Solitaire du Figaro preview

We look at the form in this year's effective world championship of solo offshore racing

The annual La Solitaire Afflelou Le Figaro, the effective world championship of singlehanded offshore racing, kicks off today with the 'prologue' race off Ouistreham in northern France.

This year there is another impressive line-up with 52 skippers entered including a mixture of seasoned Figaro sailors, veteran offshore sailors returning to see how good they still are and first timers (known as bizuths or rookies) who have their own division.

As ever who will win is impossible to predict. If there is a favourite it is probably Armel le Cleac'h, last year's winner who also won this year's Transat AG2R. But among the other top ranked Figaro sailors are Jérémie Beyou (4th 2001), Charles Caudrelier (3rd 2002), the 2002 winner Kito de Pavant, 2001 winner Eric Drouglazet, Yann Elies (6th 2001), Ronan Guerin (6th 2000), Gildas Morvan (3rd 1999-2001) and Erwan Tabarly (6th 2002). Of these Elies should be watched following his recent win in the class' singlehanded Generali race in the Mediterranean.

Among the old hands returning to the class are the 1993 winner Dominique Vittet and multihull and Whitbread veteran Halvard Mabire who's first Figaro was in 1978 and finished second in 1989 and third the following year. Former Whitbread winner Lionel Pean has had to withdraw through a lack of sponsorship.

An interesting Figaro first timer this year is Jean-Luc Nelias. Despite being one of the Port la Foret mafia, the former Belgacom trimaran skipper has somehow got away with not competing in the Figaro until now.

Relatively new to the class compared to the veterans are a number of leading former Mini sailors such as Fred Duthil, Arnaud Boissieres and last year's winner Armel Tripon.
Once again female competitors Skandia's Sam Davies and Jeanne Gregoire, former teammates from the Transat AG2R, are both taking part and expecting to improve their performances relative to last year following the time they have spent this spring at the Figaro training centre in Port la Foret. They have been joined this year by Papua New Guinea's finest and former Amer Sport Too bowgirl Liz Wardley.

Today the boats are travelling up the canal from Caen to the open sea at Ouistreham where they will sail a 13 mile race. After this they will return to Caen to await the start of the Solitaire du Figaro proper on Tuesday.

The course for the Figaro this year sees the boats making a short hop across to Portsmouth where they are expected to arrive late on Wednesday 28 July. They will be berthed at Gunwharf Quays before their re-start on Friday 30 July.

From Portsmouth they head off to the Beneteau home port of Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie and from there to Gijon in north Spain before returning to Quiberon.

Entries

Skipper	Boat	Nat	Previous Figaros
ALFARO Amaiur	WWW.PAYS-BASQUE-ENTREPRISES.COM	FRA	3
ATTANASIO Romain	PORT TREBEURDEN	FRA	4
BAKKER Sander (Pays-Bas)	STERN Groep	NED	1
BALOGH François	GENERALE D'EMBALLAGE	FRA	4
BEAURIN Laurent	LATITUDE NORD	FRA	3
BERENGER Nicolas	PAPREC - CNEM	FRA	1
BEYOU Jérémie	DELTA DORE	FRA	7
BIGOT Gaël	TEAM 117	FRA	0
BOISSIERES Arnaud	REGION AQUITAINE	FRA	2
BOS Christian	RAYNAL ET ROQUELAURE	FRA	3
BOSSARD Philippe	KARUKERA	FRA	0
BULOT Jean-François	Crédit Mutuel de Normandie – Ville de Caen	FRA	1
CAUDRELIER Charles	BOSTIK FINDLEY	FRA	4
CHABAGNY Thierry	LE CAENNAIS BLOCHON - MARTIN	FRA	3
DANIEL Marie-Albane	ACADOMIA	FRA	0
DAVIES Samantha (GB)	SKANDIA	GBR	1
de BROC Bertrand	AIGLE	FRA	11
de PAVANT Kito	NAVY LEST	FRA	4
DELORD Alain	TAT AVIATION SERVICES	FRA	2
DESMARETS Pascal (Belgique)	TETRAKTYS	BEL	0
DROUGLAZET Eric	Crédit Maritime - Brokerline	FRA	11
DUTHIL Frédéric	ALLMER	FRA	0
EINHORN Jacques	CONNIVENCE	FRA	3
ELIES Yann	GROUPE GENERALI ASSURANCES	FRA	7
EMIG Marc	TOTAL	FRA	1
FAVRE Hervé (Suisse)	WORLD GAMES INC.	SWI	0
GREGOIRE Jeanne	BANQUE POPULAIRE	FRA	3
GUERIN Ronan	CAMPUS Immobilier	FRA	9
JACQ Rodolphe	Skipper AG2R Prévoyance	FRA	0
KOCH Antoine	Nobody	FRA	4
KRAUSS Oliver	ESPOIR CREDIT AGRICOLE	FRA	0
LE CLEAC'H Armel	FONCIA - TBS	FRA	4
LE GAL Franck	MONACO MARINE SODIFAC ROUBAIX	FRA	0
LECHARPENTIER Bertrand	ENTREPRENDRE EN PAYS D'AUGE - CALVADOS	FRA	0
LEPESQUEUX Marc	Maisons PIERRE	FRA	3
LEQUIN Benoit	NANNIDIESEL	FRA	0
MABIRE Halvard	BIODIVERSITE	FRA	6
MAISONNEUVE Brieuc	PAYS GRANVILLAIS	FRA	0
MORVAN Gildas	CERCLE VERT	FRA	8
MOUREN Jean-Paul	M@RSEILLE ENTREPRISES	FRA	17
NELIAS Jean-Luc	CHAUSS-EUROP	FRA	0
PELLECUER Laurent	CLIPTOL Sports	FRA	7
PETIT Benoit	DEFI SANTE VOILE	FRA	3
SEVAUX Stéphane	SARTHE	FRA	1
TABARLY Erwan	THALES	FRA	4
TOULORGE Alexandre	CAEN LA MER	FRA	4
TRIPON Armel	GEDIMAT	FRA	0
TROUSSEL Nicolas	D'AUCY	FRA	3
VACHETTE Vincent	Duc & Préneuf	FRA	0
VENIARD Gérald	SCUTUM	FRA	0
VITTET Dominic	ATAO AUDIO SYSTEM	FRA	7
WARDLEY Liz (Australie)	KOOKAÏ-eol	PAP	0