54th La Solitaire du Figaro Paprec Stage 2 Start

The 54th la Solitaire du Figaro Paprec Leg 2: Light winds are set to prevail through most of the first 36 hours © Alexis Courcoux

Off into the sunshine and light winds

After a short delay whilst a very light thermal breeze drifted in, the 32 solo racers of the 54th La Solitaire du Figaro Paprec enjoyed a gentle introduction to Stage 2, a leg of more than 500 miles from Kinsale in Ireland to Roscoff on the Bay of Morlaix where they should finish Thursday.

The course wil ltake the solo sailors up to a mark in the Irish Sea, most likely to be offshore of Dun Laoghaire, and promises to be a light winds affair with many opportunities for the fleet to expand and contract in the strong tidal currents.

Spanish sailor Pep Costa, who is weather adviser to some of the international sailors, explained:

"I think it looks like a very tricky leg. The guys are really stuck inside of a high pressure system. It is slowly moving east towards eastern Europe. And then this will allow the wind to fill in in the following hours. But it is going to be mostly a light winds leg with thermal winds today transitioning into a very very light winds zone before coming into a light north to north east wind for later tonight. So they will be very close to the coast under spinnakers.Downwind it is very close to VMG and then tonight into a NE to E wind. They will go offshore and tack in the NE'ly maybe a few tacks to Tuskar rock. The breeze will fill in around 10-15 knots but the current is quite strong so they need to be close to the shore when the current is against them and offshore when it is with them."

After winning the first leg into his native Ireland, Tom Dolan (Smurfit Kappa-Kingspan) made his trademark solid, unspectacular start. Unlike many of his French rivals Dolan does not have a boat on boat dinghy racing background and is still very much learning the art and science of short course inshore racing. In contrast he seems to profit on the longer courses. He was tenth out of the bay this afternoon, in good company just behind some of his closest rivals. But after 30 miles of racing he had dropped into 20th and was two miles behind the early leader Romen Richardof France.

Winner of the Paprec Trophy for the first around the short, departure circuit was Gaston Morvan (Région Bretagne CMB) just as he also led away from Caen a week ago.

Before leaving the dock in Kinsale, Dolan said, "The leg looks tricky. I feel good now.I was quite stressed earlier but I will be fine once we get out the port now.The start looks quite clear we will be sailing downwind along the coast in the sea-breeze. Tonight there could be a big split. Some of the weather models are sending us offshore others are telling us to hug the coast, there are two extremes. It is a play the fleet kind of leg, don't make any breaks. It feels no different going afloat leading the race, I need to concentrate on what I can control."

Standings after Stage 1:

1 Tom Dolan, IRL, (Smurfit Kappa-KIngspan) 3d 19h 16m 46 s 2 Nils Palmieri, SUI, (Teamwork) 3d 19h 23m 13s + 6 min 27 sec 3 Robin Marais, FRA, (Moi Chance Moi Aussi) 3d 19h 23m 13s + 8 min 17 sec 4 Benoit Tuduri, FRA, (Capso en Cavale) 3d 19h00m 25s (+30 mins penalty) +13 mins 39 sec 5 Basile Bourgnon, FRA, (Edenred) 3d 19h 31m 05 s +14 min 18 secs 6 Romain Le Gall, FRA, (Centre Excellence Voile Secours Populaire) 3d 19h 32m 52s + 16m 06s 7 Alexis Loison, FRA, (Groupe REEL) 3d 19h 32m 55 s + 16 m 09s 8 Elodie Bonafous, FRA (Queguiner La Vie en Rose) 3d 19h 33m 07s +16m 21s 9 Lois Berrehar, FRA, (Skipper MACIF 2022) 3d19h 33m 16m +16m 30s 10 Guillaume Pirouelle, FRA, (Region Normandie) 3d 19h 33m 32s +16m 46 sec

Internationals 27 Susanne Beucke, GER, (This Race is Female) 4d 00h 09m14s +4h 52m 28s 28 David Paul, GBR, (Sailingpoint.co/Just a Drop) 4d 00h 12m 35s +4h 37m 07s 29 Ben Beasley, NZL, (Ocean Attitude) 4d 00h 22m 07 sec +30 min penalty +5h 20m 21s 31 Piers Copham, GBR, (Voile des Anges) 4d 05h 30m 03sec +10h 13m 17s

They said:

Ben Beasley NZL (Ocean Attitude): "I feel pretty good. The forecast is that it will be very light for the first part of the course and then towards the end it will get a bit breezier. The nerves are less here than in Caen. I want to just keep it simple. I have really not done so much in light winds, mostly it has been in15-20kts but that doesn't worry me I'll just go as fast as I can. The first night will be light with some rain and the tide will play a big part of it.Initially the first 20 miles it will be about staying close to the coast out of the current and with some land breeze hopefully. And then head offshore where there should be some wind.

Susann 'Sanni'Beucke GER (This Race is Female): "It will be light and very, very tricky. ButI am really looking forwards to it. I am so new to this and so often I am goingout worried because we are going to have 25 knots and have to respect the challenge because of the conditions, but this time it is will be light andtricky. I have a different feeling. My key strategy is to be aware that we don't know that much. Hopefully the first part will be coastal racing which I am more used to."

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