Please select your home edition
Edition
Stoneways Marine 2021 - LEADERBOARD

Solo Maître Coq - Time to go racing for Tom Dolan

by Tom Dolan Racing 18 Apr 2022 15:57 BST 19 April 2022
Tom Dolan - Solo Maître Coq © Vincent Olivaud / Solo Maître Coq

A long, comprehensive spring season of training and preparation comes to an end Tuesday as Irish solo offshore sailor Tom Dolan takes on the first major solo race of the 2022 season.

The Solo Maître Coq is the traditional curtain raiser, the opening event of the season long French Elite Offshore Championship and it has attracted a strong field of 33 entries.

The format has changed this year, reversing the order of events, so that the 340-nautical miles long offshore race is now first, starting Tuesday, followed by two shorter days of racing. Dolan completed his last training block three weeks ago now - intensive sessions, fine tuning boat-on-boat racing skills, starting and manoeuvring at mark rounding - and then raced the Plastimo Lorient Mini 650 two handed Mini650 class race with the up and coming Japanese skipper Federico Sampei, Dolan now says he is itching to be back racing solo on his Figaro Beneteau 3 Smurfit Kappa-Kingspan, not least to put all his learning and training improvements into action on the race course.

"I think I can safely say I feel like I have never been better prepared for a race. Training has gone well and I feel quite confident based on what I have seen and learned through the winter." Said Dolan on Sunday on the famous Vendée Globe race dock Les Sables d'Olonne on the French Atlantic coast.

"I feel I have really worked on my weak points through this winter and my all round game has improved. We did the speed work earlier in the winter and it has been less of a fixation and I have really been working on getting off the start line well and making better starts into the races as that is what let me down too much last year." The Irish skipper summarises.

Tuesday's 340-mile race between Belle-Ile, Ile de Ré and Ile de Yeu is followed by coastal courses of around thirty miles out of Les Sables d'Olonne. At three days before the start the weather situation looks complicated as the different weather forecasting models do not agree with one another.

"We will just have to take it is it comes. I have done this course four times I think and so you get to know it a bit. But while I am confident in the work I have done and don't feel there is anything I could have done more, it is always important to get out there and validate what you have been doing. And it is important to me to make a good start the season to come away with a decent result." Smiles Dolan who had to withdraw from this race with an injured ankle in late March last year.

He is pleased the long offshore race starts this year's programme:

"I'm always more comfortable on the long race than on the coastal ones. This will give me time to warm up! I am objective and just want a fair result as this Solo Maître CoQ has not been good for me before. The first time I kind of had a bit of a mental blow up and the second time I hurt my ankle. This time, I want to finish well and finish happy with what I did on the water" he concludes.

"Most of all at this stage it is about going out and executing and building confidence so I feel at my best going into La Solitaire du Figaro."

Follow the race here...

Related Articles

Marina Militare Nastro Rosa Tour Cagliari day 2
Today in Cagliari, the awards ceremony for the stage winners At the Regatta Village, preparations are under way for the closing ceremony of the Cagliari stage scheduled for this evening at 9:30 pm, preceded by a concert by the Banda della Brigata Sassari. Posted on 2 Jul
Marina Militare Nastro Rosa Tour Cagliari day 1
The Circolo Nautico Sanbenedettese team was the first to arrive in Cagliari The Circolo Nautico Sanbenedettese team was the first to arrive in Cagliari and win the first offshore leg in Sardinia. Posted on 1 Jul
Marina Militare Nastro Rosa Tour Trapani day 3
Team Verein Seglerhaus Am Wannsee wins in Trapani, now heading to Sardinia The Verein Seglerhaus Am Wannsee team won the Trapani stage after about 54 hours of navigation in the offshore category, preceding the Aeronautica Militare team and the Royal Madras team who came in third. Posted on 28 Jun
Marina Militare Nastro Rosa Tour Trapani day 2
In Trapani, the Royal Madras team was 1st in the offshore race. The Royal Madras team was the first to arrive in Trapani and win the offshore leg, followed by the Verein Seglerhaus Am Wannsee and Aeronautica Militare teams. Posted on 26 Jun
Marina Militare Nastro Rosa Tour Trapani day 1
Leaving the Ionian Sea behind them, yesterday early evening the boats passed Portopalo A route of about 200 miles that will take the Figaro3 of the Marina Militare Nastro Tour 2025 from Syracuse to Trapani for the sixth stage, the second in Sicily. Posted on 25 Jun
Marina Militare Nastro Rosa Tour Siracusa overall
Team Verein Seglerhaus Am Wannsee wins in Siracusa The Verein Seglerhaus Am Wannsee team wins the Siracusa leg in the offshore category, after 37 hours of sailing and with only one minute and twenty-one seconds of difference from the Ocean Cruising Club team that came in second. Posted on 23 Jun
Marina Militare Nastro Rosa Tour Siracusa day 1
In Siracusa for the fifth leg and the first island stage The Nastro Rosa Tour lands in Sicily, in Syracuse, for the fifth stage, the first island stage, which will be followed by Trapani, Cagliari and La Maddalena. Posted on 21 Jun
Tom Dolan's 2025 so far
From victory to vision Tom kicked off 2025 with a strong, varied schedule — combining solo races, double-handed challenges, and a standout crewed performance. Posted on 20 Jun
Marina Militare Nastro Rosa Tour Catanzaro day 2
The Marina Militare Team wins in Catanzaro The Marina Militare team wins the Catanzaro stage in the offshore category. Having left Brindisi, after about 40 hours of navigation, the Navy's Figaro 3 crossed the finish line first, leaving behind the Guardia di Finanza team and the Royal Madras team. Posted on 19 Jun
Erica Lush Completes Bermuda 1-2 Regatta First Leg
While training for the Solitaire Du Figaro Rhode Island sailor Erica Lush completed the first leg of the Bermuda 1-2 regatta as the only woman skipper in the fleet. Lush sailed solo from Newport to Bermuda, handling a boat new to her, and rough sea state. Posted on 17 Jun