Solitaire du Figaro Four British skippers in top 20 + Video

by Artemis Offshore Academy on 11 Jun 2013 The short and tactical 298-mile Leg 2 of the Solitaire du Figaro, from Porto (Portugal) to Gijon (Spain) concluded on the evening of Monday 10th June. After a final close contact drag race to the finish line, at 15:21:43 BST Armel Le Cleac'h won Leg Two of the Solitaire du Figaro, with Morgan Lagraviere crossing the line in second just 59 seconds behind him at and the next 13 skippers finishing within an hour of the two leaders after just over 51 hours of racing. Leg Two of the 1,938 mile race saw mixed results for the Artemis Offshore Academy, with a delighted Sam Goodchild (Shelterbox-Disaster Relief) finishing the race in 11th, Nick Cherry (Magma Structures) in 14th, Jack Bouttell (Artemis 77) in 19th and third Rookie and Henry Bomby (RockFish) in 20th to see four British skippers inside the top 20, followed by a very disappointed Ed Hill in 38th. For current leading British skipper Sam, his cumulative times for Leg One and Two put the 23-year-old ninth in the overall Solitaire du Figaro rankings. 'I feel much happier with this Leg,' said a chuffed Sam on the dock, finishing the Leg after two days, three hours, 42 minutes and 12 seconds at sea. 'Even though I finished eighth after Leg One, I feel that on this Leg One sailed myself into 11th as opposed to getting lucky and ending up in the top 10, so I'm much happier with that result.' After leaving Porto, the light and wholly unpredictable winds off the Spanish Coast soon left weather reports redundant, with the skippers instead having to take each shift as it came, adding to the frustration and tactical nature of the Leg: 'I finished Leg Two with another good result, but I never knew what was going on with the wind,' reported Magma Structures skipper Nick after finishing Leg Two in 14th. 'From a few hours into the race I decided to just throw the weather forecast out of the window, as nothing was playing out as it should have, so I just tried to stay with the middle of the fleet, sometimes dropping back, sometimes moving forward, but managing to finish just at the right time.' 'It was very difficult to know what the wind was doing, I had no idea most of the time,' Jack added. 'I was trying to take into account what Nico (Coach) had told us, but it played out very differently, so it was a bit of luck, and making the most of stable winds to sleep. It was a tricky Leg, standard Figaro and very frustrating.' Jack was the third British skipper to finish in Gijon in 19th, also claiming third in the Rookie class just six minutes and six seconds behind winning Rookie Claire Pruvot, seeing Jack keep hold of his overall Solitaire du Figaro Rookie division lead by just over five minutes.

After a poor start and hanging on in the thirties for the first half of the race, Academy Graduate Henry pulled it out of the bag to climb 13 places over the final day of racing to finish 20th, making Henry the fourth Brit to finish within the top 20 boats at the end of Leg 2: 'I made some silly mistakes in my in navigation and I lost a lot of time on that, but this is still my best result in the Solitaire so I'm not too unhappy, just frustrated because I know I could have done a lot better and didn't.'

Despite claiming his best Solitaire du Figaro result to date, at the end of Leg two the RockFish skipper was faced with bad news after finishing last behind Sam Goodchild, Alexis Loison, Fabien Delahaye and Claire Pruvot – his housemates: 'I think I’m the last in the house and for the second time Claire beat me. We did a little internal competition and I think next year, it's going to be me who'll be doing the dishes…' Ed was the final Academy skipper to arrive back on the docks at 09:33BST as Leg Two turned into a nightmare for this aspiring skipper. After taking a risky turn west in search of breeze on the approach to Cape Finisterre, Ed was left chasing the fleet before managing to climb three places to finish 38th in the final hours of racing: 'I ended up sailing six miles behind everyone else and on my own for two days, which was pretty horrible. Fortunately, I caught up with the guys at the back but it's still a terrible result. I'm pretty gutted. I wanted to not lose the Solitaire in a Leg and that is what’s happened, meaning all of my hopes of doing well as a Rookie have been dashed.' Ed’s combined results from Leg One and Two leave him 34th overall with two Legs left to sail. He will now have to find the motivation for the remaining two legs, and perhaps with the pressure off Ed will sail more freely but it is an experience that will, undoubtedly, knock his confidence and demonstrates what a cruel mistress the Solitaire can be. With two legs down, Sam is still in the running to win the Patton Hark Regatta Watch as part of the Patton Challenge, despite some pre-race fighting talk from his rivals: 'I’m in second behind Sam, but there’s four boats behind who’ll be keen to win the watch off me,' boasted Nick. 'I definitely want to win it, it’s a good prize and I want to beat the other guys for sure.' The Patton Challenge Rankings after Leg 1 and 2 Position/Skipper/Boat name/Leg One/Leg Two/Total points 1. Sam Goodchild/Shelterbox-Disaster Relief/1/1/2 2. Nick Cherry/Magma Structures/2/2/4 3. Jack Bouttell/Artemis 77/3/4/7 4. David Kenefick/Full Irish/6/3/9 5. Ed Hill/Artemis 37/4/6/10 6. Henry Bomby/5/5/10 La Solitaire website