The second third of the 54th La Solitaire du Figaro Paprec has begun. On Sunday, the field of 27 men and five women set off on stage two from Kinsale to Roscoff in the Bay of Morlaix. The route first takes the Figarists to a turning point just below the Isle of Man before heading back and past Land's End into the French bay. 630 nautical miles (1167 kilometres) have to be mastered solo.
The favourites initially sailed behind
The first intermediate results in the live tracker showed just how difficult the initial positioning is. With the winner of the first stage, Tom Dolan ("Smurfit Kappa - Kingspan") and the co-favourite Guillaume Pirouelle ("Région Normandie"), two top contenders initially had to settle for 26th and 22nd place. Sanni Beucke ("This race is female") from Strande near Kiel opened the second section of the three-parter in midfield in 20th place.
Gaston Morvan ("Région Bretagne CMB Performance") took the lead on Sunday afternoon. Charlotte Yven ("Skipper Macif 2023"), Élodie Bonafous ("Quéguiner La Vie en Rose") and Julie Simon ("Douze") were the first three skippers to finish in the top ten.
Complex first night ahead
After a short postponement of the start in Kinsale, where the thermal breeze was slow to set in, the fleet in the 54th La Solitaire du Figaro Paprec fleet said goodbye to the pretty Irish harbour town. The starting gun was fired at 13:40 to the delight of many spectators on land and on the water in light winds and glorious Sunday afternoon sunshine.
The fleet is heading north of the Irish Sea and is expecting a complex first night. The field is expected to stay close to the rugged Irish coast to capitalise on the thermal breeze. Before the start, Basile Bourgnon ("Edenred") described the upcoming scenario in the often wild, but currently rather mild Irish Sea.
We'll be tearing our hair out a bit on the first night." Basile Bourgnon
The Frenchman was in seventh place after stage one and said: "We'll be pulling our hair out a bit on the first night, especially with this very light wind, which will last maybe five or six hours. Then we hope that there will be more wind at night so that we can drive a bit on autopilot and get some sleep. The relatively light wind will force us to concentrate on our route and the weather, eat well and control our sleep..."
According to Basile Bourgnon, this second stage has the character of a "second first stage" because the small time gaps in the provisional overall standings after stage one make the second stage almost feel like a restart. Sanni Beucke is also hoping for this, having learnt a few lessons after finishing 27th on stage one. This included very precise preparation for the weather scenario in stage two.
It could be quite a stormy and quite a cold stage in the north." Sanni Beucke
Beucke said: "It could be quite a stormy and quite cold leg when we get northwards. If we then sail south again, we will encounter some restricted areas that we are not allowed to sail into. Then it will be tactical again before we cross the English Channel again." The finish line awaits the Figaro fleet off Roscoff.
Click here for the stage overview:
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
