Two legs down, two to go for the eight British Solitaire du Figaro skippers
by Artemis Offshore Academy 19 Jun 2014 13:22 BST
19 June 2014
The ups and downs of racing in the highly-competitive Solitaire du Figaro continue for the eight-strong British contingent as they reach the halfway stage of the 2,014-mile race. Strong performances by the Artemis Rookie sailors demonstrates the continued success for the Academy; whilst some disappointing results for the Graduates shows just how hard it is to be continually competitive against a fleet of this calibre – especially for Jack Bouttell (Solitaire du Figaro 2013 Overall Rookie Champion) and Nicky Cherry who have lacked both time and preparation for this major race.
For a second time Rookie Sam Matson led the eight boat British Solitaire du Figaro contingent into port, finishing Leg 2 of the 2014 mile solo sailing marathon in Roscoff, France, in 18th place overall in the leg and third Rookie in the early hours of this morning (02:59 BST, Wednesday 18th June). As the Leg 1 Rookie division winner in Plymouth, UK, Artemis 21 skipper Sam managed to hold the overall Rookie lead over his seven fellow first-time competitors, by 18 minutes and 14 seconds. His Academy teammate Rich Mason was the next Anglo competitor on the dock in Roscoff, crossing the finish line just 23 minutes behind Sam after 540 miles of close quarters racing. Ever the competitor, just missing out on the Rookie podium was a hard pill to swallow for an exhausted Rich, who finished 21st overall: "My result after this leg is a bit bitter sweet really...It's nice to be second British skipper home, Sam (Matson) overtook me on the final leg yesterday evening (Tuesday 17th June), which was pretty frustrating. Leg 2 was always going to be the hardest for me, with a heavier reliance on speed rather than tactics. Saying that I'm glad to be back and in one piece and now it's on to the next one." Needlessly beating himself up over his result, Rich now sits a respectable 22nd overall in the Solitaire rankings, with experienced Figaro racers Nicolas Jossier (In Extenso Comptables) and Yoann Richomme (Skipper Macif 2014) just minutes either side of him.
After confessing that his main area of weakness is his boat speed ahead of the start in Plymouth, Team Plymouth skipper Sam Goodchild was already pre-empting a tough second leg. The 'simple' course for Leg 2 ran broadly in three straight sections between Plymouth, Staggs Cardinal Buoy, Fastnet Rock and the finish line in Roscoff. Artemis Offshore Academy Event Coach Marcus Hutchinson described the race as the 'reaching world championships' – while Sam Goodchild described it this morning as 'horrible': "It was my own fault. After the Isle of Scilly I went the wrong way, a few of us went south and everyone else went north. I made up a few places along the Irish coast. Coming back to the Islands I went north and everyone else went south and I lost more places. Then after the Scilly Isles again, I went east and everyone else went West and I lost more places. That's basically the story of my race, I kept going the wrong way, which was frustrating but there you go." The most experienced of the British skippers, Sam Goodchild sits 28th in the overall rankings behind Sam Matson (14th), Rich Mason (22nd) and Jack Bouttell in 26th.
Read Marcus Hutchinson's Leg 2 race report from aboard the Solitaire du Figaro committee boat.
GAC Pindar skipper Jack was the next to join the group in Roscoff, finishing the leg 27th of 37 finishers. With minimal time on the water this year and without the preparation he hoped to have had, 2013 overall Rookie winner Jack was still in high spirits when he arrived to be welcomed by his family this morning: "I'm all good, the boats in good shape and I got round with no major problems. I just hope by the end of this I can string a race together! It was a long old leg, all reaching, but it was fine and I enjoyed sailing along the Irish coast – it's just nice to be a part of it."
Jack was shortly joined on the pontoons by REDSHIFT helmsman Nick Cherry in 28th, Rookie Alan Roberts in 32nd, Henry Bomby (RED) in 35th and Ed Hill (Macmillan Cancer Support) in 36th. Although a tough race, first timer to the Solitaire du Figaro, Alan is loving every minute of it. Putting his lower end result in the leg down to a lack of experience, especially sailing at night, but also unable to stop smiling Alan recalled the moderate breeze and sunny conditions as 'glamour'. Meanwhile Henry Bomby, now sailing his third Solitaire du Figaro, put his result down to tiredness: "I had a terrible start and couldn't keep my eyes open on the first night, I was really tired and then just lost places. Lizard Point was the first tidal gate and I just lost time in general from being behind in the tide. From then there was no way back into it." Read what all of the British skippers had to say after Leg 2 below.
After pulling out a seven-mile lead between himself and the rest of the fleet, it was no surprise to see double Solitaire du Figaro winner Yann Elies take the Leg 2 victory – sailing at least a knot or two faster than the rest of competitors at times. After losing his rig shortly after rounding Wolf Rock in Leg 1, heavy penalties for having to abandon the race have almost certainly put paid to an overall win for Yann. However, a fighter until the end, Yann has vowed to win every remaining leg of the race and make an impact on Jean Le Cam's race record of 10 stage wins. Yann won this one in style, finishing 58 minutes ahead of second boat Corentin Horeau (Bretagne Crédit Mutuel Performance), with just a minute separating Corentin and third skipper Jérémie Beyou (Maitre Coq). Fabien Delahaye (Skipper Macif 2012) currently leads in the overall rankings.
History shows that in this race there is never a time to sit back and bask in the glory, and that there is always an opportunity to turn a poor result into a good one on the next leg. The penultimate leg of the Solitaire du Figaro kicks off from Roscoff, France on Sunday 22nd June at 1400 BST, taking the 38 boat fleet 505 miles to Les Sables d'Olonne – home of the Vendee Globe.
If you want to be on the Solitaire du Figaro start line in 2015, APPLY FOR THE ARTEMIS OFFSHORE ACADEMY – now recruiting. Application for the 2014 Academy Selection Trials close on Sunday, 22nd June – the same day as the start.
They said:
Sam Matson, Artemis 21:
"It felt good, it felt quite quick at times. It started off pretty average and kept working hard at it and slowly got through the fleet, definitely the second half of the race felt good. A lot of people were fixed on getting to the next mark, I decided a lot can change in the next 300miles so figured I'd just sail low and sail fast and it seemed to pay off, it was a bit risky. I spent a lot of time on the pilot, I helmed when it felt necessary to, it was definitely quicker when I helmed at times but there was a lot of pilot work, I was charging the batteries quite often because of it. It (the rookie division) could be anyone's game couldn't it."
Rich Mason, Artemis 77:
"It's quite nice to be second Brit, Sam overtook me yesterday evening which was slightly frustrating. Happy that Leg 2 is done with, that was always going to be the hardest one for me, lots of straight-line stuff that I'm not really that good at so happy to be back in one piece and focus on the next one."
Sam Goodchild, Team Plymouth
"It was horrible, that's about it really. It started well, I had a good first six hours and then at Lizard I made a bit of a muck-up but that was fine, it was my own fault. After the Scillies I went the wrong way, a few of us went South and everyone else went North. I made up a few places along the Irish coast. The coming back to the Scillies I went North and everyone else went South and I lost more places. The after the Scillies I went East and everyone else went West and I lost more places, that's basically the story of my race, I kept going the wrong way, which was frustrating but there you go."
Jack Bouttell, GAC Pindar
"Seeing the Irish coast was lovely. My 6th rounding of the Fastnet rock, first time solo which is cool and the only time we actually changed direction! The one turn around Fastnet rock and it was straight line the other way again, it was nice to see Ireland."
Nick Cherry, Redshift:
"I wasn't fast enough to get a good result, I couldn't sail quick enough in a straight line which is quite important and a bit disappointing. Once I'd got over that it was nice weather, I didn't get too wet, good race, lots of boats around. I didn't sleep at all on the first night and made a bit of a mistake coming in too close to the Lizard which I paid for quite heavily all the way to the Fastnet. At least it compressed again at Fastnet, felt like we were back in the race."
Henry Bomby, Red:
"I had a terrible start and couldn't keep my eyes open on the first night, I was really tired and then just lost places. Lizard Point was the first tidal gate and I just lost time in general from being behind in the tide, right from then there was no way back into it. We compressed at Fastnet but everyone just started sailing away, I was in lighter wind, I could have tacked but the guys who did it, I don't think it paid off. Everything seem to go wrong, nothing went my way."
Alan Robert, Artemis 23:
"It was pretty terrible, I sailed pretty badly. I did a terrible job at the beginning, I came out of the inshore in an ok position and then we were reaching and I instantly lost my jib over the side in a wave, I recovered that and was still in an alright position and then I did a terrible job of reaching and sailed myself into last place. For me going straight into a night time bit did make a difference because of my lack of experience sailing at night time"
Ed Hill, Macmillan Cancer Support:
"It was pretty rubbish, I was very slow especially two-sail reaching. I had a poor start, got myself a bit more back into it by Fastnet Rock and the 250nm of reaching and I was horrifically slow. I think I'm sailing worse than I was last year, which wasn't the aim of the game at all. In training I'm quick and then get 24, 48 hours into a race and I'm not, whatever it is I'm doing something clearly wrong on the water."
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