45th La Solitaire du Figaro - Eric Bompard Cachemire - Start
by La Solitaire du Figaro 8 Jun 2014 22:47 BST
8 June 2014
The 45th edition of La Solitaire du Figaro - Eric Bompard Cachemire got underway at 1200BST this lunchtime after the fleet had been moored for several hours off Deauville. Anthony Marchand (Ovimpex Secours Populaire) was first around the two inshore marks followed by Erwan Tabarly (Armor Lux) and David Kenefick (Full Irish) - a great start by the young Irishman who celebrates his 23rd birthday tomorrow.
David Kenefick (Full Irish) "I feel so much more relaxed this year, I'm much happier, I'm ready to go. I'm slightly nervous but if I wasn't nervous it would be time to stop doing this. It's going to be quite a tricky leg, Monday's going to be where the gaps will open up, it's important to be pretty fresh tonight and keep pushing. As a whole I think I've done everything I could to prepare the boat, I'm happy."
The race didn't get off to the best start for two of the pre-race favourites. Yann Elies (Groupe Queguiner) and Charlie Dalin (Normandy Elite Team) were both recalled after being over the start line as were British sailors, Nick Cherry (Redshift) and Ed Hill (Macmillan Cancer Support). Yann, who is chasing a third consecutive Solitaire win was in last place as the fleet rounded the windward buoy.
In the rookie class, Artemis Offshore Academy member, Rich Mason (Artemis 77) made the best of the inshore course, rounding both marks in 12th place. The 26 year old from Portland is looking forward to sailing in local waters but admits that his first ever Solitaire leg will be a massive challenge.
Rich Mason (Artemis 77): "We went to sleep thinking that we had a clear idea of what the weather was doing - the Monday was going to be difficult but after that we were going to have wind. We wake up this morning to find that's all changed, it's definitely a four-day leg now which is about double the time I've ever been at sea."
The fleet of 38 Figaros has now left Deauville behind and is heading off on its 484nm race that includes three channel crossings before finishing in Plymouth. This is the first time in 11 years that the race has been to a UK port and the first time ever to the Devon city.
Plymothians will be excited to learn that since 1430BST one of their local sailors, Sam Goodchild (Team Plymouth) had moved up to 3rd place. This is the fourth Solitaire for the 24 year old who finished 11th in 2013, the best British result since 1975. He was a little nervous before this morning's start:
Sam Goodchild (Team Plymouth) "I'm just looking forward to getting out there and getting racing. We've got 4 or 5 hours sitting on the water before the start so I'll just try to take it easy, try to get some rest and not get too stressed sitting there on your own watching the fact that there's no wind and thinking about Leg 1".
The latest weather briefings suggest the sailors are going to hit a transition in the wind when they reach the English coast, particularly between the Owers mark off the Isle of Wight and Start Point. Big splits in the fleet may occur at this point. We'll wait and see.
Quotes:
Jéremie Beyou (Maître Coq): "I'm always stressed before leaving"
"It is special to be moored before the race starts... However, it gives you some time to have a deeper analysis of the weather! We already have more wind than predicted now and I hope it will stays the same until departure. Weather models differ for the start of the leg: it will be dependent of the timing of the inshore race. After the Isle of Wight, there is an important transition zone before getting some southwest wind: it will be very inconstant and I'll be ready for it ! I have some ready-to-eat meals, chicken, nuts, fruits... I eat when I'm hungry,and when I realise that I have not eaten enough the previous hours, I take supplements. About sleep I have benchmarks to know when I have to take some rest: before Owers, we will have to find time to go to sleep as we'll have to be on deck for the second night. I'm always stressed before leaving and only released at the kick-off! "
Sébastien Simon (Bretagne Crédit Mutuel Espoir): "We will have to keep it simple"
"I'm stressed... This is my first time and it seems tricky with thunderstorms. We'll cross the Channel three times ! I've never done more than three nights at sea and last night I did not manage to sleep properly. When I look at the route, it will be light at the start, then we will face some breeze out of the Channel, and it looks really quiet for the finish... We will have to keep it simple without taking too much time defining the best trajectories. On this leg, I we'll have to force myself to go to sleep and put the pilot more often than I usually do... "
General Rankings as of 15:30BST:
1 Erwan Tabarly (Armor Lux)
2 Anthony Marchand (Ovimpex)
3 Sam Goodchild (Team Plymouth)
4 Fabien Delahaye (Skipper Macif 2012)
5 Corentin Horeau (Bretagne - Credit Mutuel Performance
6 David Kenefick (Full Irish)
7 Alexis Loison (Groupe Fiva)
8 Adrien Hardy (Agir Recouvrement)
9 Jeremie Beyou (Maitre Coq)
10 Gildas Morvan (Cercle Vert)
International Skippers at 15:30 BST:
3 Sam Goodchild (Team Plymouth)
6 David Kenefick (Full Irish)
19 Henry Bomby (Red)
21 Sam Matson (Artemis 21)
24 Ed Hill (Macmillan Cancer Support)
28 Nick Cherry (Redshift)
31 Rich Mason (Artemis 77)
33 Jack Bouttel (GAC Pindar)
35 Alan Roberts (Artemis 23)
Where dreams begin... 2014 Solitaire du Figaro is underway (from Artemis Offshore Academy)
After a year of hard work thinking about nothing but the Figaro, today (Sunday, 8th June), the Artemis Offshore Academy's eight British solo sailors hugged goodbye to their parents and waved to their fans as they set off on the 484 mile Leg 1 of the 2014 Solitaire du Figaro – from Deauville, France to Plymouth, UK.
Why does this race attract the very best sailors from the world of solo offshore racing? Because it is one of the toughest... This race sees the very latest new crop of solo talent and past legends compete side by side on a level playing field. If the sailors can perform well in this arena then their future in solo sailing is more assured, as has been the case for Armel Le Cleac'h, Yann Elies and Jeremie Beyou – all winners of the Solitaire du Figaro in the past, who went on to realise their dream of competing in the solo, non-stop, round the world Vendée Globe race.
Crossing the start line at 1200BST in 8-10 knots of northerly breeze, it was Team Plymouth skipper Sam Goodchild who started his fourth assault on the Solitaire du Figaro with a bang, rounding the first mark in 5th place before leading the fleet for a short time north across the English Channel. While looking forward to sailing the race home to the UK, Sam revealed that he was expecting a tough and tactical first leg: "I'm excited to arrive in Plymouth as the Solitaire du Figaro has mainly always been French based. To be sailing the Solitaire du Figaro home is really exciting – I didn't think the two would come together before. Leg 1 is going to be pretty light winds and the challenges are going to be the tides in the channel and trying to play those. It will be important to arrive in Plymouth without too much of a deficit on my competitors and get the Solitaire du Figaro off to a good start."
Meanwhile, 2014 British Solitaire Rookies Rich Mason (Artemis 77), Alan Roberts (Artemis 23) and Sam Matson (Artemis 21) put in a promising performance while making their Solitaire du Figaro debut. Rounding the first race mark the first, second and third Rookies of seven and inside the top 20 boats ahead of a number of more experienced skippers – including graduates Henry Bomby (RED), Jack Bouttell (GAC Pindar) and REDSHIFT skipper Nick Cherry and Ed Hill (Macmillan Cancer Support) who were both OCS alongside double Solitaire du Figaro winner Yann Elies and 2012 Transat AG2R winner Charlie Dalin.
Rich, the first of the Rookies to round the mark in 15th, explained his objective for the race on the docks this morning – one shared among all three British first timers: "The first thing I need to do is just finish... Four hundred and eighty four miles is a long way, I've not spent four nights at sea before and I've not raced the Solitaire du Figaro before, so getting to Plymouth in once piece is the first thing and if I can stay in touch with the other Rookies, then that is fantastic."
Throw into the mix a forecast of variable winds, shut downs and thunderstorms over four days and the first leg is baptism of fire – but that's half the fun as 2013 Solitaire du Figaro Rookie winner Jack explained: "The Solitaire du Figaro is a physical, mental challenge – it's got everything. All of the boats are exactly the same so there are no real excuses when you get back in. It's you that makes the difference – not the boat and not the weather. Being part of this race alongside such a great bunch of guys and getting to experience amazing things is what makes this race so special. It's never easy and it's not always fun – but it is great."
The 2014 Solitaire du Figaro covers 2,014 miles over four legs, concluding early July in Cherbourg, France. This 45th edition of the race, has the biggest and strongest line up of British sailors the Solitaire has ever seen, with eight British boats on the start line and a strong British flavor to the race with seven channel crossings and a UK stop over in Plymouth.
For now the fleet continue north on an 80-mile upwind stretch to Owers mark, led by Erwan Taberly (Armor Lux Comptoir de la Mer) and Anthony Marchand (Ovimpex Secours Populairs) – practically neck and neck. Team Plymouth's Sam Goodchild is still hanging on in there with the leading pack, positioned on the right side of the fleet, while the rest of the Brit pack play mid-fleet going into the first night. With a long and drawn out race ahead of them, good onboard management and a clear head will be important when it comes to making game changing tactical decisions later in the leg. The current ETA for the fleet in Plymouth is Thursday, 12th June at midday.
You can track the British fleet via the Artemis Offshore Academy and Solitaire du Figaro websites, as well as following us on Facebook and Twitter.
Quotes:
Nick Cherry, REDSHIFT
"From the minute you get out on the water until you cross the finish line four weeks later, the Solitaire du Figaro is a constant challenge. This is my third go at the race and the squad and the race is starting to feel more like a family gathering – you recognize more and more faces every year and really get to know everyone involved. Out on the water everyone is racing hard against one another, but then everyone is back to being friends afterwards – you definitely feel at the end of the month that you have given everything and you've got nothing left."
"It's so hard to put a number on a finishing position before a race. I'll be happy if I've put in a good performance, I've sailed my hardest and made sensible decisions. I'll definitely have some areas of weakness due to my lack of time on the water, but the prologue went well for me, as the conditions were exactly the same as what we'd trained in with our coach the day before. I'm hoping that if the conditions are similar to wait we've been training in recently then I think I'll go ok, but you never know. I was 17th last year, and if I could get close to that that would be great. Obviously I'm trying to win, but for me 2014 is about laying the ground work really."
Jack Bouttell, GAC Pindar
"This leg we go across channel to Owers, from Owers to Wolf rock, from Wolf rock to a mark off the coast of Roscoff and then into Plymouth. The weather is fairly up and down, it's going to be light, shifty and variable. By the time we get to Owers on Monday morning, it's going to be quite light winds and if you get stuck in no wind at the south of the Isle of Wight against the tide you'll get stuck and there's no way to get out, but in the Solent you can. But it's going to be quite a big timing issue to go inside of the Solent, it will add about five miles to the routing – so it could be a risk. A more solid breeze is supposed to fill in from the south west, so if you're at the south of the island when it does, you'll be set on a reach which will be a faster angle than catching it downwind in the Solent."
"Coming home last year I had a great result finishing first Rookie and 21st overall. This year I wanted a top 15 result and that is still the goal, but the campaign hasn't been smooth as I'd hoped it would be. It's been a very hard season for me coming in very late and then only finding a sponsor two weeks before the start. Looking back I've had about six or seven days in training last year compared to about 55 last year. I'm just going to go out there and do the best that I can, enjoy it and use my experiences last year to do the best that I can this year."
Sam Matson, Artemis 21
"The first leg of this race will be the longest race in a Figaro all three of us Rookies have done. Conditions for the beginning of the race are pretty changeable, but towards the end it looks like it'll turn into quite a nice sail with good breeze. It's hard to say what's going to happen out there, all we know is we're going to get a mixed bag of weather for sure. From the start there are going to be quite massive transitions between wind speeds and directions."
Alan Roberts, Artemis 23
"Boat preparation has been key for me ahead of this race, I've spent so many hours fixing up my boat ready to leave today. Since being here in Deauville I've been busy looking at the course, looking at the weather and eating and sleeping as much as I can. Onboard management is so important. This will be the longest solo Figaro race I've done and with the most boats around me, so really for me this leg is about seeing how it goes."
Rich Mason, Artemis 77
"The build up to the race has been amazing, I knew I'd be here and starting the race, but I didn't know the atmosphere would be quite like this. The interest and support we've had from the public has been amazing. I'm a competitive person, but this race is like nothing I've ever done before. The build up is big and not being able to sail your boat for seven days is a bloody long time before an event, but I won't have a problem getting back into competitive mode."
Sam Goodchild, Team Plymouth
"Leg 1 is going to be pretty light winds and the challenges are going to be the tides in the channel and trying to play those and arrive in Plymouth without too much of a deficit on most of the fleet and get the Solitaire du Figaro off to a good start."
"I'm excited to arrive in Plymouth, it's where I did all of my yacht master training when I started training in the Figaro and the Solitaire du Figaro has mainly always been French based so to be sailing the Solitaire du Figaro home is really exciting – I didn't think the two would come together before."
Henry Bomby, RED
"My preparation for the race went really well, I managed to take a few days off from the race and I'm feeling ready to take on the first leg and I'm really looking forward to sailing into Plymouth."
"The weather for the first leg is looking really light, so I think it's going to be a tough one sleep wise – knowing when to sleep tactically to keep performance levels up. The highlight of this leg for me though is going to be coming into Plymouth and seeing all my friends, family and sponsors locally on the dock. To be able to show them round the boat, around the race village and tell them about the race is going to be an amazing thing."
Ed Hill, Macmillan Cancer Support
"It's so important that we've got such a big British contingent here. Finally we've the British sailing public have woken up and realised that this is one of the most incredible sailing races in the world. Going forward we need more Brits doing the race, we need more support from British companies and we need to go to a British port. It's fantastic that Plymouth are involved with the race this year, and we just need to keep that going. Every year we need more Brits signing up to take on this race – come on, we can beat these French guys."