Neck and neck

As Figaro sailors hang on to their hats running in 30-35 knots on final leg to Concarneau

After their first night sailing downwind in 30 to 35 knots of wind, the fleet of Figaros competing in the Solitaire Afflelou le Figaro have passed both the Fastnet Rock and Seven Stones lighthouse off the Scilly Isles. The competitors surfed their way down the big Atlantic swell coming in across the Celtic Sea, at bursts of up to 16-17 knots, for enroute from Dingle to Concarneau, France.

At the Seven Stones lighthouse Gerald Veniard on Scutum was leading the fleet, covers having covered the first 230 miles in under 24 hours - more than half the distance of the leg. For reaching the lighthouse in the lead, Veniard picks up the Grand Prix Suzuki.

“I went the right way, right twice and it has worked," said Veniard this afternoon. "It is not really about speed today, maybe it is one that is more about which tack and on the right it looked like it was going well. Last night we had gusts of 32, 33 knots with all the sail running high and I did not leave the helm at all. I am going to have a little siesta soon. I must have done two or three gybes yesterday, no more to avoid accidents. There is still a long way to go and it is a bit tiring, but ok for now…It is the last leg and we have to really go for it.”

As ever a majority of the Figaros are travelling in a tightly grouped pack, converging further at the Scillies when 26 boats rounded the Seven Stones light within 40 minutes, Scutum, Brit Air and Koné Ascenseurs less than 6 minutes apart.

At 14h30, Brit Air trailed Scutum by 0.2 miles and Nicolas Bérenger ( Koné Ascenseurs) 0.8. However by the 19: report former winner of this event Armel le Cleac'h on Brit Air had pulled ahead and was leading Veniard's Scutum by 0.4 miles.

“For now things are going okat, I fought it out with Gérald (Véniard) to try and get the Grand Prix Suzuki. We were never very far from each other, but he got there in the end…well done to him. We had a beautiful night of full on spinnaker sailing with gusts of up to 35 knots and surfs of 16 17. It’s fun! The weather forecasts for the end of the race will not be easy and we are going to have to get some rest as we can’t carry on the whole way without sleep.”

The Figaro’s are now heading south for Ushant; which they can expect to reach in the early hours of tomorrow morning as they are able to sail the most direct route. Since last night conditions have calmed considerably on the race course with 12 to 15 knots of wind but with average boat speed remaining high at 9.9 for the fastest.

However the forecast indicates that the wind may drop more as the boats come under the influence of a shallow trough developing in the Western Approaches. This will cause the wind to back round to the south and get lighter as the boats pass Ushant tomorrow morning.

Eric Peron ( Cigo) reported blowing his large spinnaker on the first gybe yesterday, which has forced him to use the smaller spinnaker, giving him lower average speeds and leaving him trailing at the back of the fleet. Christopher Pratt ( Espoir Crédit Agricole) has no autopilot and is forced to helm constantly and endure frightening near broaches when gybing.

The damage is limited considering the conditions since the start in Dingle Bay yesterday afternoon. “There has been nothing too serious, just some material damage,” reported Jean-Yves Chauve from the Medical Boat following the fleet.

“It is fun sailing” reported Samantha Davies on Roxy this morning, although tiring, while Jeanne Grégoire ( Banque Populaire) reported being “exhausted” after a night of truly testing conditions. Grégoire currently is 15th, Davies 25th.

With 227.6 miles remains, the latest ETA into Concarneau is late Sunday night for the first boats.

Positions at 1900GMT

Pos	Skipper	Boat	Lat	Long	Crs	Spd	DTF/L
1	LE CLEAC'H Armel	Brit Air	49 24' 42' N	5 56' 10' W	170 °	10.3	198.8 nm
2	VENIARD Gérald	Scutum	49 24' 96' N	5 56' 34' W	169 °	10.1	0.4 nm
3	BERENGER Nicolas	KONE Ascenseurs	49 25' 74' N	5 56' 82' W	171 °	10.2	1.2 nm
4	ELIES Yann	Groupe Generali assurances	49 26' 10' N	5 56' 94' W	170 °	10.3	1.5 nm
5	CAUDRELIER Charles	Bostik	49 26' 52' N	5 57' 18' W	170 °	9.9	2 nm
6	d'ALI Pietro	Nanni Diesel	49 26' 52' N	5 57' 06' W	170 °	9.9	2 nm
7	ISRAEL Erwan	Delta Dore	49 26' 46' N	5 57' 48' W	170 °	9.6	2 nm
8	DUTHIL Frédéric	Brossard	49 26' 58' N	5 58' 20' W	168 °	10	2.1 nm
9	KRAUSS Oliver	AXA Plaisance	49 26' 58' N	5 58' 44' W	172 °	10.1	2.1 nm
10	TROUSSEL Nicolas	Financo	49 31' 86' N	5 58' 50' W	173 °	10.4	2.2 nm
11	DOUGUET Corentin	E.Leclerc - Bouygues Télécom	49 27' 00' N	5 57' 36' W	171 °	10.1	2.5 nm
12	EMIG Marc	A.ST Groupe	49 32' 40' N	5 58' 68' W	172 °	10.5	2.6 nm
13	TABARLY Erwan	Iceberg Finance	49 27' 12' N	5 57' 42' W	171 °	10	2.6 nm
14	de PAVANT Kito	Groupe Bel	49 27' 54' N	5 58' 50' W	172 °	10.2	3.1 nm
15	GREGOIRE Jeanne	Banque Populaire	49 28' 02' N	5 57' 84' W	171 °	10.2	3.5 nm
16	MAHE Gildas	Le Comptoir Immobilier	49 28' 86' N	5 57' 72' W	170 °	9.9	4.3 nm
17	CHABAGNY Thierry	Littoral	49 29' 52' N	5 58' 50' W	170 °	9.7	5.1 nm
18	MOUREN Jean-Paul	M@rseillEntreprises	49 29' 76' N	5 58' 32' W	171 °	10.1	5.3 nm
19	NAGY Robert	Theolia	49 30' 30' N	5 57' 18' W	170 °	9.4	5.8 nm
20	LEBAS Christophe	Armor Lux	49 30' 42' N	5 59' 88' W	172 °	10.1	6 nm
21	TOULORGE Alexandre	Starkey	49 30' 42' N	5 59' 10' W	171 °	9.8	6 nm
22	MORVAN Gildas	Cercle Vert	49 30' 12' N	5 58' 80' W	171 °	9.6	6.2 nm
23	WARDLEY Liz	Sojasun	49 31' 08' N	5 58' 68' W	171 °	9.8	6.6 nm
24	PELLECUER Laurent	Cliptol Sport	49 31' 14' N	5 59' 40' W	170 °	10	6.7 nm
25	DAVIES Samantha	Roxy	49 31' 38' N	5 58' 56' W	171 °	10	6.9 nm
26	DROUGLAZET Eric	PIXmania.com	49 31' 68' N	5 59' 04' W	171 °	10	7.2 nm
27	SVILARICH Etienne	Sogeti	49 32' 82' N	5 57' 78' W	169 °	9	8.5 nm
28	ROUXEL Thomas	Défi Santé Nutrition	49 33' 30' N	5 59' 04' W	170 °	10.1	8.8 nm
29	TRIPON Armel	Gedimat	49 33' 66' N	6 00' 42' W	170 °	9.9	9.3 nm
30	TREUSSART Ronan	Groupe Céléos	49 34' 08' N	5 59' 34' W	170 °	9.9	9.7 nm
31	DICK Jean-Pierre	Virbac-Paprec	49 36' 84' N	6 01' 32' W	173 °	9.6	12.6 nm
32	PRATT Christopher	Espoir Crédit Agricole	49 37' 02' N	6 01' 98' W	172 °	9.2	12.8 nm
33	PELLET Jean-François	Lubexcel	49 41' 70' N	6 01' 56' W	172 °	8.5	13.2 nm
34	VACHETTE Vincent	SCO Saveur et Vie	49 39' 06' N	5 59' 10' W	166 °	9.4	14.6 nm
35	LE GAL Franck	Lenze	49 40' 26' N	6 01' 14' W	170 °	8.9	16 nm
36	PERON Eric	Cigo	49 44' 64' N	6 02' 04' W	169 °	9.1	20.4 nm
37	DEFERT Eric	Suzuki Autombiles	49 46' 50' N	5 58' 62' W	170 °	8.7	22 nm
38	SEGUIN Damien	AltéAd Region Pays de la Loire	49 48' 78' N	6 00' 18' W	167 °	7.9	24.4 nm
39	LOISON Alexis	Région Basse-Normandie	49 55' 62' N	6 04' 32' W	189 °	8.3	31.5 nm
40	GOUEZIGOUX Laurent	Côtes d'Armor	49 58' 32' N	6 03' 66' W	175 °	7.4	34.2 nm
41	LE MIERE Grégoire	Man Of All Seasons	50 03' 24' N	6 03' 90' W	138 °	5.8	39.2 nm
42	DA CRUZ Antonio Pedro	Baïko	50 03' 90' N	6 04' 56' W	134 °	7.1	39.8 nm
43	AUBERT Jérome	La Normandise	50 09' 00' N	6 24' 30' W	89 °	8.6	53.4 nm
44	LE BAUT Jimmy	Port-Olona	50 19' 20' N	6 07' 26' W	157 °	9.1	55.1 nm