La Solitaire - an overview

This year's La Solitaire Afflelou le Figaro race was one of the breeziest, toughest singlehanded offshore races ever

The upshot of the 2007 La Solitaire Afflelou Le Figaro was that it was one of the hardest on record, with 50 boats, and in truly demanding conditions: Lots of wind, cold, rain and big seas… Leg one from Caen across the Channel and then the Irish to Crosshaven was incredibly varied and tactical, full of opportunities to stage comebacks. This was followed by a second very fast sprint south to Brest for the second leg. The main feature of the final two legs were two huge and memorable gales in the Bay of Biscay: one upwind on leg three, the other on the final leg, downwind but with gusts exceeded 50 knots. Michel Desjoyeaux and his yacht Foncia proved once again to the world that he not only 'le Professeur' but also 'le Master' when he finished on podium on all four legs, winning one and race outright - an incredible achievement.

Just behind Desjoyeaux half a dozen new sailors also took some of the glory. Fred Duthil on Distinxion, was impressively consistent winning two legs, the first into Ireland and the final one to Les Sables d’Olonne, while Corentin Douguet on E.Leclerc/Bouygues Telecom made good gains when he won the leg to La Coruña that he was able to take the third overall on only his second participation in the event for the former Mini Transat winner. Nicolas Lunven on Bostik won the Bénéteau Rookie Rankings., for first time participants

Here we take a look at the 38th edition of La Solitaire Afflelou Le Figaro race leg by leg:

Leg 1: Caen to Crosshaven (415 miles)

“I can’t ever remember as a young Figaro sailor having seen so many changes of leader - it was like musical chairs. Well, that is what the first leg of the 2007 edition of La Solitaire was like”. The 'young' Figaro sailor, talking that morning of 3 August, was none other than Michel Desjoyeaux who finished third into Ireland, behind Nicolas Troussel ( Financo) and the victor, Frédéric Duthil on Distinxion. The leg was full of changes, each part of the race course requiring careful strategy: passing the Barfleur mark, the English Channel crossing, navigating along the south coast of England with the currents and calm areas…right up to the 're-start' between Lands End and the Scilly Isles, where the fleet re-grouped to cover the last 140 miles of the leg en masse.

Just one Figaro sailor did not get to the start line: James Bird ( GFI Group) who hit something upon leaving the canal leading down from Caen. The other 49 skippers did not have a moment’s rest on the 415 mile leg. It was a continuous tactical game with currents and wind shifts to deal with leading to seven lead changes: Duthil at the Radio France mark, Gérald Veniard ( Scutum) at the Fairways buoy, Michel Desjoyeaux ( Foncia) along the south coat of England, Gildas Morvan ( Cercle Vert) and then Nicolas Bérenger ( Koné Ascenseurs) at the mark at Hand Deeps, Thierry Chabagny ( Brossard) at Cape Lizard and finally Fred Duthil, who at 33 years of age won his first leg on his fourth participation in the race. He covered the leg in 2 days, 19 hours, 49 minutes and 55 seconds at an average speed of 6.12 knots.

Leg 2: Crosshaven / Brest (344 miles)

The second leg to Brest via the Fastnet, at 344 miles long, proved to be exhausting. For 41 hours the sailors went without sleep, stuck to the helm as they reached their way along the south coast of Ireland before rounding the Fastnet Rock and tackling the 200 mile downhill run southeast to Ushant. Shattered and full of stories of hallucinations, the sailors all tried their best to shine by the time they reached the narrow mouth of the Rade de Brest. In the end it was Michel Desjoyeaux who won the leg, the sixth Solitaire leg win of his career, ahead of Frédéric Duthil and the local Brestois sailor, Gildas Mahé on Le Comptoir Immobilier.

The 50 solo sailors set off from the Bay of Cork in the rain, with Foncia leading the fleet round the Radio France mark. There was then a 10 hour sail along the stunning Irish coast with Gildas Morvan ( Cercle Vert) leading the fleet followed by Frédéric Duthil, who had taken the lead by the time the boats rounded the Fastnet Rock. Then conditions got tougher with 20 knots of wind and a rough sea…the downhill run proved to be exhilarating, but also exhausting for the 50 skippers (James Bird having rejoined in Crosshaven). On 7 August Michel Desjoyeaux moved into the lead and never lost it. After a final game of cat and mouse at the bottleneck and then into the large nature harbour at Brest, alongside Duthil, Mahé, Lebas, Bérenger, Morvan and Chabagny, Desjoyeaux and his Foncia crossed the finish line at 05h20 the next day to win the leg.

Leg 3: Brest / La Corogne via BXA (562 miles)

On Saturday 11 August the weather forecasts at the Fastnet Rock were predicting 55 knots of wind and huge seas. Because of this, the Race Committee decided to avoid sending the 50 solo sailors in that direction. And so the longest leg of the race was reduced from 762 miles to 562. The new course instead took the fleet south down to the Gironde Estuary and the BXA mark before heading west for La Coruña on the Galician coast of northwest Spain.

After a third start in light winds; some skippers were forced to anchor over the evening to kedge against the turning tide at the Raz de Sein. Shooting stars overhead and wonderful spinnaker sailing conditions followed for the first night at sea. Michel Desjoyeaux ( Foncia), Gildas Mahé ( Le Comptoir Immobilier) and Thierry Chabagny ( Brossard) took the lead initially, but it was Jean-Pierre Nicol ( Gavottes) and then Christian Bos ( Belle Ile en Mer) who managed to get out of the calm area after the BXA turning mark first. But it was the calm before the storm - soon after the fleet had to endure 300 miles sailing upwind in winds gusting to 45 knots and with five metre waves in order to get to the finish in La Coruña. Corentin Douguet ( E.Leclerc/Bouygues Telecom) proved strongest in these tough conditions. He was last to tack south for the finish and as a result won his first Solitaire leg with a healthy margin over the rest of the fleet. Only Nicolas Troussel ( Financo) and Michel Desjoyeaux ( Foncia) were able to limit the damage finishing in second and third place, 24 and 47 minutes behind him respectively. Huge gaps built after that and the cumulative elapsed times, on which the Solitaire is scored, were completely changed: Michel Desjoyeaux moved into first place with a 9 minute lead over Corentin Douguet, 14 minutes ahead of Nicolas Troussel.

Leg 4 : La Coruna / Les Sables d’Olonne (340 miles)

From an upwind thrashing to a downwind one! After a start in sunny conditions in a big swell, the wind increased and continued to increase throughout the race. For the first part of the leg, the idea was to work out where to position oneself on the race course - either north or south - for the crossing of the Bay of Biscay to reach the Les Sables d’Olonne finish line. But in the end it came down to the gruelling weather conditions - 40 knots of wind, gusting to 50 with 5m high waves in the pitch-black night. For some it was a matter of survival, for others it remained a full-on battle to the finish with the maximum amount of sail up. Fred Duthil, a former windsurf champion and Gérald Veniard ( Scutum) sailed furthest south and on the most direct route to the finish. Duthil refused to even put a reef in and overtook Veniard who close to the finish blew out his spinnaker.

With waves thundering over the boats, Jeanne Grégoire (Banque Populaire) dismasted just 25 miles from the finish. Douguet, Mahé, Troussel and Desjoyeaux took the most northern course in search of the best angle for the final approach based on the wind shift forecast to come in, but when it did it was not for long enough. Fred Duthil took a second amazing leg win followed by Gérald Veniard and who other than… Michel Desjoyeaux.

In the process Desjoyeaux was able to defend his lead to win this year's Solitaire Afflelou le Figaro and joining the legends of the event, Jean Le Cam and Philippe Poupon as the only ever triple winners.

Fred Duthil moved back onto the podium to take second place 26 minutes behind Michel Desjoyeaux with Corentin Douguet taking third. Nicolas Lunven ( Bostik) took the Bénéteau Rookie class lead off Vincent Biarnes (Côtes d’Armor) and Aymeric Belloir ( Cap 56).

And so Michel Desjoyeaux remains the undisputed King of Solo!

More photos on the following pages...