Wednesday, August 10th 2011
Jérémie Beyou winner and overall leader in Dún Laoghaire
The 2005 Solitaire du Figaro champion crossed the finish line Dún Laoghaire
not only to win the second leg but take the overall lead in the four-stage
sailing race. Nicolas Lunven, the 2009 champion was second with Adrien
Hardy, who won the stage to Ireland in 2010, third. Morgan Lagravière, was
top rookie in 6th. The first of the four British sailors, Phil Sharp, was
23rd, just over an hour behind the leader.
The pewter grey skies cleared briefly to let some bright sun through to
spotlight the first Figaro on the horizon and reveal the breakaway leader of
the 46 solo sailors competing on the second of four legs that make up La
Solitaire du Figaro race. The second leg, 440 miles from Caen to Dún
Laoghaire close to Dublin on the East coast of Ireland, set off last Sunday
and took just over 65 hours for the winner to complete. Jérémie Beyou
(BPI), blew his spinnaker in the shifty breeze just a couple of miles from
the finish, but had been surfing downwind at a blistering average of 14
knots, whilst keeping a close eye on his pursuers as he helmed his boat to
victory at 10:15 in the morning. The successful and experienced French solo
sailor, averaged 6.7 knots over the 65 hours and 25 minutes and 16 seconds.
He was both jubilant and exhausted upon arrival.
Nicolas Lunven sailing on Generali from France was just under 20 minutes
later in second place with Adrien Hardy on Agir Recouvrement finishing third
a further 18 minutes astern. Members of the National Yacht Club,
international visiting media, and support shore crew welcomed the skippers
on the arrival pontoon with champagne to celebrate. Rookie, or first time
participant to complete the gruelling race was Morgan Lagravière in an
impressive 6th.
The four British entries, was headed by Phil Sharp on Spirit of Independence
in 23rd, just over an hour behind the leader then Nigel King (E-Line
Orthodontics) in 32nd, Sam Goodchild, the youngest skipper at just 21, Sam
Goodchild was 33rd in Artemis, and Conrad Humphreys (DMS) in 40th just over
two hours behind the winner. Francisco Lobato on Roff, who comes from
Portugal, finished in 28th place.
The race was really tough and the conditions, with upwind sailing though
squalls, strong tidal currents and rocky channels at the start, were truly
demanding. But the adrenaline rush come back for the downwind overnight
reach up the Irish Sea to the finish.
All 46 competitors reindex in Dún Laoghaire Harbour until the start of leg
three on Sunday 14th of August: 475 miles from Dublin to Les Sables d’Olonne
in France.
Jérémie Beyou (BPI) – winner in Dún Laoghaire after 440 miles racing from
Caen: “Oh my, it feels good to get to the finish line… and in first. I’ve
worked a lot for this race and sometimes it just pays off. It’s not easy to
be in front and stay there. All in all I feel very happy. Winning is
something magical, impossible to explain what you feel, it’s just great. It
was a though one, squalls at the start and at the finish…it looked like it
was going to last forever. The wind on the last part was coming in from all
over the place, shifting continuously. My big spinnaker just exploded in
the final miles of the race, but then I guess it was taking its revenge as I
treated it so badly! And the boat too, I reckon Fanch (his shore team ed.
note) is going to be busy with the repairs. Last night there were three of
us, Nico Lunven, Erwan Tabarly and myself sailing side by side… I really
took the gamble by going along the coast on the most direct route, not an
easy decision to sail so close to the Irish coastline. We all knew it was
going to be a hard race. I was the first one to hoist the spinnaker
yesterday, the others were waiting and I said to myself: Go Beyou, you can
do it! I did not sleep much on the first night and on the first day either.
It was impossible, but I had some rest on the second one, sailing along
under the southern British coastline towards Lands End. O would not quite
call what I had sleep; it was more like a few siestas on deck to keep an eye
on Erwan Tabarly.
Morgan Lagravière (Vendée) sixth and first rookie to finish in Dún Laoghaire
41 minutes and 59 seconds behind the winner: "It's been the toughest leg
I've ever sailed. Three hard days and nights in strong wind and choppy sea
and not progressing much... I can't say it was fun, I wanted to sail well
but it was also frightening, downwind with 35 knots! It was not easy to keep
the boat going straight. I'm obviously happy with my result but I need to
rest, eat and take a break, think about something different. Honestly,. I'm
glad to get into the game, these are very special and interesting races, but
they're so tough! It was hard since the very start in Caen and then I was
helming all the time. At the finish, when you are already tired, it's not
easy to sail under spinnaker in 30 knots, boats surfing at 18: amazing! One
realizes that it is so easy to fall overboard, when the boat is rocking and
jumping. I've started this project with Vendée and I would do anything to
race well, even if it's cold, the food is awful, no sleep and you end up
totally exhausted. It's nice to be back ashore and put things into
perspective: I'm more experienced now and I got a good result."
Francisco Lobato (ROFF) from Portugal finishes 28th and 1 hour 46 minutes
and 26 seconds behind the winner: “This second leg was not much better than
the first one. I started well, but then almost all my options were not right
and I kept loosing ground on the leaders. Between Land’s End and the St
George Channel I decided to go East, it didn’t pay off… Only on the final
downwind part, while approaching the finish, I managed to climb back some
ten/twelve places by staying more inshore. I can’t say I’m happy with the
result.”
Phil Sharp (Spirit of Independence) – first Briton to finish in Dún
Laoghaire: « It was a hard race, it was very testing in certain places but
they were actually very exciting and enjoyable conditions. I hit a
particularly good set of waves and I was just
Surfing along at 18knots for about half a minute. Unbelievable, absolutely
unbelievable, we’re all insane! »
Nigel King (E-Line Orthodontics) and Sam Goodchild (Artemis) were fighting
neck-and-neck for much of the leg: “We had a chat last night, we were close
enough to talk to each other! I’ve had a better leg than last leg but I
didn’t sail the first eighteen hours very well. I don’t know what’s going
on, I lost a lot of time in the first twenty-four hours and then spend the
rest of the race trying to figure out how to recover.”
Conrad Humphreys (DMS) decided to stay to the right fleet to avoid an area
of high pressure initially forecast, but now questions that decision: “I
realised I’d made a mistake by not crossing over to the Irish coast early
enough but I’m happy, we’ve got here in one piece and I’m still in very
close contention with the rest of the pack, so that’s the most important
thing. I love Ireland and I’m sure there’s a very good pint of Guinness
waiting for me!”
Sam Godchild (Artemis) whose decision to tack early upon rounding the
Channel Islands: “That was a bad idea, I got my timings wrong. There were
three big tactical decisions, the first two I made were wrong which was
disappointing and I think I could have done better in this leg. The third
was ok and I made up for a lot of time lost after Land's End.”
Photo Credits: Courcoux/Marmara – Le Figaro
Jérémie Beyou (BPI)
Sabina Mollart-Rogerson –
Ergebnisse am 10.08.2011
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