By morning the fleet had passed over the continental shelf and were well offshore, fully embarked on their crossing of the Bay of Biscay. The day brought a brisker 11 knot southerly breeze and spinnakers came down in favour of gennakers, with the boats advancing at a more respectable pace of 7 or 8 knots. “There have already been some interesting strategic developments” explained Race Director Jacques Caraës: “the different timing of their tacks, to avoid the centre of the weather system, have led to quite a bit of lateral separation, fifteen miles or more between the boats grouped in the south-west and those in the north-west. It will be interesting to see later on who was right, because right now there’s everything still to play for. In the meantime they’re getting ready for the passage of a front during tonight which will bring squalls and 20 – 25 knots of wind from the south-west, with gusts up to 35”.
Leading the fleet at the 1600 position report is Charles Caudrelier-Benac (Bostik), followed by Ronan Treussart (Black Hawk) and Gildas Mahé (Banque Populaire); all three have chosen to follow the rhumb-line route to Coruna, at the middle of the axis of the fleet. Of the international skippers, Cowes-based Jonny Malbon (Artemis) is following the middle group, about 15 miles further down the track, while Nigel King (Nigel King Yachting) has elected to follow a more northerly route, having slipped to a mid-fleet placing after a superb start yesterday. Between the two is Franco-German sailor Isabelle Joschke (Synergie)
Racing in the Figaro class is notoriously close however, and not much more than 15 miles separates the bulk of the fleet in any direction – nothing is sure, as 4th-placed Antoine Koch (Sopra Group), in philosophic mood, pointed out during this morning’s radio session: “We’ll need to take the opportunity to get some rest in this afternoon or miss out altogether, because tonight could be decisive. At the moment it’s too early to say whether one is well or badly placed. And for me winning is only a part of the objective, the other is to feel I’ve played the cards I was dealt to best advantage. I’ll do the best I can with what I’ve got and see how it goes.”
The long awaited return to Ireland promises to be a tactical leg….
On the 10th of August, the skippers will set a course for Dingle. The 40th edition of La Solitaire du Figaro could not miss out on Ireland… The competitors will cover 485 miles. Sailing towards Penmarc’h point could prove to be difficult with rocky obstacles such as Belle-Île, Groix and the Glénans archipelago. 300 miles then remain to be sailed before what is often a tricky finish in the bay of Dingle.
The typical Irish port of Dingle will host the stopover of La Solitaire du Figaro for the 4th time. In this exceptional setting the skippers will be able to get supplies and prepared before attacking the 4th and final 511-mile leg to the finish.
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