53rd La Solitaire du Figaro: Brutal displacement race on stage two

Jörg Riechers: "Everything revolves around speed"

Jörg Riechers ("Alva Yachts") is struggling in 29th place two days after the start of the second leg last Sunday (28 August). Yet "only" 26 nautical miles separated him from the leader on Tuesday morning. That's how close the competition is once again in the 53rd La Solitaire du Figaro. "It's all about speed," Riechers himself had said more than once. Susann Beucke ("This race is female") was in 31st place after two nights at sea, with only Pierce Copham on "Voiles des Anges" struggling to keep up. Click here for the Intermediate results in the live tracker.

The mood on the course of the second leg from Port-La-Forêt over 635 nautical miles to Royan changed on Tuesday night. After passing the Désormes mark near the Channel Islands, most of the sailors have long since begun a powerful chute under spinnaker. For the soloists, this is a technically demanding task that not all of them complete without slipping up. Some chose the wrong player, others could barely hold their bubble. The race organisers reported that there were some exciting catch-up races. For example, the Frenchwoman Elodie Bonafous ("Queguiner - La vie en rose"), who was able to move up from the back of the fleet to 13th place.

For Jörg Riechers, who is still the talk of the town after his successful breakaway attempt, fourth place and the prize for the best non-Frenchman on leg one, a different picture has emerged so far on this second leg of the 53rd La Solitaire du Figaro: The Hamburg sea sailor dropped back from the midfield. His reduced speed in the meantime suggests that he may have had technical problems. The exact reasons for this will only become clear after the finish at the end of the week. In contrast to the Vendée Globe, the players in La Solitaire du Figaro are not allowed to have contact with the outside world.

"Pressurised sliding sections" challenge the Figaro fleet

The gybe in Eddystone went well for the majority of the fleet. The race organisers of the 53rd La Solitaire du Figaro reported: "Three boats had a few difficulties, but everything was quickly sorted out again." Regarding the atmosphere at sea, the organisers reported on Tuesday morning: "There are 29 knots on the anemometer with 'small' gusts of 31 knots, a fairly strong sea, 2.5 metres. This led to top speeds of between 16 and 20 knots for many boats and powerful slides!"

Front runner Tom Laperche pushes the pace

The Figaro organisers' early morning report went on to say: "We should reach Ouessant around 1 p.m., then it will be a little quieter with the descent into the Iroise Sea. But that will also give us the chance to get a well-earned rest at the end of the day. That's the news straight from the race organisers' boat, have a great day everyone!"

While front runner Tom Laperche already has the "mountain festival" behind him with a good 300 nautical miles to the finish, Jörg Riechers from the Hamburg Sailing Club still had 340 nautical miles to go in his second Figaro race on Tuesday morning. Laperche was travelling at a boat speed of 15.2 knots, Riechers at 13.6 knots, while newcomer Sanni Beucke from the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein still had 360 nautical miles to go at this point with a steep learning curve. She sailed towards her next waypoint in weaker winds at eleven knots.