La Solitaire du Figaro - Figaro Safran-Guy Cotten remains in hunt

by Safran Sailing Team on 18 Jun 2014 The Figaro Safran-Guy Cotten crossed the finish line of the second leg of La Solitaire du Figaro in Roscoff on Wednesday at 03:58:59hrs (French time).

After three days 5 hours, 32 minutes and 59 seconds of racing, at an average speed of 6.90 knots, skipper Gwénolé Gahinet finished in 17th place and second rookie, two hours and 32 minutes behind the imperious Yann Eliès (Groupe Queguiner - Leucémie Espoir), the winner of this 535-mile leg between Plymouth and Roscoff. It was another great leg for Gahinet, who demonstrated, again, that he never gives up until the finish line is crossed. At the halfway point of this La Solitaire after two legs out of four, the Figaro Safran-Guy Cotten is in 16th place overall and Gahinet retains his Bénéteau rookie ranking, 18 minutes behind Sam Matson (Artemis 21).

After the arrival of Yann Eliès just before 0130hrs, the rest of the fleet arrived in the port of Roscoff in Brittany at regular intervals throughout the night. Shortly before 0400, it was Gahinet’s turn, in 17th place and wearing a big smile. 'It was a long leg, I’m really happy to finish it,' the skipper of Safran-Guy Cotten said. 'I’m also very happy with 17th place. The beginning of the leg was unusual; starting at sunset because of a lack of wind in Plymouth. I had a bad start and the gaps widened in just an hour. It was hard to swallow at the time. However, I was always gaining on the fleet and I kept thinking clearly until the end and at the halfway point of the event the overall analysis is positive. Also, in the Mini 6.50, comebacks in the last mile were my specialty. And in the end that’s the only thing that matters.'

Throughout this 535-mile leg, the fleet continually spread and regrouped at the whim of an exceptionally unstable wind. 'It drives you crazy, especially when you're tired, you never know how to set up the boat, sometimes I felt like I was going round in circles,' Gahinet said. In 30th place as he passed Land's End, the southernmost tip of England, the gap to the leader widened after they passed the Isles of Scilly. After 24 hours of racing, Gahinet was eight miles behind Eliés. During the second night, the wind got up and helped with a regrouping of the fleet in the small hours of the morning before the 'Stags' buoy, 15 miles east of Fastnet. 'There was no real tactical game until Fastnet, but then I grasped the great opportunities that came my way,' Gahinet said.

'I felt like I was sailing well and had good speed. This is the fourth time that I’ve been around this famous lighthouse and it was a great moment again. The landscape of the Irish coast is really amazing.' On a glassy sea, lights twinkling in the spinnakers of the competitors, it was a magical spectacle at the foot of a rock steeped in history.

The second part of this leg - 270 miles - was then played out initially near the Isles of Scilly. It gave the skipper of Safran-Guy Cotten a chance to rest a little. 'I kept in mind the need to conserve energy for the end of this kind of race,' Gahinet said. 'On Monday night going into Tuesday, I had a series of ten minutes naps for about four hours. I just went out to take the helm for a few seconds, made sure everything was Ok and then went back to sleep. This allowed me to keep on top of my settings and the heading of the boat.' It was rest that the skipper of Safran-Guy Cotten needed before tackling a Channel crossing shoulder to shoulder with rival rookie Sam Matson on Tuesday midday.

'It was a good battle,' Gahinet said. 'In the end, I managed to get ahead a bit while waiting for a small wind shift. When we sent up the spinnakers before the finish line, I hoisted a small spinnaker, which allowed me to luff (sail closer to the wind) a little bit more than him and pass him on the finish line. The rookie rankings remains wide open because Sébastien Simon (Bretagne Crédit Mutuel Espoir), the first rookie home in this leg, had a bad first leg. It’s going to stay interesting until the very end.'

On Sunday, June 22, after four days of rest on land, Gahinet will start the third leg of 505 miles from Roscoff to Les Sables d'Olonne, mixing coastal and offshore Event website