Battle of the Bay of Dingle

47 boats finish within 41 miles after an impossibly fraught conclusion of the Solitaire du Figaro's third leg

Shortly before midnight last night Jérémie Beyou and his Bernard Paoli were the first to arrive home at the end of La Solitaire du Figaro's third leg into Dingle, southern Ireland.

After a nerve wracking conclusion to this leg, Sopra Groupe skipper Antoine Koch took over the lead as the fleet approached the Fastnet Rock yesterday morning. Come mid-afternoon yesterday as the fleet were rounding the southwest coast of Ireland the former ORMA 60 skipper had pulled out a 1.2 mile lead over Armel le Cleac'h on BritAir and Fred Duthil on BBox Bouygues Telecom.

However it was all change one into the Bay of Dingle as the leaders compressed with 11 boats having closed to within a mile of Koch come the 20:30 sched. At this point several boats, including Luisina of former Solitaire winner Eric Drouglazet, had broken west to see if they could round the leaders. Half an hour later Duthil had taken the lead as the race effectively restarted with just over seven miles to go to the finish line and 13 boats within a mile of the leader. Come 21:30 former Mini Transat winner Armel Tripon had taken the lead, with 15 boats within a mile of him and including Alexis Loison, who had taken the most extreme west route across the Bay.

Come 22:30 Fred Duthill was back in the lead now with 25 boats within a mile of him, with 4.5 miles left to the finish and the boats in the east coming good. Come 2300, Le Cleac'h had edged ahead again with Koch back up to second and the top 38 boats up to within a mile of the leader.

Finally an hour later it was Beyou who had nosed into the lead with, incredibly, 47 boats finishing with just 41 minutes... This is Beyou's second leg win in this Solitaire du Figaro. Overall this put Beyou into fourth place overall, 12.5 minutes behind race leader Nicolas Lunven on CGPI (who finished 33rd, 15 minutes behind Beyou on this leg!)

Results - leg 3

Pos	Skipper	Boat	Arrived
1	Beyou Jérémie	BERNARD PAOLI	arrived 13/08/09 at 23:45:27 in 82h45'27'
2	Chabagny Thierry	SUZUKI AUTOMOBILES	+01'19'
3	Péron Eric	SKIPPER MACIF	+02'23'
4	Le Cleac'h Armel	BRIT AIR	+02'33'
5	Elies Yann	GENERALI	+03'34'
6	Gabart François	ESPOIR REGION BRETAGNE	+05'05'
7	Berenger Nicolas	KONE ELEVATORS	+05'14'
8	Delahaye Fabien	PORT DE CAEN OUISTREHAM	+05'23'
9	Rouxel Thomas	DEFI MOUSQUETAIRES	+05'28'
10	Koch Antoine	SOPRA GROUP	+05'35'
11	Gouezigoux Laurent	TRIER C'EST PRESERVER	+05'47'
12	Morvan Gildas	CERCLE VERT	+06'17'
13	Tripon Armel	GEDIMAT	+06'45'
14	Mahé Gildas	BANQUE POPULAIRE	+07'07'
15	Duthil Fréderic	BBOX BOUYGUES TELECOM	+08'04'
16	Jossier Nicolas	ESPRIT VOILE 50	+08'23'
17	Desjoyeaux Michel	FONCIA	+08'33'
18	Veniard Gérald	MACIF	+08'59'
19	Hardy Adrien	AGIR RECOUVREMENT	+09'13'
20	Troussel Nicolas	CREDIT MUTUEL DE BRETAGNE	+09'38'
21	Meilhat Paul	DOMINO'S PIZZA	+09'51'
22	King Nigel	NIGEL KING YACHTING	+10'08'
23	Toulorge Alexandre	AUDITION SANTE	+10'22'
24	Treussart Ronan	BLACK HAWK	+10'38'
25	Le Gal Franck	LENZE	+11'05'
26	Mouren Jean-Paul	M@RSEILLENTREPRISES	+11'23'
27	Tabarly Erwan	ATHEMA	+11'31'
28	Livory Yannig	CINT 56	+11'36'
29	Espagnon Christophe	GROUPE LEGRIS INDUSTRIES	+12'59'
30	Belloir Aymeric	CAP56	+13'30'
31	Brault Joseph	SAMSUNG MOBILE	+14'16'
32	Douguet Corentin	E.LECLERC MOBILE	+14'22'
33	Lunven Nicolas	CGPI	+15'35'
34	Samuel Jérome	OPERA EN PLEIN AIR	+15'36'
35	Girolet Matthieu	ENTREPRENDRE (LAFONT PRESSE)	+17'03'
36	Drouglazet Eric	LUISINA	+17'20'
37	Loison Alexis	ALL MER INEO GDF SUEZ	+18'13'
38	Jacquier Vianney	ALHYANGE ACOUSTIQUE	+21'48'
39	Malbon Jonny	ARTEMIS	+25'35'
40	Caudrelier Benac Charles	BOSTIK	+25'50'
41	Bouillard Didier	MEDEVENT	+25'53'
42	Duc Louis	CAEN NORMANDIE	+26'28'
43	Joschke Isabelle	SYNERGIE	+29'58'
44	Nicol Jean-Pierre	GAVOTTES	+34'08'
45	Pellecuer Laurent	ARNOLFINI.FR	+34'19'
46	Bougard Patrice	KOGANE	+41'18'
47	Le Foll Oswenn	COTES D'ARMOR	+41'47'