50th La Solitaire URGO Le Figaro Leg 1 - First Night

Michel Desjoyeaux in Lumibird leads the first night in the 50th La Solitaire URGO Le Figaro Leg 1 © Yvan Zedda

Three times overall winner Michel Desjoyeaux (Lumibird) is proving that his lack of racing time in the new Figaro Beneteau 3 and a six year break from La Solitaire is more than compensated for by his 30 years of experience and his natural competitiveness.

In the early hours of this morning, the famous French sailor lead the 47-strong La Solitaire URGO Le Figaro fleet around the most southerly turning mark, Bourgenay off the Vendée coast, on the 553-nautical mile first leg which started Sunday afternoon in the bay of La Baule.

By 0500am BST, Adrien Hardy (Sans nature pas de future), had taken the lead, but Desjoyeaux remains in a very close second less than half a mile him as the fleet climb northwards upwind in 12 knots of wind which has proven more settled than forecast. Passing Les Sables d'Olonne around 0230hrs where there was a big 70-degree wind shift which shuffled the leading pack slightly. Desjoyeaux lead the group out of the shift but Hardy has sailed slightly higher and faster since then.

Speaking to the radio vacation this morning around 0400hrs BST, Desjoyeaux reported: "It was a boat speed race down to Port Bourgenay and approaching the buoy, a small front came through so some gybes but not too many changes. Then there was a big shakeup off Les Sables d'Olonne going north with a 70 degrees shift.

"Now, we are upwind with the wind coming at us on the axis of the course when before that we were reaching towards the point of Brittany. There is a lot to do and things will change again. The little bird is happy. It is playing out as we expected, with little battles and things to do all the time. I'm not badly placed, I think it's Adrien Hardy who passed me but with the wind shift, the fleet spread out so we have a little luck because there are transitions coming up and the separation will help us compared to when it is so tight and compact. I did not sleep much, not at all. I was stuck to the helm with so many things to do."

For all that, there has been a change of boat for this 50th anniversary race and it seems to be the most experienced, successful La Solitaire skippers who are able to make the most impressive gains. Triple winners Yann Eliès (St Michel) and Jérémie Beyou (Charal) have both been able to stage significant recoveries during this first night at sea. Both were placed in the 20s yesterday evening but Eliès is up to fifth this morning at 0.7 nautical miles behind the leader Hardy and Beyou is seventh, one tenth of a mile behind his perennial rival Eliès.

Britons Alan Roberts (Seacat Services) and Will Harris (Hive Energy) are in 24th and 25th positions this morning at 0600hrs BST fighting within a close, compact group at 2.7 miles behind the leaders after 14 hours of racing on a stage which is expected to finish into Kinsale on Wednesday night. Swiss skipper Justine Mettraux (Teamwork) is 28th and Ireland's Tom Dolan (Smurfit Kappa) is 29th.

Standings Monday 3 June at 05h00 BST:

1 Adrien Hardy - Sans nature, Pas de futur! - 457 from Kinsale
2 Michel Desjoyeaux - Lumibird - 0,2nm behind leader
3 Anthony Marchand - Groupe Royer Secours Populaire - 0,4 nm behind leader
4 Armel Le Cléac'h - Banque Populaire - 0,4 nm behind leader
5 Gildas Mahé - Breizh Cola / Equi'thé - 0,4 nm behind leader
6 Yann Eliès - St Michel - 0,5 nm behind leader
7 Morgan Lagravière - Voile d'engagement - 0,5 nm behind leader
8 Jérémie Beyou - Charal - 0,6 nm behind leader
9 Alexis Loison - Région Normandie - 0,6 nm behind leader
10 Yoan Richomme - Hellowork-Groupe Télégramme - 0,6 nm behind leader

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