Press release of 07/03/2012
Green light for a sprint to the finish
Any old adages about green being an unlucky colour on board yachts have been conclusively dismissed today, as Gildas Morvan consolidated his lead at the head of the Solitaire du Figaro ??“ Eric Bompard Cachemire fleet in Cercle Vert.
Any Figaro sailors able to momentarily tear their eyes away from their speedo may have noticed that the French Groupama team (packed with former Figarists, not least skipper Franck Cammas, who won the race aged just 24) also sealed Volvo Ocean Race victory today in their green and orange livery – a glimpse of the spectacular sailing careers many graduates of this offshore marathon have gone on to achieve.
Having taken the lead from his long-term rival Nicolas Lunven (Generali) yesterday evening, Morvan has shown the way throughout today, indextaining around a mile advantage over his nearest adversary as this morning's navigational challenges made way for another reaching sprint. With little let-up in pace by the 36 skippers competing in this second stage, the earliest finishers are expected to arrive in the port of Saint Gilles Croix de Vie – home of Beneteau, makers of the one-design Figaro II yachts – this evening.
Race Director Gilles Chiorri explained: “We are to the south of Groix, conditions are stable, winds coming from the south-west with a small southerly element, so all the Beneteau Figaros are going quite fast and their skippers are staying focused on their settings. I do not expect them to rest a lot. Under these conditions, it's hard to pick up the phone, to leave the helm, it's the final sprint... everyone puts in what he can, they know that the next night, or soon, will be in a bed. The wind is slightly stronger than predicted, so the first ETA is in 8 hours, around 10pm.”
Despite ongoing autopilot problems, Leg 1 winner Yann Eliès (Groupe Queguiner-Le Journal des Entreprises) has also held onto the third place position he gained in the small hours of this morning whilst negotiating three turning marks off the tip of Brittany. As the fleet streamed south, Eliès has made small gains on Lunven, although today's reaching course has presented limited opportunities to challenge for the lead. However, any evening shut-down in breeze could yet open up chances for the chasing pack as behind Eliès the margins reindex ultra-tight with a further four skippers separated by just half a mile in the race for fourth, Erwan Tabarly (Nacarat) currently holding the advantage.
Eliès commented: “I hope that the scenario turns out to be all straight line speed, it works for me! After that, it's meant to get lighter in the end, around the Ile d'Yeu. The more we go in the east, the more it will lighten so we are not protected from a reversal of fortune yet!”
Nowhere in the Figaro fleet is the contest tighter than that for the first rookie position. Currently fastest of the ‘Bizuths' is British skipper Nick Cherry (Artemis 77) in 23rd, sailing neck and neck with Corentin Horeau (Bretagne – Credit Mutuel Espoir) in 25th, also challenging for the prize of fastest newcomer. Between the two lies Artemis team mate Sam Goodchild (Artemis 23), in 24th position on his second entry to the race.
The majority of the fleet have now passed Belle-Ile and are now on a direct course for the finish in Saint Gilles Croix de Vie, where they are expected to arrive from 2200hrs this evening.
Quote from the skippers:
Nicolas Lunven (Generali):
“We are near the end, sailing in home waters - not just for me, I think a lot of the skippers are in the same situation, which is always nice. We have a 15-knot reaching wind, we're sailing well, making nice speeds. I'm still second, it could be worse. I am only a mile behind but frankly we should be realistic. Gildas Morvan can still make a mistake. You never know, but in normal conditions I do not know how I can catch up one mile on Gildas... except if he falls asleep at the chart table. We will only have to negotiate one island as we will sail away from Groix and Belle-Ile. It might get tricky next to the Ile d'Yeu that we should reach tonight. Care must be taken especially with calm patches and the light wind expected upon arrival. But I do not think there would be too many pitfalls towards the end. The actual ETA is shortly after midnight. I still have 86 miles to do, so it's a bit more than twelve hours of sailing.”
Yann Eliès (Groupe Queguiner-Le Journal des Entreprises):
“I was tacking and I still have my electronic problem, I am sailing blind, with no NKE, I just have an autopilot following the map. All the important info like wind strength, direction, boat speed... I do not have them, so I must be at the helm. To sail in these conditions, I try to find the markers that I am used to having. I sailed a lot in contact with others, so it enabled me to adjust, but it's frustrating not to know how fast you're going, although it looks OK.
“It is clear that my goal is to close the distance as much as possible between myself and Nicolas Lunven. He was at 2, 1.9, 1.8 miles... and then behind that there is Erwan Tabarly who hasn't given away nothing and there's a great fight going on between the two of us. We're taking very little time to sleep and eat, it'll be like this until the end.”
Alexis Loison (Groupe Fiva):
“I was in the index pack of the top 15 yesterday, I was a little tired of sailing with them so I tried an option in my corner that paid off. So I now sail with Yann (Eliès) and Erwan (Tabarly) and am now fighting with them for third place. They are a bit far ahead, but anything is possible.”
Morgan Lagravière (Vendée):
“Everything has gone wrong for me since the start. I haven't had much success in what I'm doing. I already had a bad start, I had a collision with another boat and suddenly I had a problem with one of the chain plates. I did not take a good option in the Bay of Biscay, but I managed to come back a bit afterwards. Unfortunately this is straight line sailing and there is not necessarily much to do. We are sailing in single file. We've picked up to 7-8 knots.”
Julien Villion (Seixo Promotion):
“I have some company around me, Thomas Normand is not too far behind. It's all straight on for now, in single file. I'm tired, I had one night that was a bit complicated. I had problems with some sails. I spent two hours to clear the problems and put the spinnaker back up. I'd put a lot of energy into that and this morning I was really exhausted. This morning when I managed to get the boat back in race mode, I went to sleep and I lost a lot of standings, I struggled to keep up with the pace. It gets better, I've eaten and it will be like this until the finish. We should arrive in around 10 hours.”
› CONTACT PRESSE
:
Marie LE BERRIGAUD-PEROCHON
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