Update March 15th, 2014
David Kenefick can be well pleased with his result in the first Solo Maitre CoQ of 2014 where he achieved a 17th placing. The fleet had two very long nights and extremely slack tides and most were anchored for quite some time at Ile d’Yeu on Thursday night. This gave Kenefick the opportunity to do some catch up and get back into the race. He managed to slowly battle his way through the fleet as they sailed down to La Rochelle and then back up to Ile d’Yeu for a second time. By the time he got to the finish this morning he had pulled up to 19th position and as two boats ahead of him had to take a two hour penalty each for being over the start line in the one-minute before the start he achieved a result of 17th overall, a very good position for the first race of the season.
March 13th, 2014
The start of the Solo Maitre Coq race today did not turn out to be the best for Royal Cork sailor David Kenefick in his first race of 2014. This is a 35 boat fleet with skippers of varying Figaro lineage competing so it is certain to be a tough race. There were two general recalls so the third start was the one the fleet got away from the line on and the start was not David’s best and the light airs of the first beat weren’t kind to him. However the long, light run down to Ile d’Yeu, the first big corner of the course, has opened the game up and the fleet has fanned out and David has climbed right back into it. The wind was really light as the sun went down and the light airs it will be very testing on patience. Tonight as they are headed out on a 270 mile race the forecast is for light winds of under 5 knots and no guarantee they will even get that. David at this moment is lying 24th and travelling at 2.2 knots but the leaders ahead are in a slack spot and barely moving. We will have to wait until tomorrow morning for more news.
Listening to David’s podcast today it was very encouraging to hear how settled he is in Lorient and how very much under control he feels compared to last year when he first went to live in France on his campaign to join the Figaro.. He has all his new sails ordered and has a shore crew person who looks after the boat thus freeing him up a bit and enabling him to relax somewhat. He is hoping to make it to Paris for the Ireland v France rugby match on Saturday and then afterwards back again to take the Full Irish back to Lorient.
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