Mini Transat winner early leads

As 44 solo sailors head off on leg one of this year's Solitaire Afflelou Le Figaro

The start gun for the 37th edition of La Solitaire went at 1107 this morning under cloudy skies with sunny spells from the northern French harbour of Cherbourg. The sailors head for the southern coast of England before turning south to finish in Santander, Northern Spain. The fleet set off east over a flat sea with a building 8/9 knots of breeze and favourable current at the first mark. It was one of the new rookie sailors who rounded in the lead.

The 44 singlehanded sailors set out on a closely fought battle upwind right from the start. Corentin Douguet on E.Leclerc-Bouygues, Italian Pietro D’Ali on Nanni Diesel and Fred Duthil on Brossard led during the early stages with a tightly grouped pack made up of Nicolas Bérenger on Koné Ascenseurs, Laurent Pellecuer on Cliptol Sport, Oliver Krauss on Axa Plaisance and Kito de Pavant on Groupe Bel hot on their heels.

Less than an hour after the start, Douguet cleared the Radio France buoy on the inshore course (shortened from 12 to 4 miles) to win the Radio France prize. Douguet, a newcomer to the Figaro circuit but previously a winner of the last Mini Transat said before leaving, that he was off into the unknown but did not feel the pressure: “First Figaro, first start, to leave the bay of Cherbourg in the lead is great," Douguet reported shortly after the start. "There were loads of spectator boats and being here as a rookie is incredible. On the Mini I experienced this, but on a Figaro is one level higher and I did not think I could do this sort of thing so soon. I am going to try and keep this up as long as possible. I have put the pilot on and some extra clothes as it is freshening up. There is loads of seaweed. I have Cliptol Sport and Scutum just downwind of me.”

Barely five boatlengths behind him at the mark was Laurent Pellecuer on Cliptol Sport, who made his mark last year winning one of the legs of this race, rounded in second followed by Fred Duthill’s Brossard, Nicolas Bérenger’s Koné Assurances and Charles Caudrelier's Bostik. All 44 sailors rounded this mark in under 11 minutes!

From on board Scutum Gerald Veniard wrotes: “I did a bad start but was quick to climb up to 15th so am pleased. The weather is perfect, great seas, what more can you ask for! We will need to get into the rhythm. I am not sure when we will get some sleep, I rather move up past the English coast line before I start thinking about it. There is a little group of 4 or 5 boats together so we are moving along our own corridor. The seaweed is really a pain and I have had to dive to clear it.”

With a 590 mile first leg set from Cherbourg to the Shambles buoy, some two miles off Portland Bill and then on along the south coast of the UK to Wolf Rock, followed by a race south to finish in Santander, there is a long way to go...

The forecast given by METEO France has the fleet beating upwind as far as Wolf Rock followed by a downwind run across the English Channel to Cape Finistère and a smooth 300 mile dash, most of it under spinnaker to the Cantabrian city of Santander in northern Spain. 20 knots of northerly breeze is predicted to speed these Figaro Bénéteau Solos along to an estimated finish on 10 August.

The fleet is currently averaging 8 knots in roughly 10 knots of wind on a direct heading for the Shambles buoy.