The world's hardest solo race

Competitors describe this year's Solitaire Afflelou le Figaro

Despite the autumnal cold and rain, the crowds gathered in Les Sables d’Olonne today to celebrate not only Frédéric Duthil's winning the fourth and conclusive leg of the 2007 La Solitaire Afflelou Le Figaro, coming second overall, but also that of Michel Desjoyeaux, crowned “Solo King” and overall winner of the 38th edition of the race. Gérald Veniard ( Scutum) finished third on the final leg and was seventh overall, but the third spot on the overall podium went to the winner of the third leg, Corentin Douguet ( E. Leclerc/Bouygues Telecom).

The 2007 edition of the race will be remembered for the extremely demanding conditions encountered over the course the whole race and in particular very strong winds (on occasions over 40 knots) and rough seas competitors experienced during the last two legs. The level of the competition is so high in the Figaro class that even in these gruelling conditions, most of the boats continued in race mode, with as much sail area up as they dared. This was a baptism of fire for many of the race's newcomers who had never sailed in conditions like these.

Experience counts and looking at the podium Michel Desjoyeaux was sailing his tenth Solitaire this year, Fred Duthil his fourth and Corentin Douguet his second, although he has much experience in the Mini class. Each year these solo sailors return and each year new ones are enticed to join a race which has frequently been dubbed the World Championship of solo offshore racing. After victory in the Prologue, Duthil won the first leg, came second on the third leg, eighth on the fourth and goes on to win the last. But even this was not enough to win - Desjoyeaux sailed an even more consistent race scoring three third places and one first overall, although, questionably, the race is scored on cumulative elapsed time rather than points.

For the 14 Solitaire newbies in the rookie fleet, they may have been new to the Figaro circuit, but they are certainly not inexperienced sailors. The young and talented Nicolas Lunven ( Bostik) held his own to take the overall win among the newcomers, finishing 18th overall followed 33 minutes and 5 seconds later by Vincent Biarnes ( Côtes d’Armor) and Frédéric Rivet ( Novotel Caen), 42 minutes behind.

The growing fleet of international entries in La Solitaire this year proves how popularity is slowly growing abroad. Liz Wardley ( Sojasun) from Papua New Guinea has competed for the fourth consecutive time this year. Former America's Cup sailor Pietro D’Ali ( Kappa) stormed the circuit in 2005 when on his first attempt he won a leg, a first for an Italian sailor. Pedro Da Cruz ( Baiko) moved to France years ago and has spent the much of his life sailing boats, but returned this year for the second time to compete in what is considered to be one of France’s toughest solo sailing events. Two British sailors, Nigel King ( Nigel King Yachting) and James Bird ( GFI Group) together with Ireland's Paul Ó Riain ( City Jet) have also tried their luck this year, spending time this winter in France preparing for this year’s first participation. In order to prepare for a Figaro campaign, the obvious choice is to either move to France or travel frequently there to train. Once the language barrier is crossed, the cultural can be tackled.

Liz Wardley remembers her first year as being tough,but the effort paid off. “I definitely could not have done it without coming to France and learning the language. I think it is really important to train in France, because looking in from the outside I think that it is actually really easy to underestimate just how hard these guys push on the water. Like on the last leg, it would be quite easy to think that everyone would have their storm jib up and be sitting it out below deck, but in fact everyone is up there with the mainsail right up to the top of the mast just sending it off! From an outsider looking in, you would not expect that and I think it is important to come and spend some time in France and do a full complete season to realise where you lie.”

Both Nigel King and James Bird suffered set backs, but continue and plan to return while Paul Ó Riain completed all four stages of the race on what has been a particularly tough Solitaire.

But the glory, once again, rests on the amazing Michel Desjoyeaux, skipper of Foncia, who joined Philippe Poupon and Jean le Cam in the class' history books as the only people to have won the event three times. No one has won it four times.

Michel Desjoyeaux gave his first impressions after winning La Solitiare Afflelou Le Figaro:

What does it feel to have won the La Solitaire for the third time? “What has made winning this race different and interesting on each leg is the particularly high level of the competition. There were previous editions when you had the impression that nothing was happening; on this one things were happening all the time... You had to think things through at all time to try and do better. There was never a moment of boredom. There is nothing worse, as Jean-Paul Mouren said, than a one leg reach at a furious pace driving the boat. We did not have any of that this year. This comes from the conditions but also from the high standard and even level of the competition. All the boats performed well and all the competitors were able to make their own strategy, not just follow. That is what I came looking for: the fight, the confrontation.

"With our big boats (Open 60s) you do not sail with this level of competiton. Here you have 50 sailors of which 20 have the ability to win…You just have to look at the way they all left the bay in La Coruña the day before yesterday - there were boats all over the place. You can only find this on La Solitaire. This fourth leg…

"The fact I started badly in the middle of the fleet and then made some stupid manoeuvres (one of the spinnaker sheets got caught in the rudder), gave me extra incentie. I did not give up until I had caught up with the leaders, which did not take long. I fought it out with Nico (Bérenger) and lost a spinnaker. I started a 10 to 12 hour session driving the boat soaked to the bone…my hands are still frozen and they hurt from having driven the boat at those high speeds, it was quite a physical race.

"Hiding my happiness…that is how it is, I am like that. I had to fight it out so hard to get back into the game that all my nerves are still tingling. All the 'cunninghams' are still stretched! Then yesterday afternoon we did get a good pasting and a soaking…for me who does not like the water, it was not too pleasant. Anyway, what disappoints me the most is that I had still hoped to win this le. Looking at the position I was in and that I could not see any of my competitors, bar Koné Ascenseurs behind me, I thought I could win!”

Corentin Douguet (E.Leclerc-Bouygues Telecom) who finished third overall spoke about his race: “We have had our work cut out for us on this one but it is great to be met by my wife, baby family and friends. There are always lots of people to welcome sailors here, even in the middle of the night. I just think that there are too many of my fellow competitors here to greet me too! (laughs) I am only joking - it is great! If I had been told a month ago that I would win my first leg and also be on the podium at the finish of La Solitaire, I think I would have laughed. There are people that spend their whole race careers hoping for this. My objective had been to be in the top ten, so… I am really happy! You have to realise that I finished behind Fred Duthil who has had an amazing Solitaire winning two legs and then Michel Desjoyeaux who we do not even have to introduce, he is strong in all areas of the game and not once has missed out on a podium place, so I can’t complain. Las year I came 28th and now 3rd, I must get the prize for the best progress made from one year to the next.

"I am not excluding coming back next year, even though I am not a big fan of races in 40 knots with rough seas. The anemometer read up to 50 knots and the boat got a bit of a beating. The pushpit, pultpit and stanchions are bent. By the end of it my pilots was not working and I ended up spending the last five hours of the race stuck at the tiller with the sweeping sheets of water sweeping over the deck… Apart from that really got quite scared: surfing down a wave at 15 knots I hit a submerged object. We are going to take the boat out of the water to see what damage has been done.”

Gérald Veniard ( Scutum), finishes second on the last leg and 7th overall gave his views: “I am happy, I really fought for this one. I did not win it, but was right in there for at least 24 hours. What an incredible 24 hours! I was a little isolated so just went along in my own little corner. I blew my big spinnaker this morning in a small gust of 38 knots. Then I hoisted the smaller one for two or three hours this afternoon (Monday), but the wind backed and I packed it away so then it was reaching with one reef in the main and the solent sail up. I clocked up 45 knots a few times, it was really strong. As opposed to going to La Coruña, it was more like having the fire hose in sprayed in your face at all times.”

27 year Liz Wardley shared how she had got on in her fourth season in the fleet:

Will you do it again? “At the beginning of the Figaro I said this is my last one and now I am probably coming back next year! Every leg is different, it is a huge challenge and the moment you progress you want to come back and do better. For someone like Mich who has already won it and then two years ago he came third so had a reason to come back and do better! For Quentin le Nabour who is only 18, well he has done it and will probably want to come back and do better next year now that he knows what he has to do to do better. It is a personal achievement that you want do better.

"After a Figaro I would really want to do an Open 60 or 50, but I need to find the funding and there is no reason why I can’t do that while racing on the Figaro.

"Conditions-wise this year - it has been tough, it has been really physically demanding. On the first leg we had heaps of manoeuvres and it was very hard mentally and on the second leg it was really tiring because we could not sleep then on the third leg we had huge waves and wind upwind and then on this last one we had it downwind so we were just sending it! It is quite stressful in conditions like those last night. It has definitely been quite taxing on the old body!

"Next I am going to do the Route du Ponant to finish the Championat de France to see if I can get up into the top 10.”

Sadly the last leg did not go so well. Leading female skipper in the class, Jeanne Grégoire on Banque Populaire, suffered a dismasted. Early this morning, just before sunrise, Jacques Caraes, the Race Director, began to worry about Banque Populaire’s unusual southerly course at just 2 knots. It was impossible to get hold of Jeanne Grégoire over the VHF, but the worry went when the boat once again resumed the course. It was only on the approach to the finish line that the dismasting became evident. “I do not knot what happened exactly," said Grégoire on her arrival. "I was inside and I just went flying.” As a result of the huge knock, Jeanne has a large bruise on her forehead and a painful shoulder from the knock, caused in no doubt by a breaking wave. “When I went out I was not surprised to see my mast in the water.” More shocked than hurt, she was truly disappointing as she was lining up to finish among the top ten on this particularly tough leg.

As the finish line for La Solitaire closes three competitors were outside of the time limit
At 12h56, the Race Committee announced that closure of the finish line off Les Sables d’Olonne. The competitors have time limit in which they must cross the finish line within, basically the time of the first to finish plus 30%. The last Figaro competitor to cross the finish line was Didier Bouillard (MEDevent), ranked 45th. Behind, Paul Ó Riain ( City Jet), Jean-François le Meitour ( Construction Dorso) and Jimmy Le Baut ( Port Olonna – Arrimer) will all be ranked out of time, DNF.

Overall results

Pos	Skipper	Boat	Total elapsed time
1	Desjoyeaux Michel	Foncia	in 247h 20min 47s
2	Duthil Frédéric	Distinxion	+26'38'
3	Douguet Corentin	E.Leclerc / Bouygues Telecom	+01h03'50'
4	Troussel Nicolas	Financo	+01h41'26'
5	Mahé Gildas	Le Comptoir Immobilier	+02h14'23'
6	Drouglazet Eric	Luisina	+02h39'05'
7	Veniard Gérald	Scutum	+03h16'53'
8	Morvan Gildas	Cercle Vert	+03h19'48'
9	Rouxel Thomas	Défi Mousquetaires	+03h29'34'
10	Lepesqueux Marc	Rapid'Flore Caen-La-Mer	+04h01'11'
11	Berenger Nicolas	Koné Ascenseurs	+04h05'21'
12	Le Gal Franck	Lenze	+04h46'01'
13	Chabagny Thierry	Brossard	+04h48'47'
14	Lunven Nicolas	Bostik	+05h11'04'
15	Treussart Ronan	Groupe Celeos	+05h26'33'
16	Biarnes Vincent	Côtes d'Armor	+05h42'49'
17	Wardley Liz	Sojasun	+06h26'28'
18	Pellecuer Laurent	Cliptol Sport	+06h28'06'
19	Pratt Christopher	Espoir Crédit Agricole	+06h40'00'
20	Mouren Jean-Paul	M@rseillEntreprises	+06h45'08'
21	de Broc Bertrand	Les Mousquetaires	+07h02'24'
22	Tripon Armel	Gedimat	+07h28'45'
23	Lebas Christophe	Lola La piscine assemblée	+07h33'54'
24	D'Ali Pietro	Kappa	+07h50'42'
25	Defert Eric	Suzuki Automobiles	+08h22'32'
26	Belloir Aymeric	Cap 56	+09h27'53'
27	Rivet Frédéric	Novotel Caen	+10h28'46'
28	Duprey du Vorsent Thierry	Domaine du Mont d'Arbois	+10h32'43'
29	Nagy Robert	Théolia	+10h48'25'
30	Loison Alexis	All Mer Inéo Suez	+10h53'14'
31	Emig Marc	A.ST Groupe	+11h54'03'
32	Nicol Jean-Pierre	Gavottes	+13h25'37'
33	Bos Christian	Belle Ile en Mer	+13h54'26'
34	Grégoire Jeanne	Banque Populaire	+14h07'19'
35	Monnet Jean-Charles	Degrémont Suez Source de talents	+17h23'55'
36	Le Miere Grégoire	Basse-Normandie / OTCex Group	+17h35'23'
37	Nigon Erik	AXA Atout Coeur Pour Aides	+18h32'07'
38	Le Nabour Quentin	Votre Nom pour Le Figaro	+21h07'48'
39	Thiercelin Marc	Siemens	+23h02'03'
40	Da Cruz Antonio-Pedro	Baïko	+23h13'53'
41	Bougard Patrice	Kogane	+23h56'40'
42	Nabart Laurent	Corsica	+27h07'43'
43	O'Rian Paul	City Jet	+27h30'38'
44	Bouillard Didier	MEDevent	+30h39'30'
45	Bulot Jean-François	Crédit Mutuel de Normandie - Ville de Caen	+32h44'04'
46	Svilarich Etienne	Grain de Soleil	+33h31'21'
47	Le Meitour Jean-Philippe	Construction Dorso	+34h18'26'
48	King Nigel	Nigel King Yachting	+35h27'13'
49	Bird James	Gfi Group	+39h46'58'
50	Le Baut Jimmy	Port Olona - Arrimer	+42h00'31'