Top 10 or bust

Britain's only Figaro sailor looks at this year's Solitaire du Figaro

Sam Davies sailing her yacht Skandia, is once again the sole British entry in the Solitaire du Figaro which set sail from Ouistreham in northern France on Tuesday.

This year the race, the effective world championship of singlehanded offshore racing, represents substantially less of a daunting prospect for Davies, now that she is half way through her second season of Figaro racing. "This year is so much better than last year. I’ve done some training and I’m more confident and better with my boat - everything is much better," she says.

After her remarkable fifth place in the two handed Transat ag2r earlier this year ( click here to read more about this) racing with French Figarette Jeanne Gregoire, Davies returned to her own yacht, Skandia, to take part in the singlehanded Generali Solo racing in the Mediterranean. This series included three offshore races of 200 miles and several windward-leewards. In this she finished 12th ahead of French 'names' such as previous Solitaire du Figaro winner, Dominique Vittet, former Belgacom skipper Jean-Luc Nelias and even boyfriend Romain Attanasio, who beat her in the Transat ag2r. 2004 scoreline: 1-1.

"I was very happy with that because last year I was 25th in the same race so I’ve improved by 100%," says Davies of the Generali Solo. Her best result in the series was seventh and this was on the windiest day. "It was blowing more than 30 knots and we did two windward-leewards and I got a 10th and seventh. And I had a really good day - I was going the right way and my manoeuvres were really cool. I was really chuffed at the end because I did things like I overtook Erwan Tabarly on the run because my hoist was better and my gybe was better. And I finished ahead of Gildas Morvan in the second race.

"In the second race I was third at the first windward mark and someone had protested me and I spent the whole race worrying about the protest rather than racing. So I could have got better than seventh."

But particularly impressive was that these results came on a day when the burlier men like Morvan should have been favourites. "The big guys - it was their day and they came back looking at me and going ‘how did you do that?’ because it was a muscle day. But it was so windy and I played safe and didn’t tack more than three times on each beat and only gybed once and it worked really well.

"It is funny, because the boat is quite difficult, especially when the wind gets up and you are singlehanded even the big guys say it is hard physically. So I was really pleased and I got two good results, so it wasn’t like I pulled off a flier."

As an indicator of how she has improved, Marc Emig, last year's top Figaro first timer (known as a 'bizuth') who consistently beat her last season finished 18th in this year's Generali Solo.

Davies puts her success so far this year down to a season spent acclimatising with her Figaro as well as the two months of training she put in at the Figaro training centre in Port la Foret this spring.

"Even by the end of last year I was feeling more confident about the boat and the speed and handling it. The training is really important, doing that and then running straight into three weeks solidly sailing the boat in the Transat ag2r. And the Figaro is one design like the Farr 40 and Mumm 30, so it is all about boat speed - how you trim your sails and keeping the boat going fast all the time and doing that without worrying too much about it, so you can think about tactics at the same time. Everything feels a bit more natural this year. It is like I’m sailing with a crew on board but there isn’t a crew, but I feel I can leave the boat to sail itself and I know it’s going fast."



The Beneteau Figaro is a one design so little can be done to modify it. However during her training period they were working hard on the set-up of the rig and the rudder settings. "There are two rudders and you can change their toe-in and that can make a bit of a difference in boat speed. I have been working with my rig, just trying to find something that feels good and works with my North Sails. So my rig setting are different from how I had it last year and I feel happier with it."

For the Generali Solo, another female sailor joined the Figaro ranks in the form of Amer Sport Too bowgirl Liz Wardley. "I think she’s really enjoying it," says Davies. "It is good to have another English speaking person racing. I was with Liz a bit in the Generali and I was telling her a few things. I remember this time last year when I had no idea about all the little tricks that you can have on board and the way people do things - things like the purchase system you have on your spinnaker sheet so that you can trim it by hand when you’re reaching. She didn’t have one.

"I think she’ll be really good. She progressed really fast during the Generali. She reminded me of me this time last year because I could see she was really good but really frustrated because she hadn’t completely got a handle on the boat."

The Figaro class is a tight-knit community and there are few secrets between the sailors and their support crew. However as an outsider joining the party and particularly without the benefit of speaking French it is difficult to find out what you don't know.

"At the beginning of last year I was really left out because you’re not French and you don't even set your boat up in the country," Davies continues. "There are things you just have no idea about. And it is not like people are trying to hide things from you, it’s just because everyone in the class thinks that everyone knows these things. So I feel that when people come into it they should have as much help as possible, because it makes the racing more fair."

In the Solitaire du Figaro this year Sam believes Armel le Cleac'h, last year's Solitaire du Figaro winner who also won the Transat ag2r to be favourite. She thinks Jean-Luc Nelias is brave taking a step down the food chain from one of the leading 60ft trimarans to the Figaro. "Now he’s coming into the Figaro class where it’s not easy to do well. I think he was one place behind me in the Generali. He’s not in the top three so he’s going to have to work to get up there. Whenever I’m in Port la Foret every single day I see him out training because he knows how hard it is going to be..."

Also on form this year is former Orange maxi-cat crewman and long standing Figaro sailor Yann Elies who dominated the Generali Solo winning it by 66 points ahead of Gildas Morvan on 96 points.

Among the first timers this year is former Mumm 30 sailor Oliver Krauss who was top 'Bizuth' in the Generali Solo with an impressive 10th place. Like Davies Krauss benefitted from training in Port la Foret this spring. Krauss is said to be strong at the round the cans races, but not so much on the longer offshore legs.

Davies' Transat ag2r partner Jeanne Gregoire has also struck lucky for the Solitaire du Figaro. After failing to get a sponsor for the race, Gregoire was on the verge of withdrawing her entry and was in the process of drowning her sorrows when she received a phone call from former Solitaire du Figaro winner, Pascal Bidegorry, saying he was injured, couldn't do the race and would she mind taking his boat. While Gregoire this year is racing the Banque Populaire Figaro, so trimaran skipper Alain Gautier has passed his Figaro on to his trimaran crew Nicolas Berenger.

After her 19th place in the Figaro last year, Davies is hoping to finish in the top 10 this year in a field of 52 boats.