La Solitaire URGO Le Figaro Stage 2 - Sleepless first night on North Brittany 'Mountain' stage
by La Solitaire URGO Le Figaro 3 Sep 2018 08:13 BST
3 September 2018
La Solitaire URGO Le Figaro Stage 2 © Alexis Courcoux
Sleepless first night on North Brittany 'Mountain' stage, Mahé leads, Britons Roberts and Brayshaw in Top Ten
After a difficult first night on Stage 2 of La Solitaire URGO Le Figaro, dealing with light and very unsettled breezes, strong current and - for some unlucky skippers, weed - the 36 strong fleet has split. All the solo racers have been working their strategy and constantly monitoring their rivals as they balance the equation of wind and current, mostly seeking relief from the tide closer to the shore whilst getting less breeze. Leader this morning was Gildas Mahé (Breizh Cola), who was one of the first skippers forced out of Stage 1 on the first night.
He was nearly one nautical mile ahead of Anthony Marchand (Groupe Royer-Secours Populaire) as the leaders expect to pass the western tip of Brittany at the end of the morning, anticipating for a slingshot on the Biscay on a strengthening new breeze. The top three, Mahé, Marchand and Charlie Dalin (Skipper Macif 2015) have a one mile cushion over the pack behind them.
Britons Alan Roberts (Seacat Services) and Hugh Brayshaw (KEMAT) have had an up-and-down first night. Roberts was eighth in the early part of the night but fell out of phase with his rivals on one gybe back towards the north Breton coast and lost on both sides but had worked back to 12th then returned himself to seventh, while Brayshaw had a good night moving through the fleet to tenth as the leaders pass Roscoff around 0700hrs (French time) this morning.
Ireland's rookie Tom Dolan (Smurfit Kappa) is duelling with the skipper who was top rookie on Stage 1, Thomas Cardin (Team Vendée Formation). The Irish racer who had to retire from the first stage with rigging damage whilst still in sight of the start line, was positioned as top rookie this morning of the eight strong division.
As was forecast before the stage started in Saint Brieuc Sunday afternoon, the winds have been light and changeable overnight and the lead group had only made 70 nautical miles in the first 15 hours of racing. Mahé was leading a northerly grouping. Notable comebacks in the light going included Pierre Leboucher (Guyot Environnement) who lead a posse which gained to the south in the small hours of the morning.
On good form when called on the VHF by the race direction security boat this morning leader Mahé did not hide his pleasure, " It's been changeable all the time since the start, we are at it full on, it is strategy, trimming for speed and removing weed, so there is plenty to do and for now it is working well for me. I made the right choices and my speed has been good. And as I'm pressing, maybe gambling a bit more I have I have come back and recovered more, now that allows me to be a bit cooler now."
One of the leaders of the group slightly more to the north, offshore Sebastien Simon (Brittany CMB Performance) was less upbeat, "It's not really turning to my advantage, but I'm hanging in there, it's rather complicated at the moment. I was pretty good, and then I got some seaweed in the night without really being in phase. We expected this, it was forecast. But it is a night where it is so difficult to rest because the wind is always shifting, always rising and falling. I had the weed stick out to see if there was anything and so it is not easy to stay focused. Earlier I lost a lot. I spent an hour trying to get weed off the keel when things were all happening. It's annoying to be doing that when everything is unsettled with the breeze. The wind will move left and so there will be a long starboard to the tip of Brittany and then we will see what we do, I can't tell too much yet. For the moment it's damage limitation and keeping the boat speed up."
The wind has rarely been above five or six knots during the night and every metre counts as they race along the rocky, tidal north Brittany coast, what the Figarists call a 'mountain stage, with the rewards coming at Ushant and just after when the more regular downwind breeze should see speeds rise, gaps open further and finally a chance to grab some minutes of much needed sleep.
After having to return to port to effect a replacement halyard just after the start yesterday Ireland's Joan Mulloy (Taste the Atlantic A Seafood Journey) had closed up to within 12 nautical miles of the leaders and has had good speed all night.
Standings at 0730hrs French time: (UTC+2hrs)
1. Gildas Mahé (Breizh Cola) à 432 nms to finish
2. Anthony Marchand (Groupe Royer – Secours Populaire) at + 0,8 nms behind leader
3. Charlie Dalin (Skipper Macif 2015) at 1,2nms
4. Pierre Leboucher (Guyot Environnement) at 1.9nms
5. Alexis Loison (Custo Pol) at 2.6nms
6 Xavier Macaire (Groupe SNEF) at 2.9nms
7 Pierre Quiroga (Skipper Espoir CEM) at 2.9nms
8 Alan Roberts (Seacat Services) at 2.9nms
9 Sébastien Simon (Bretagne CMB Performance) at 2.9nms
10 Hugh Brayshaw (KAMAT) at 3.0 nms
....
19 Tom Dolan (Smurfit Kappa) at 3.3nms (first rookie)
22 Nick Cherry (Redshift) at 3.5nms
36 Joan Mulloy (Taste the Atlantic A Seafood Journey) at 12.2nms
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