Eight Days Offshore Gives Kingspan the Ultimate Test
by Tom Dolan Racing 3 Sep 03:41 PDT
Kingspan during L'Adventura 2026 Leg 1 © Luis Fraguas
"Other than my ears still ringing from the hum of our new keel, we are very happy with the performance from the renovations of the boat, the race certainly lived up to the name, in those conditions it really was an adventure," says Tom Dolan, as he and Gildas Mahé cross the line to finish the first leg of L'Adventura in fourth place, just two minutes behind Macif in third.
An incredibly wet and windy offshore leg forced Tom and Gildas to alter their watch system to just one hour at a time, conditions too miserable to bear for any longer. The relentless exposure left both sailors with blistered lips and soaked-through gear. It's exactly the kind of test that a longtime pairing like theirs is built for years of racing together meant they could adapt watches and rest on the fly, simply by knowing one another's needs so well.
This came in handy when after spending five days at sea and rounding Madeira without stopping they were then faced with three more days of upwind sailing before reaching land.
"That was an adventure too." Dolan laughed.
Eight days, one hour and fifty-two minutes after leaving Port Bourgenay, Tom and Gildas arrived into Lagos via Madeira, having fought hard the whole way to stay in touch with the top of the fleet. Rounding the Porto Santo, they found themselves locked in a drag race with Macif for third place, match-racing all the way to the line and finishing within two minutes of their rivals.
L'Adventura isn't scored on elapsed time the way the Figaro is, it's a points race and Kingspan now carries a solid P4 into leg two and they will look to consolidate this.
Leg two starts from Lagos, Portugal on Saturday 5th of September and sends the fleet 785 Nautical Miles back across the Bay of Biscay to Île d'Yeu. With half the distance to race teams will be pushing harder to make up those critical points to make that podium in Íle D'Yeu.