Starters orders

Leg three of the Solitaire du Figaro gets underway today after protest hearings and anti-doping tests

On their arrival in La Rochelle at the end of leg two of the Solitaire du Figaro, the first four skippers were picked for an anti-doping check up. In a race comprising four legs, each of two to four days duration, where performance is often directly proportional to how little skippers sleep, there would be an incentive for some extreme caffeine in-take.

“It is the first time this has happened to me in my in my whole sailing career”, confides Charles Caudrelier, a former Solitaire du Figaro winner and skipper of Bostik. “It is surprising, but I find it really good. I am convinced there is not drug taking in our sport, but it is better to prove it.” The results of these tests will be available in two weeks, and will only be revealed if they show up positive.

Meanwhile the international jury for the Solitaire du Figaro, with Jean-Bertrand Mothes Massé presiding, have met in La Rochelle to discuss the 14 protests since the start of the race. The most significant and serious case has been that of Samantha Davies on Skandia and Jorg Riechers on Germanytoo.

Soon after the start of leg one in the bay of Perros-Guirec, on the inshore course prior to to leaving the bay both boats were racing neck and neck. By ’île Tomé, which had been previously flagged up to skippers as a danger area, the outer boat was instructed to leave enough water for the inside boat to pass. However, Jorg Riechers “visibly cut the corner”. As a Skandia’ was effectively driven on to the rocks, her keel hitting and causing serious damage to the boat. The jury saw this as a 'serious case' and Jorg Riechers has been given the maximum penalty; disqualification on leg one. As the Solitaire du Figaro is scored on cumulative elapsed time, Reichers scores the time of the final competitor plus a two hour penalty putting him last in the results. Meanwhile Davies, who was keen to secure a top 10 place in this year's race, has received 5 minutes compensation and so moves up three places to 23rd.

Other cases where seals were tampered with and permission not asked before leaving the pontoon before the start, caused other smaller time penalties to be given. In most cases time penalties of 1-4 minutes were awarded.

As a result of these hearings Kito de Pavant on Groupe Bel has dropped three places to 13th (36minutes and 14 seconds from the leader). Laurent Pellecuer on Cliptol Sport, swaps his 9th place with Erwan Tabarly and takes 10th place. Yannick Bestaven on Aquarelle.com is penalised 20 minutes and falls three places to 32nd.

Off today

Leg three of the Solitaire du Figaro gets underway today from La Rochelle bound for Cork and the pretty Irish port of Crosshaven.

This leg is 456 nautical miles long - each leg getting longer as the race progresses - and is nearly 100 miles longer than the previous ones. The 45 Figaro sailors competing will run up the French coast before rounding Ushant and crossing the Celtic Sea.

Richard Silvani from Météo France forecasts that the conditions will be testing: “with rather unstable and light air for the start, due to the storms forming further south, then gradual progress should be made towards Ushant under a light north westerly breeze (10-12 knots). The wind should then shift round to the west with a cold front forming that will need to be crossed on Thursday evening around Ushant. At the tail end of the front we should see some strong northwesterly winds of about 25 knots, gusting 35. The wind should then drop and lift once more in the Irish Sea… where once again there will be a new high pressure system and the decision of when to tack to contend with. The wind appears to gradually swing left towards the end and could even finish south west on Sunday, but then all the skippers will have not doubt have arrived by then”.

“It could come down to who is best at working on the weather and their strategy” says Dominic Vittet racing ATAO Audio System. “I see a shake up in the top 20 at the finish in Crosshaven”. Currently lying in 16th place, less than an hour from the leader Vittet adds: “When I see that I am just ahead of Eric Drouglazet (Crédit Maritimes) and Yann Eliès (Groupe Generali Assurance), everyone still has a chance. There will be suspense right to the end.”

Romain Attanasio, skipper of The MrBookmaker.com, currently in 12th place is only 35 minutes behind the leader. “The start area in light winds could be dangerous and you can’t mess it up. The run up towards Ushant will be challenging. Up until now we have only had the starters and now we are going to dig in to the main course. The first two legs were really fast races. Now lots of things will surely happen…”.

Italian Pietro D’Ali, the current leader on Nanni Diesel, with typical modesty has little to say, “I will do my race as if I were not in the lead. Simply, I have already forgotten I lead the overall rankings.”

The start gets underway at 17h00 French time in the bay of La Rochelle.