For some IMOCA skippers, the appeal of the Solitaire du Figaro never dies
by Ed Gorman / IMOCA Globe Series 15 May 09:54 BST
17 May 2026
Jérémie Beyou © Marin Leroux / polaRYSE / PRB
It's not unprecedented for top sailors in IMOCA to return to the Figaro class, but it's quite unusual and this season several of IMOCA's established skippers have been doing just that.
They include the Charal skipper Jérémie Beyou, who sailed to victory alongside Paul Morvan in the double-handed Laura Vergne Trophy, one of the Figaro class's preparatory races this year. But Beyou - a three-time Solitaire du Figaro Paprec winner, who is awaiting the re-launch of his IMOCA after substantial modifications - will not sail in this year's Figaro itself.
Alongside Beyou, the Paprec skipper and runner-up in the last Vendée Globe, Yoann Richomme, has also been testing his skills in the early season races in the Figaro class. But his hopes of taking part in the Solitaire du Figaro have gone awry as a result of breaking three ribs in the BPGO Trophy, forcing him to hand over his project to his co-skipper Martin Le Pape.
Two other IMOCA skippers, however, will be taking the start of the 57th edition of the Figaro, which sets sail from Perros-Guirec in Brittany for Vigo in Spain on Sunday. They are Loïs Berrehar, whose new IMOCA in the colours of Banque Populaire will be launched next year, and Nico Lunven who finished his maiden Vendée Globe early last year at the helm of Holcim-PRB in 6th place.
We caught up with Lunven as he completed his preparations on board PRB for his 10th participation in the Figaro, a championship he has won twice in 2009 and 2017 but which he has not sailed for almost 10 years. The mild-mannered Frenchman, whose record in IMOCA includes an impressive string of top-five finishes, plus third place in the last Ocean Race aboard Team Malizia, is ready to go after winning two of the build-up races with a PRB team including the up-and-coming young French star Tom Goron.
Lunven modestly blames Goron for their successes. "I was a bit surprised at the results, but on the other hand it was double-handed with Tom who is a very good and a talented sailor," he told the IMOCA Class. "But now I will be alone, so I would love to keep the same trend. But alone it will be a different game for sure and unfortunately Tom will not be with me on board this time. But it's going to be a good exercise and I am happy to be back in this race solo."
Lunven says the one-design aspect of the foiling Figaro BENETEAU 3 makes the Figaro class both tougher and easier than IMOCA at the same time. "On the one hand it is much more simple to set up the whole project, because the boat is much smaller and it is a one-design class so you can't develop anything on the boat. So it is much easier on that side," he explained.
"On the other hand, when you are at sea, it is probably more difficult than IMOCA because it is a one-design class, so everyone has the same boat and you have to find every metre, not to gain something but at least not to lose something," he added. "So it's very difficult. But that is also one of the reasons why I decided to go back to the Figaro class this year and why I am happy to be there and to fight in this wonderful class."
In professional sport in general, it is unusual to see the world class performers dropping down a league while still at the top of their game with the attendant risk of being shown up by younger competitors. But Lunven has been more than happy to take that risk and he certainly doesn't regard the Figaro class as a step backwards or downwards.
"It is a risky thing, I know that," he said. "But I don't feel I am going back to a lower level. I am going to a different class, a different exercise in a different boat, but not a lower level. In fact, maybe it's a higher level, I don't know. I would say I have the feeling of moving forward doing this. It's a risky choice, but it's what I wanted to do because I wanted something maybe a bit more challenging and, for me, it's a big challenge to go back to the Figaro class."
Whether he recognises it or not, Lunven will start this championship - with a second stage from Vigo to Pornichet and a third and final leg from there to Le Havre - as one of the favourites in a field full of potential winners. They include Lois Berrehar, who was second in 2023 and third in 2024, the Irishman Tom Dolan who won in 2024, plus the aforementioned Tom Goron and his highly-rated fellow countryman Hugo Dhallenne.
Lunven will be bidding to join an elite group of six skippers - Beyou among them - who have won the Solitaire du Figaro three times. But he dismisses the idea that he can be considered one of the favourites. "To be honest, I absolutely do not feel to be the favourite, not at all," he said. "I am absolutely not in that frame of mind and am absolutely focused on boat preparation and my own preparation."
And what about his age when taking on much younger competitors? The 43-year-old master navigator, who won the Rookie classification in the Figaro way back in 2007, says it's not an issue either in terms of stamina or mental and physical fitness. "I don't feel any weaknesses about my age or anything like that," he said, adding that a lot of the physical work on a Figaro is easier than on an IMOCA with smaller sails to change or move around.
The PRB skipper feels that his experience in IMOCA is benefitting his return to the Figaro because of what he has learned especially on the subject of meteorology in the round-the-world Class. "I think I have probably a better understanding about what is happening with regards to long term strategy I would say," he said.
It's going to be a fascinating three weeks ahead seeing how Lunven fares in what remains one of the toughest assignments in world sailing. When he gets to the finish line of the Figaro, he will be going straight back into IMOCA, as part of the crew of the DMG Mori Sailing Team in the build-up to the Ocean Race Atlantic, which starts from New York on September 1st.
He will not sail the Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe in November, but will be acting as weather router for Armel Le Cléac'h on the maxi trimaran Banque Populaire XI in that race. Lunven would love to have another go at the Vendée Globe but so far, he says, he has nothing in hand on that score.
"Yes, I would love to do it," he said, "but time is always running too quickly for this kind of thing and, for now, I have nothing in my pocket for the Vendée Globe in 2028..."