La Solitaire du Figaro Leg 1 packed with challenges

by Artemis Offshore Academy on 28 Jun 2012 Solitaire du Figaro 2012 first leg, from Paimpol in France to Gijon in Spain, proved to be a very tactical leg, demanding extremes of concentration and minimum sleep for the 37 solo skippers. Rookie Henry Bomby had his first sleep deprivation induced hallucinatory experience: 'I kept imagining there were people on the boat telling me things, and I thought, okay I need to get a bit more sleep than I am! It starts messing with your head and your decision-making is even worse. Well, you’re probably not the one actually making the decisions, the imaginary person in the corner is!'

French favourite Yann Elies won leg one arriving in Gijon, Spain at 15:59:07 yesterday after three days, three hours, nine minutes and seven seconds at sea. Rookie Nick Cherry was the first Artemis Offshore Academy sailor to cross the finish line at 19:25:24 in 24th place after just over three hours behind Elies. Sam Goodchild, competing in his second Solitaire, followed him across the line just six minutes later to take 25th place. The third of the Academy sailors, and youngest competitor Henry Bomby, finish in 30th place a further hour and a half after Goodchild in a time of three days, eight hours, 36 minutes and 26 seconds.

The British sailors finished under an impressive thunder and lightening show ricocheting all around the city. After docking his boat and looking back on his first long distance solo Figaro leg where he kept pace with the front-runners for the first 24 hours, Cherry said: 'The start was amazing! I started off really well on the inshore course and then I was alright tacking round the top coast of France, but then through the Channel du Four I lost a little bit.' For Bomby and Cherry it is their first Solitaire du Figaro race, just taking part and experiencing this highly-competitive world of single-handed offshore racing is something many sailors dream of. After finishing the race Cherry said: 'I’ve finished, so I’m happy!'

This 504nm mile leg was jam-packed with challenges, from a blustery start and strong tidal flows through to total windless zones, low visibility and thunder and lightening. Even though Cherry slipped back to the middle of the 37-boat fleet in terms of rankings, he stayed with the pack for the majority of the race. After the near restart which saw the fleet come to a standstill in the centre of the high pressure system, Goodchild went the furthest west looking for more breeze hoping to pick up the forecasted westerly winds that only touched them as they arrived in Gijon and not earlier as he had hoped. Goodchild admitted he made a few errors: 'I made a couple of mistakes early on and then one again last night and spent a lot of the race playing catch up. On the flip side I had a few good speed tests with the top guys and was able to keep up with them.'

Sleep, or lack of it, is one of the biggest challenges that solo skippers face. The second night proved the toughest for all the sailors after an intense opening 36 hours of the race which limited their opportunities for rest as Goodchild explains: 'It was a really, really hard leg, but especially in terms of sleeping. The first 24/36 hours there was no opportunity to sleep, we were tacking in and out of rocks and playing with the current. Falling asleep would have been risky.

'I got really tired during the second night and was just finding myself dozing off at the chart table or waking up while helming,' explained rookie sailor Bomby. 'I then made a bit more of a conscious effort to sleep. I realised I was tired when I kept imagining there were people on the boat telling me things, and I thought, okay I need to get a bit more sleep than I am! It starts messing with your head and your decision-making is even worse. Well, you’re probably not the one actually making the decisions, the imaginary person in the corner is!'

After doing two major double-handed ocean races (Global Ocean Race leg two and the Transat AG2R ) in the last six months, Goodchild admits he has to fight to get back in the game: 'I think doing mainly big ocean races this year, I’ve lost a little bit of that extra fight you need… To think about when to tack and when not to tack, pushing corners and not – I’ve had a lot less time in the last year on my own in the Figaro and it is coming back to bite me. But by the next leg I am going to have my fighting spirit back!'

Leg one saw three skippers, including Jean Paul Mouren who was racing his 100th Solitaire du Figaro leg, Anthony Marchand and Jean-Pierre Nicol retire for a variety reasons including gear failure and injury. They should be back on Sunday’s Leg two start line for the race to St Gilles Croix de Vie.

Leg two from Gijon, Spain to St Gilles Croix de Vie, France starts at 12:30 (CET) on Sunday 1st July.

Solitaire du Figaro results:

Leg 1 overall results
Position / Name (boat) / Finishing time / Date / Time at sea
1st Yann Eliés (Groupe Queguiner / Journal des entreprises), 15:59:07 / 27.6.12, 3d 3h 9m 7s
2nd Morgan Lagraviere (Vendee), 16:08:04 / 27.6.12, 3d 3h 18m 04s
3rd Fabien Delahaye (Skipper Macif 2012), 16:19:26 / 27.6.12, 3d 3h 29m 26s
4th Nicolas Lunven (Generali), 16:36:42 / 27.6.12, 3d 3h 46m 42s
5th Thierry Chabagny (Gedimat), 16:39:27 / 27.6.12, 3d 3h 49m 42s
24th Nick Cherry (Artemis 77) / 19:45:24 / 27.6.12 3 days, 6h 55m 24s
25th Sam Goodchild (Artemis 23), 19:51:55 / 27.6.12, 3d 7h 01m 55s
30th Henry Bomby (Artemis 37), 21:26:26 / 27.6.12, 3d 8h 36m 26s

Leg 1 Rookie results
Position / Name (boat) / Finishing time/ Date / Time at sea
1st Thomas Normand (Financiere De L’echiquier), 17:27:40 / 27.6.12, 3d 4h 37m 40s
2nd Julien Villion (Sexio Promotion), 18:09:32 / 27.6.12, 3d 5h19m 32s
3rd Corentin Horeau (Bretagne – Credit Mutuel Espoir), 18:56:40 / 27.6.12, 3d 6h 06m 40s
4th Nick Cherry (Artemis 77), 19:45:24 / 27.6.12, 3d 6 h 55m 24s
5th Henry Bomby (Artemis 37), 21:26:26 / 27.6.12, 3d 8h 36m 26s
6th Kristin Songe Moller (Kristin For Fulle Seil), 22:12:56 / 27.6.12, 3d 9h 22m 51s

Artemis Offshore Academy website