I
guess the bulb is damaged. I will need to work on it in Brest. This leg was
no different from the first one, I made the wrong choices, I’ve been sailing
well after the SN1 though, it’s nice to get some miles on the ones preceding
me. There is still work to do, wind shifts, passages, it’s going to be
tricky up to the finish.”
Isabelle Joschke (Synergie)
“I reckon you can say this was a pretty complete leg, we had a bit of
everything. Light wind at the start to be dealt with patience, then the
crossing of the Bay of Biscay, then a particularly demanding and stressful
passage of a front, under spinnaker, exhausting for me. The last part to the
finish will be equally hard. True I have dry clothes on and it’s sunny,
sailing is nicer but tricky anyway.”
Francisco Lobato, fourth at the latest ranking and first newcomer
Photo Credit: Courcoux-Marmara/Le Figaro
Gijón - + 34 984 493042
Sabina Mollart-Rogerson: + 34 666 759 530 –
sabinamollartrogerson@gmail.com or
Carla Anselmi: + 39 347/4632757 -
carlanselmi@libero.it
France: Soazig Guého (06 62 08 75 44) or Léa Launay (06 77 13 19 80)
pressesolitaire@lefigaro.fr
www.lasolitaire.com
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