La Solitaire du Figaro Leg 2 Finish
by Presse Solitaire 10 Aug 2011 11:29 PDT
10 August 2011
Jérémie Beyou winner and overall leader in Dún Laoghaire
The 2005 Solitaire du Figaro champion crossed the finish line Dún Laoghaire not only to win the second leg but take the overall lead in the four-stage sailing race. Nicolas Lunven, the 2009 champion was second with Adrien Hardy, who won the stage to Ireland in 2010, third. Morgan Lagravière, was top rookie in 6th. The first of the four British sailors, Phil Sharp, was 23rd, just over an hour behind the leader.
The pewter grey skies cleared briefly to let some bright sun through to spotlight the first Figaro on the horizon and reveal the breakaway leader of the 46 solo sailors competing on the second of four legs that make up La Solitaire du Figaro race. The second leg, 440 miles from Caen to Dún Laoghaire close to Dublin on the East coast of Ireland, set off last Sunday and took just over 65 hours for the winner to complete. Jérémie Beyou (BPI), blew his spinnaker in the shifty breeze just a couple of miles from the finish, but had been surfing downwind at a blistering average of 14 knots, whilst keeping a close eye on his pursuers as he helmed his boat to victory at 10:15 in the morning. The successful and experienced French solo sailor, averaged 6.7 knots over the 65 hours and 25 minutes and 16 seconds. He was both jubilant and exhausted upon arrival.
Nicolas Lunven sailing on Generali from France was just under 20 minutes later in second place with Adrien Hardy on Agir Recouvrement finishing third a further 18 minutes astern. Members of the National Yacht Club, international visiting media, and support shore crew welcomed the skippers on the arrival pontoon with champagne to celebrate. Rookie, or first time participant to complete the gruelling race was Morgan Lagravière in an impressive 6th.
The four British entries, was headed by Phil Sharp on Spirit of Independence in 23rd, just over an hour behind the leader then Nigel King (E-Line Orthodontics) in 32nd, Sam Goodchild, the youngest skipper at just 21, Sam Goodchild was 33rd in Artemis, and Conrad Humphreys (DMS) in 40th just over two hours behind the winner. Francisco Lobato on Roff, who comes from Portugal, finished in 28th place.
The race was really tough and the conditions, with upwind sailing though squalls, strong tidal currents and rocky channels at the start, were truly demanding. But the adrenaline rush come back for the downwind overnight reach up the Irish Sea to the finish.
All 46 competitors remain in Dún Laoghaire Harbour until the start of leg three on Sunday 14th of August: 475 miles from Dublin to Les Sables d’Olonne in France.
Leg 2 Finish Video:
Skipper Quotes:
Jérémie Beyou (BPI) – winner in Dún Laoghaire after 440 miles racing from Caen: “Oh my, it feels good to get to the finish line… and in first. I’ve worked a lot for this race and sometimes it just pays off. It’s not easy to be in front and stay there. All in all I feel very happy. Winning is something magical, impossible to explain what you feel, it’s just great. It was a though one, squalls at the start and at the finish…it looked like it was going to last forever. The wind on the last part was coming in from all over the place, shifting continuously. My big spinnaker just exploded in the final miles of the race, but then I guess it was taking its revenge as I treated it so badly! And the boat too, I reckon Fanch (his shore team ed. note) is going to be busy with the repairs. Last night there were three of us, Nico Lunven, Erwan Tabarly and myself sailing side by side… I really took the gamble by going along the coast on the most direct route, not an easy decision to sail so close to the Irish coastline. We all knew it was going to be a hard race. I was the first one to hoist the spinnaker yesterday, the others were waiting and I said to myself: Go Beyou, you can do it! I did not sleep much on the first night and on the first day either. It was impossible, but I had some rest on the second one, sailing along under the southern British coastline towards Lands End. O would not quite call what I had sleep; it was more like a few siestas on deck to keep an eye on Erwan Tabarly.
Morgan Lagravière (Vendée) sixth and first rookie to finish in Dún Laoghaire 41 minutes and 59 seconds behind the winner: "It's been the toughest leg I've ever sailed. Three hard days and nights in strong wind and choppy sea and not progressing much... I can't say it was fun, I wanted to sail well but it was also frightening, downwind with 35 knots! It was not easy to keep the boat going straight. I'm obviously happy with my result but I need to rest, eat and take a break, think about something different. Honestly,. I'm glad to get into the game, these are very special and interesting races, but they're so tough! It was hard since the very start in Caen and then I was helming all the time. At the finish, when you are already tired, it's not easy to sail under spinnaker in 30 knots, boats surfing at 18: amazing! One realizes that it is so easy to fall overboard, when the boat is rocking and jumping. I've started this project with Vendée and I would do anything to race well, even if it's cold, the food is awful, no sleep and you end up totally exhausted. It's nice to be back ashore and put things into perspective: I'm more experienced now and I got a good result."
Francisco Lobato (ROFF) from Portugal finishes 28th and 1 hour 46 minutes and 26 seconds behind the winner: “This second leg was not much better than the first one. I started well, but then almost all my options were not right and I kept loosing ground on the leaders. Between Land’s End and the St George Channel I decided to go East, it didn’t pay off… Only on the final downwind part, while approaching the finish, I managed to climb back some ten/twelve places by staying more inshore. I can’t say I’m happy with the result.”
Phil Sharp (Spirit of Independence) – first Briton to finish in Dún Laoghaire: « It was a hard race, it was very testing in certain places but they were actually very exciting and enjoyable conditions. I hit a particularly good set of waves and I was just
Surfing along at 18knots for about half a minute. Unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable, we’re all insane! »
Nigel King (E-Line Orthodontics) and Sam Goodchild (Artemis) were fighting neck-and-neck for much of the leg: “We had a chat last night, we were close enough to talk to each other! I’ve had a better leg than last leg but I didn’t sail the first eighteen hours very well. I don’t know what’s going on, I lost a lot of time in the first twenty-four hours and then spend the rest of the race trying to figure out how to recover.”
Conrad Humphreys (DMS) decided to stay to the right fleet to avoid an area of high pressure initially forecast, but now questions that decision: “I realised I’d made a mistake by not crossing over to the Irish coast early enough but I’m happy, we’ve got here in one piece and I’m still in very close contention with the rest of the pack, so that’s the most important thing. I love Ireland and I’m sure there’s a very good pint of Guinness waiting for me!”
Sam Godchild (Artemis) whose decision to tack early upon rounding the Channel Islands: “That was a bad idea, I got my timings wrong. There were three big tactical decisions, the first two I made were wrong which was disappointing and I think I could have done better in this leg. The third was ok and I made up for a lot of time lost after Land's End.”
Another Close Finish for the Brits
All four British Artemis Offshore Academy sailors finished Leg 2 of the 2011 Solitaire du Figaro within an hour of each other. The fleet of 46 Figaro boats began arriving in Dún Laoghaire, Ireland this morning (Wednesday, 10/08/11) after almost three full days after leaving Caen, France.
Previous 2005 overall winner Jérémie Beyou (BPI) secured victory on the second Leg after two days, 17 hours and 25 minutes. Conditions for Leg 2 were wet and wild upwind for the first three quarters of the race as predicted. The sailors were able to set their spinnakers after the front passed over, speeding up at the end of the race, with the last few miles racing along at speeds of over 15-knots of boat speed – not bad for a 32ft monohull!
For the second leg running, Phil Sharp (The Spirit of Independence) was the highest placed British sailor, finishing in 23rd (1h 16m after the leader). Sharp managed to stay with the leaders for the majority of the race only slipping back in the final stages of the leg: “It was a hard race,” said Sharp. “It was very testing in certain places but they were actually very exciting and enjoyable conditions. I hit a particularly good set of waves and I was just sitting at 18 knots for about half a minute. Unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable, we’re all insane!”
Nigel King (E-Line Orthodontics) and Sam Goodchild (Artemis) were fighting neck-and-neck for much of the leg. In the end King came in 32nd, less than 2 minutes ahead of Goodchild in 33rd. “We had a chat last night, we were close enough to talk to each other!” reported King. “I’ve had a better leg than last leg but I didn’t sail the first eighteen hours very well. I don’t know what’s going on, I lose a lot of time in the first twenty-four hours and then spend the rest of the race trying to figure out how to recover.”
Sam Goodchild had to re-cross the start-line in Caen after being recalled. He fought his way up through the fleet but felt his decision to tack early after the Channel Islands cost him several places. “That was a bad idea, I got my timings wrong,” explained Goodchild. “There were three big tactical decisions, the first two I made were wrong which was disappointing and I think I could have done better in this leg. The third was ok and I made up for a lot of time lost after Land’s End.” Goodchild also suffered damage to both his spinnakers in the closing stages of this leg.
The harsh reality for the sailors competing in the Solitaire du Figaro for the first time, is that no matter how much training and preparation they undertake, or all the advice they get from experienced sailors, they will inevitably make the wrong decisions, damage equipment, not manage their physical state as well as they could. It is a baptism of fire on the tough road to a successful short-handed, offshore career where mistakes have to be learnt the hard way.
The weather was an important factor for the Artemis Offshore Academy sailors in this leg. The forecast was for strong winds and heavy seas around Barfleur and Cherbourg, followed by a ridge of high pressure that could have become dominant in the Irish Sea. Conrad Humphreys (DMS) finished in 40th place, decided to stay to the right of the fleet to avoid it, but now questions the length of time he stayed there: “I realised I’d made a mistake by not crossing over to the Irish coast early enough but I’m happy. We’ve got here in one piece and I’m still in very close contention with the rest of the pack, so that’s the most important thing. I love Ireland and I’m sure there’s a very good pint of Guiness waiting for me!”
The 46-boat fleet will now stay in Dún Laoghaire until Sunday when they start the longest and penultimate leg of 475 miles to Sables D’Olonne at 12pm.
Solitaire du Figaro Leg 2 Results:
1st BEYOU Jérémie BPI arrived 10/08/2011 at 10:14:16 in a time of 65h25’16”
23rd SHARP Phil The Spirit of Independence + 01h06’45”
32nd KING Nigel E-Line Orthodontics + 01h53’42”
33rd GOODCHILD Sam Artemis + 01h55’25”
40th HUMPHREYS Conrad DMS + 02h05’24”
Rookie Rankings Leg 2:
1st LAGRAVIERE Morgan VENDEE arrived 10/08/2011 at 10:56:15 in a time of 66h07’15”
2nd SHARP Phil The Spirit of Independence + 24’46”
6th GOODCHILD Sam Artemis + 01h13’26”
8th HUMPHREYS Conrad DMS
A game of snakes and ladders for Conrad Humphreys in Leg 2 of La Solitaire du Figaro
At 11.19 BST today (10th August 2011), Devon based ocean sailor, Conrad Humphreys sailing ‘DMS’, crossed the finish line into Dún Laoghaire, completing leg 2 of La Solitaire du Figaro.
After a procession down the canal and through the locks from the city of Caen where the Figaro fleet had been moored, the second leg of La Solitaire du Figaro started on Sunday at 15.49 BST. The start line was in Sein Bay opposite Ouistreham in Normandy and thousands of people watched the solo sailors start from on the water and from the shoreline. With a distance of 470 miles to Dún Laoghaire, Ireland this is one of the longer legs of this intense race.
In contrast to the first leg, in which the fleet experienced light downwind conditions, this leg started in upwind conditions and a lumpy sea. The early stages of the leg saw the sailors being hit by strong squalls and having to negotiate tricky currents around the Cotentin coastline and around Guernsey. On the first night, one of the contestants David Sineau was forced to abandon the race after suffering damage to his boat ‘Britanie Cosmetiques’ when it hit rocks close to Barfleur. Then for approximately 250 miles, the solo sailors had a long slog beating across the English Channel in 25 knots with gusts up to 35 knots to Land’s End which they passed early yesterday morning. As the sailors reached the Celtic Sea, yesterday afternoon the conditions on the water changed radically, with the wind veering from North to Southwest for a downwind sail to Dún Laoghaire.
For Conrad, leg 2 has brought a multitude of fortunes, starting off well-placed in the middle of the fleet on day 1 and then slipping back through the rankings by the early hours of day 2 as the fleet approached the GMF buoy off Lizard Point, Cornwall. By opting for a more easterly route as he rounded the GMF Buoy, Conrad leapt up the rankings from 39th to 25th place as the fleet sailed towards the Celtic Sea, the highest climb by a sailor in leg 2. However, this gain slipped in the final approaches as the sailors behind regained the inshore advantage along the coast of Ireland.
Speaking at the finish, a tired but exuberant Conrad said “I realised I’d made a mistake by not crossing over to the Irish coast early enough but I’m happy, we’ve got here in one piece and I’m still in very close contention with the rest of the pack, so that’s the most important thing. I love Ireland and I’m sure there’s a very good pint of Guinness waiting for me!”
The sailors now have a few days to repair any damage on the boats, replenish their supplies and catch up on some much needed sleep. The third leg starts at midday on Sunday 14th August from Dún Laoghaire to Les Sables d’Olonne, in Western France.