Rich Mason finishes second Rookie in the Solo Maître Coq

Today at 06:52GMT, Artemis Offshore Academy skipper Rich Mason (Artemis 77) finished the 215 mile Solo Maître Coq 19th overall and second Rookie, just three minutes behind last year's winning Rookie Jack Bouttell (Overboard) in 18th.

Kicking off on Thursday 13th March, the Solo Maître Coq was a race of two halves from sunshine, super light airs, and kedging (using the anchor to stop being swept away on the tide) in the first 24 hours, to a cold fog and 18 knots of wind with a blast reach along the coast in the second. Finishing 21st of 35 boats, Ed Hill (Macmillan Cancer Support) was not bowled over by his result, but more importantly felt he took away invaluable lessons from the first race of the season, as did Rookie Alan Roberts who finished 29th overall and 5th Rookie. Henry Bomby (24th) also took something away from the Solo Maître Coq, collapsing on the dock and vowing to never again to start a race without an autopilot after being hunched at the helm for nearly 40 hours. For Henry, Sam Goodchild (Team Plymouth) and Rookie Sam Matson (Artemis 21), the Solo Maître Coq was a testing start to the season, each skipper faced their own challenges that in the end they could not overcome. Proving it doesn't matter who or how good you are, double Solitaire du Figaro winner Yann Elies also felt the burn of close quarters Figaro racing in the Solo Maître Coq. After leading the fleet round the course for the majority of the race, Yann was pipped to the finish line on the home straight by Maître Coq skipper Jérémie Beyou, who fittingly became the Solo Maître Coq champion this morning.

"The first night of the race was really hard work," Rich reported, beaming ear to ear on the docks this morning. "I've never drifted around so much or had to anchor in a race before and my sails were just flapping in the swell 90% of the time. However, I made some good decisions at the start, which gave me a bit of confidence. I knew that the decisions I was making were the right ones, so I could take that on through the race. I made a few 'Rookie' errors the more tired I got, but I'm pretty happy with my performance."

Watch Rookies Rich and Alan's finishing interviews:

Top Brit Phil Sharp finished in 12th place, only an error in finishing prevented him from holding on to a top 10 finish. Still a good result in this fleet for the experienced British solo sailor, with a Route du Rhum win, and a Mini Transat under his belt – his CV sits nicely with those around him on the results table.

Despite his lack of autopilot, Henry Bomby also sailed a smart race. One of the furthest boats inshore on the first run to Île d'Yeu, Henry was at the back of the fleet in 33rd. But with the fleet becalmed, he was able to sail up to and into the pack once again. By Friday (14th) morning, Henry had sailed his way past half the fleet and into 16th. At his peak, he was in 9th position, sailing hull to hull with the top skippers in the fleet. However, sailing 200+ miles without a pilot or any real rest, Henry's body started to shut down as he explained: "I was doing quite well, then on the way back south to Les Sables d'Olonne I just crashed from being tired and on the helm the whole time. I kept nodding off. Four times I counted I woke up and I'd broached out with the spinnaker still up. I had this sort of weird internal monologue going on in my head, narrating to myself what I needed to do – it was so odd. But I can tell you, trying to take a spinnaker down without an autopilot is bloody hard." Henry finished 24th overall after one day, 19 hours, 34 minutes and 15 seconds of racing.

For most of the skippers, their race took a dip as tiredness kicked in, however in the case of the ever consistent Jack Bouttell, he reported his race only got better with time: "The race got better for me the longer it went on. I was making stupid mistakes, as you do having not sailed for a while, but slowly and surely I worked on them and worked out was wrong with the boat and learned from them. It was a pretty tough course, one of the tougher ones I've done. It was just endless transitions and no wind to suddenly wind – it was just really really tough and I'm pleased with my position." With just nine days to clean the moss from the deck of his chartered boat, fire up the electrics and generally get his new vessel into racing shape, just making it to the Solo Maître Coq start line was a challenge in itself for Jack. Stepping aboard a Figaro solo for just the third time since competing in the 2013 Solitaire du Figaro, his main aim was to get around the course with no major breakages – so to finish 19th was a great start to the season for the skipper aiming for top 15 in the Solitaire this year.

Most experienced Figaro sailor in the British fleet Sam Goodchild and 2014 Rookie Sam Matson, two skippers at either end of the Academy spectrum, both ran into trouble rounding Île d'Yeu – the kind of trouble that puts paid to a race: "The Solo Maître Coq was ok, it didn't quite go to plan. It was a shame to miss a training session for that basically!" joked Sam Goodchild on the docks, finishing 26th overall after sailing too close to Île d'Yeu and dropping from the top ten to the bottom five, then never reconnecting with the fleet. "The first 12 hours were good for me in the top ten, I took a lot of positives out of that, but then I didn't really see anyone after that. It's been a long long 36 hours."

Watch Sam Goodchild's finishing interview here:

Sam Matson also found himself in a 'fishy' situation at Île d'Yeu, after getting his Figaro caught on the netting and lines of a fish farm just off the island: "I spent about half an hour trying to back my boat off of a fish farm. I had to drop both my sails and the boat was getting pushed on by the tide pretty hard. I contemplated cutting the net, but there were quite a few fishing boats around so I thought I'd better not. I eventually freed myself from the net, but by that time I was already really behind."

The first race of the season, the Solo Maître Coq, was the most important training exercise of the Academy skippers' programme to date. Rich, Alan and Sam will have come out of the other side of the two day Solo Maître Coq knowing more about Figaro racing than they've been taught in the last five months and with over a month until the Solo Concarneau Trophée Guy Cotton in May, there's plenty of time to take heed of the lessons they've learned. But for now, the skippers can enjoy some well earned rest and an afternoon of RBS 6 nations action ahead of the prize giving at 18:00pm.

See the Artemis Offshore Academy skippers' interviews post the Solo Maître Coq here.

Follow the progress of the British Figaro contingent this season via the Artemis Offshore Academy website, and via Facebook and Twitter.

Solo Maître Coq British Results:

12. Phil Sharp/Phil Sharp Racing/GBR/1d, 18h, 58', 40"
18. Jack Bouttell/Overboard/GBR/1d, 19h, 14', 15"
19. Richard Mason/Artemis 77/GBR/1d, 19h, 17', 10"*(2nd Rookie)
21. Ed Hill/Macmillan Cancer Support/GBR/1d, 19h, 24', 10"
24. Henry Bomby/Black Mamba/GBR/1d, 19h, 34', 15"
26. Sam Goodchild/Team Plymouth/GBR/1d, 20h, 08', 25"
29. Alan Roberts/Artemis 23/GBR/1d, 21h, 03', 58"*(5th Rookie)
31. Sam Matson/Artemis 21/GBR/1d, 22h, 11', 26"* (7th Rookie)

Solo Maître Coq Results:

1. Jérémie Beyou/Maître Coq/FRA/1d, 18h, 26', 25"
2. Gildas Mahé/Interface Concept/FRA/1d, 18h, 29', 10"
3. Thierry Chabagny/Gedimat/FRA/1d, 18h, 30', 18"
4. Yann Elies/Groupe QUEGUINER-LEUCEMIE ESPOIR/FRA/1d, 18h, 31', 10"
5. Charlie Dalin/Normandie Elite Team/FRA/1d, 18h, 38', 25"
6. Fabien Delahaye/Skipper Macif 2012/FRA/1d, 18h, 40', 01"
7. Alexis Loison/Groupe FIVA/FRA/1d, 18h, 44', 37"
8. Corentin Horeau/Bretagne Credit Mutuel Performance/FRA/1d, 18h, 46', 30"
9. Corentin Douguet/Un Maillot Pour La Vie/1d, 18h, 52', 23"
10. Adrien Hardy/AGIR Recouvrement/FRA/1d, 18h, 52', 42"
11. Nicolas Jossier/In Extenso Experts comptables/FRA/1d, 18h, 54', 15"
12. Phil Sharp/Phil Sharp Racing/GBR/1d, 18h, 58', 40"
13. Damien Guillou/La Solidarité Mutualiste/FRA/1d, 19h, 00', 14"
14. Alain Gautier/Generali Solo/FRA/1d, 19h, 01'. 50"
15. Yoann Richomme/Skipper Macif 2014/FRA/1d, 19h, 06', 14"
16. Sébastien Simon/Bretagne Credit Mutuel Espoir/FRA/1d, 19h, 08', 45"*(1st Rookie)
17. David Kenefick/Full Irish/IRE/1d, 19h, 10', 30"
18. Jack Bouttell/Overboard/GBR/1d, 19h, 14', 15"
19. Richard Mason/Artemis 77/GBR/1d, 19h, 17', 10"*(2nd Rookie)
20. Gwénolé Gahinet/Safran/Guy Cotton/FRA/1d, 19h, 20', 50"*(3rd Rookie)
21. Ed Hill/Macmillan Cancer Support/GBR/1d, 19h, 24', 10"
22. Clément Salzes/Darwin – Les Marins de la Lune/FRA/1d, 19h, 25', 30"*(4th Rookie)
23. Claire Pruvot/Port de Caen Ouistreham/FRA/1d, 19h, 30', 30"
24. Henry Bomby/Black Mamba/GBR/1d, 19h, 34', 15"
25. Isabelle Joschke/Horizon Mixité/FRA/1d, 19h, 56', 15"
26. Sam Goodchild/Team Plymouth/GBR/1d, 20h, 08', 25"
27. Eric Peron/Generali/FRA/1d, 20h, 26', 25" (2h penalty time)
28. Vincent Biarnes/Prati'Buches/FRA/1d, 20h, 54',30"(2h penalty time)
29. Alan Roberts/Artemis 23/GBR/1d, 21h, 03', 58"*(5th Rookie)
30. Emil Tomasevic/Ultra Figaro/CRO/1d, 21h, 38', 56"*(6th Rookie)
31. Sam Matson/Artemis 21/GBR/1d, 22h, 11', 26"* (7th Rookie)
RTR Joan Ahrweiller/Région Basse – Normandie/FRA
RTR Alexandre Jongh/Vendée 1/FRA*
RTR Anthony Marchand/Recherche Sponsor/FRA
RTR Frédéric Rivet/DFDS Seaways/FRA

Solo Maître Coq Rookie Results:

1. Sébastien Simon/Bretagne Credit Mutuel Espoir/FRA/1d, 19h, 08', 45"
2. Richard Mason/Artemis 77/GBR/1d, 19h, 17', 10"
3. Gwénolé Gahinet/Safran/Guy Cotton/FRA/1d, 19h, 20', 50"
4. Clément Salzes/Darwin – Les Marins de la Lune/FRA/1d, 19h, 25', 30"
5. Alan Roberts/Artemis 23/GBR/1d, 21h, 03', 58"
6. Emil Tomasevic/Ultra Figaro/CRO/1d, 21h, 38', 56"
7. Sam Matson/Artemis 21/GBR/1d, 22h, 11', 26"
RTR Alexandre Jongh/Vendée 1/FRA