La Solitaire URGO Le Figaro Stage 2 - Fast downwind duelling on Biscay, Simon leads Roberts third

Xavier Macaire (Groupe SNEF) during La Solitaire URGO Le Figaro Stage 2 © Alexis Courcoux

First to gybe out from the tightly grouped leading pack at around 0250hrs CEST (UTC +2hrs) early this morning Sébastien Simon has taken a slender lead on Stage 2 of La Solitaire URGO Le Figaro, heading the fleet of 36 as they surf downwind across the Bay of Biscay in 20kts of breeze.

With under 230 nautical miles to the finish line of the 520 nautical miles stage from Saint Brieuc to Ria de Muros Noia, Simon was credited with a lead of over two nautical miles at 0630hrs CEST this morning ahead of Eric Peron (Finistère Mer Vent) was the only skipper to gybe to the south with Simon, on to the more direct course towards Cape Finisterre. It was another two hours or so before the 'peloton' gybed in succession.

"I gybed first so I am on the more direct, rhumb line route but I am surprised the others held on so late, I thought they would come with me. We'll see how it works out. I'm going well and am very close to the direct course so nothing much should happen. " Simon told the accompanying Race Direction support vessel this morning, having made good speeds to be half way across Biscay this morning.

At 28 years old Sébastien Simon is one of new young generation of Figaro racers who is making an early transition to the IMOCA 60, seeking to follow the successful wake forged by François Gabart, who was top rookie in 2008 finished second overall in 2015 - behind Armel Le Cléac'h - and went on directly to win the 2016-17 Vendée Globe the following year with Le Cléac'h second. Simon grew up in Les Sables d'Olonne and is one of this season's most successful skippers, taking second in the Solo Maitre Côq and second in the AG2R Transatlantic with Morgan Lagraviere before winning the Le Havre AllMer Cup, the last event before this La Solitaire URGO Le Figaro.

Xavier Macaire (Groupe SNEF) during La Solitaire URGO Le Figaro Stage 2 - photo © Alexis Courcoux

Simon reported, "It's ok there are good surfs under spinnaker so it's great. I take the chance to rest. It's quite fun, it's fun when boat taks off on the waves, I like to take the helm in these conditions. I'm trying to build up a little sleep last night because the first night was a bit tiring with long periods on the helm. I try to fine tune the autopilot before I sleep because it is not easy eith the swell. From the beginning we are a bit ahead of the routing and so we were going to arrive early in the morning and now it looks like it will be during the night. We need to hang in there because it's still a long way but it will go in fast. As we pass Cape Finisterre there is a stormy depression so that will be interesting. But then getting it to the line in Ria during the night might be a pain. I saw one routing to San Santo with seven hours trying to get to the finish line, so it might still be a slow finish. Who knows? It will be a surprise."

Britain's Alan Roberts (Seacat Services) had an exellent second night at sea, choosing a good moment to gybe too moving up from sixth back to the third position, one place better than earlier in this second night of Stage 2. Roberts was 4.2 nautical miles behind the leader, but playing a relatively safe, conservative ground, taking a middle route between the early move of Simon and previous leader Anthony Marchand (Groupe Royer-Secours Populaire) who has made two gybes as the fleet leaders shows signs of splitting into two groups, Marchand having gybed back to the west now in eighth, Charlie Dalin (Skipper Macif 2015), in that pack was third and is now seventh.

Switzerland's Justine Mettraux (Teamwork), who has probably sailed more racing miles in more different types of boat than any one skipper in the fleet over the last 18 months, was tenth but dropped to 14th temporarily as she gybes away on the less profitable angle. Hugh Brayshaw (KAMAT) and Nick Cherry (Redshift) of Britain are 21st and 25th respectively both over 15 miles behind the leaders, while Ireland's Tom Dolan (Smurfit Kappa) is 24th and Joan Mulloy (Taste the Atlantic A Seafood Journey) lies 33rd but showing good speed among her group and moving forwards on the sailor in front of her.

In time it will be about the angle of approach to Cape Finisterre and more importantly the downwind layline choices in to Galicia's sheltered Ria Muros de Noia estuary. The leaders should finish in the small hours of Wednesday but there is some variance in the routing predictions depending on the wind strength in the sheltered estuary overnight, but there may yet be a slow, painful sting in the tail of this leg even.

Standings at 0730hrs CEST: (UTC+2hrs)

1 Sébastien Simon (Bretagne CMB Performance) 233 nms to finish
2 Eric Péron (Finistere Mer Vents) + 2.5 nms behind leader
3 Alan Roberts GBR (Seacat Services) + 3.1 nms behind leader
4 Pierre Leboucher (Guyot Environnement) +4.0 nms behind leader
5 Xavier Macaire (Groupe SNEF) + 4.2 nms behind leader
6 Pierre Quiroga (Skipper Espoir CEM) +4.9 nms behind leader
7 Charlie Dalin (Skipper Macif 2015) +5.1 nms behind leader
8 Anthony Marchand (Groupe Royer Secours Populaire) +5.4 nms behind leader
9 Martin Le Pape (Skipper Macif 2017) +6.9 nms behind leader
10 Thierry Chabagny (Gedimat) +7.2nms nms behind leader

International
21 Hugh Brayshaw GBR (KAMAT) +17.4 nms behind leader
24 Tom Dolan IRL (Smurfit Kappa) +19.2 nms behind leader (third rookie)
25 Nick Cherry GBR (Redshift) + 20.6 nms behind leader
33 Joan Mulloy IRL (Taste the Atlantic-A Seafood Journey) +41.7 nms behind leader

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