Leg one goes to an amateur

Fred Duthil takes leg one of La Solitaire du Figaro in highly volatile conditions

Fréderic Duthil sailing on Distinxion crossed the finish line in the Bay of Cork at 10h09m55s local time today to win the first leg of La Solitaire Afflelou Le Figaro. Duthil took 2 days, 19 hours and 49 minutes to complete the 415-mile course from Caen to Crosshaven sailing, at an average 6.12 knots. Last year’s overall winner, Nicolas Troussel on Financotook second place with the Michel Desjoyeaux on Foncia completing the third sport on the podium.

Duthil is one of the few skippers, sailing in this annual highly competitive race that is not a full time professional sailor. An insurance specialist and former world champion windsurfer, Duthil from Larmor Plage has a background in the Mini class and and in recent years, the Figaro. This is the fourth time Duthil has competed in La Solitaire and today was the first time he has won a leg.

“I do not feel any particular pressure to win, but just really enjoyed it and am going to take one leg at a time," Duthil commented on his arrival. "After winning the Prologue Race I said to myself that I do not have anything else to do, so I might as well just keep trying to win. I have not got plans to go and do other sailing as it is I love my job and they have been particularly good to me giving me time to race and particularly to train in Port La Foret, which has helped me do end. My budget is small at 40,000 euros, but I can compete.”

25 competitors finished within just one hour of the winner, leaving the game open for the remaining part of the race as La Solitaire is scored on combined elapsed time. The lead swapped repeatedly throughout this first leg, which shows how tight the competition is. “It really was an incredible leg with constant lead changes,” described an exhausted Duthil. “But when you see what happened to Gérald Véniard (who finished 44 minutes and 36 seconds behind) who was with me at the Fairways buoy (off the Isle of Wight) it is scary."

“I am really happy as I was always in there with a chance and managed to climb back up whenever I lost places," commented Nicolas Troussel. "There was a little group of us at the end, which Thierry (Chabagny) joined, that kept leading and then the overall advantage reduced towards the end. This puts all of us in a good position to go into the next leg. Duthil did sail very well; he is really very good. The race was decided at Lands End and it was hard at times to stay with the leaders, you want to take a risk and try something, but you have to weigh up the risk. You can see some who did take that risk when ahead loose not only spaces, but time, so it is a tough call.”

Third place two time race winner and solo sailing legend Michel Desjoyeaux, racing Foncia, also the sponsor of his new Open 60 said: "Things just kept changing and I managed to save my neck quite a few times making the most of any opportunity that came my way. Right up to the finish things kept changing. It just shows when you see we all finish so closely. There was a good opportunity at Eddystone to move out to the left on a shift, which paid off well.”

Gildas Morvan and his Cercle Vert which led along the south coast of England has probably suffered the most trailing by nearly an hour at the finish, but both he and Veniard on Scutum admit to making some mistakes, which they have paid for on time.

Jeanne Grégoire and her Banque Populaire finished 9th having made a great come back, after a poor start in Caen. “I thought I would have used up all my luck at the end of the Trophée BPE race! Anything could have happened on this race. I had a bad start and got a recall on the start line, then I did not do a good Channel crossing, along the south coast of England I kept going and finally woke up to find at one point ahead of some who had been quite a long way in front. The leaders really deserved the top places; they sailed really well. And I must say that I am pleased to find myself in 5th position and not sure if I really earned it, but I will have to have some rest first before I think about it.”

Liz Wardley was 11th, within seven minutes of Grégoire, despite repeated dives to clear a net stuck round her boat's propellor prior to the start of the race “which slowed me right down for the first day and a half,” she explained. “I did go in the water twice to try and get it off, but the current was too strong and I could not keep up with the boat. Finally when conditions where lighter at Start Point, I managed to get it off on my third dive. Then I was back and fighting."

Among the fleet of newcomers to the race, known as rookies/bizuths, there are three with a good pedigree in crewed sailing who have performed remarkably: Nicolas Lunven ( Bostik - 11th), Frédéric Rivet ( Novotel Caen - 17th) and Vincent Biarnes ( Côtes d’Armor - 24th).

“I had a bad start and got over the line ahead of the gun and then to make matters worse, waited a bit before going back until they actually called the boat number of the VHF," described Lunven. "Being behind after all did not work out all that bad because it allowed me to play and choose which way to go. By Barfleur (last mark along the French Coast) I had climbed 25 spots before the Channel crossing. Then when I crossed I kept east with Troussel so came out quite well. I could have finished a few places ahead overall at the finish, but I am really pleased and have learnt a lot from my first Figaro race.”

British skipper Nigel King on Nigel King Yachting finished 36th. "I have learnt a lot from my first race," he said. "I struggled for speed and made some very bad tactical decisions, which lost me spaces. I think I was a bit naïve in certain places especially along the south coast of England, which I know well. The first part went well and crossed the Channel on a shy spinnaker reach but then lots a lot at Start Point, which I never really recovered from. At one point I hit something so scrambled out and slipped, so nursing an ankle three times it’s normal size and a nipped little finger!

"I was not going to let the position reports get to me so I figured I would stay calm and get some rest, maybe I got too much! I enjoyed it and have learnt a lot so pleased overall. This is the longest single handed race I have ever done and only the third one, so I am not going to beat myself up just yet!”

James Bird on GFI Group is expected to rejoin the fleet in Crosshaven in time for the 2nd leg start on Monday from Crosshaven to Brest in France.

Sole Irish competitor in the race is Paul Ó Riain racing City Jet, who finished 41st. “This is great, it is my 4th solo race and I am loving it. I just loved being out there, you could not ask for better conditions; sailing passed three countries in just one race. I just want to get back out there! I am a little disappointed with my position on this race as I was up there in 25th and would have liked to have done better; I made the mistake of waiting at the Scilly isles for the shift to come in which never really come in as a big southerly.”

Just Jimmy Le Baut on Port Olona - Arrimer remains at sea this afternoon with an ETA tomorrow morning.

Results:

Pos	Biz	Skipper	Boat	Time
1		Duthil Frédéric	Distinxion	arrived on 03/08/07 at 11:09:55 in 67h49m55s
2		Troussel Nicolas	Financo	+13'05'
3		Desjoyeaux Michel	Foncia	+14'17'
4		Chabagny Thierry	Brossard	+17'22'
5		Berenger Nicolas	Koné Ascenseurs	+19'05'
6		Mahé Gildas	Le Comptoir Immobilier	+30'00'
7		Svilarich Etienne	Grain de Soleil	+34'40'
8		Treussart Ronan	Groupe Celeos	+35'45'
9		Grégoire Jeanne	Banque Populaire	+36'01'
10		Douguet Corentin	E.Leclerc / Bouygues Telecom	+36'37'
11	*	Lunven Nicolas	Bostik	+36'45'
12		Lepesqueux Marc	Rapid'Flore Caen-La-Mer	+37'33'
13		Le Gal Franck	Lenze	+39'26'
14		Mouren Jean-Paul	M@rseillEntreprises	+39'30'
15		Wardley Liz	Sojasun	+43'05'
16		Veniard Gérald	Scutum	+44'36'
17	*	Rivet Frédéric	Novotel Caen	+48'55'
18		Rouxel Thomas	Défi Mousquetaires	+49'04'
19		Pratt Christopher	Espoir Crédit Agricole	+50'52'
20		Defert Eric	Suzuki Automobiles	+51'10'
21	*	Biarnes Vincent	Côtes d'Armor	+53'36'
22		Morvan Gildas	Cercle Vert	+58'05'
23		Tripon Armel	Gedimat	+58'20'
24	*	Duprey du Vorsent Thierry	Domaine du Mont d'Arbois	+58'27'
25		de Broc Bertrand	Les Mousquetaires	+01h00'06'
26		Emig Marc	A.ST Groupe	+01h04'45'
27		Pellecuer Laurent	Cliptol Sport	+01h05'47'
28		Loison Alexis	All Mer Inéo Suez	+01h09'07'
29		D'Ali Pietro	Kappa	+01h10'20'
30		Drouglazet Eric	Luisina	+01h12'17'
31	*	Belloir Aymeric	Cap 56	+01h17'45'
32	*	Nicol Jean-Pierre	Gavottes	+01h18'03'
33	*	Monnet Jean-Charles	Degrémont Suez Source de talents	+01h23'46'
34		Le Miere Grégoire	Basse-Normandie / OTCex Group	+01h24'40'
35	*	Nigon Erik	AXA Atout Coeur Pour Aides	+01h24'41'
36	*	King Nigel	Nigel King Yachting	+01h32'50'
37		Nagy Robert	Théolia	+01h33'53'
38		Bougard Patrice	Kogane	+01h35'22'
39		Bos Christian	Belle Ile en Mer	+01h40'35'
40		Bulot Jean-François	Crédit Mutuel de Normandie - Ville de Caen	+02h04'57'
41	*	O'Rian Paul	City Jet	+02h07'53'
42		Thiercelin Marc	Siemens	+02h09'17'
43		Da Cruz Antonio-Pedro	Baïko	+02h16'35'
44		Lebas Christophe	Lola La piscine assemblée	+02h24'07'
45	*	Bouillard Didier	MEDevent	+02h24'55'
46		Nabart Laurent	Corsica	+02h35'30'
47	*	Le Nabour Quentin	Votre Nom pour Le Figaro	+02h50'50'
48	*	Le Meitour Jean-Philippe	Construction Dorso	+04h50'35'