Beyou clinches leg two

First 35 boats arrive within an hour at the conclusion of the Solitaire du Figaro's second leg

Jérémie Beyou guided his Figaro Beneteau 2 across the finish line in St. Gilles Croix-de-Vie at 20:20:37 seconds yesterday evening, to win the second leg of the event in an elapsed time of 52 hours 21 minutes 37 seconds - equivalent to an average speed across the 365 mile passage of 6.97 knots.

The leg win saw a remarkable come-back for the Breton skipper Bernard Paoli, who climbed from the back of the fleet at the start in Coruna to the very front, and dominated the second half of the race across the Bay of Biscay. Second-placed Nicolas Lunven, reprising his strong performance on the first leg, has now taken the overall lead on combined elapsed time, while third placed skipper Thierry Chabagny ( Suzuki Automobiles) made a similarly impressive progression up the fleet to take third.

Beyou owes his success on this leg to his choice of a more northwesterly route than most of his competitors, ensuring that he was the first to benefit from any strengthening of the predominantly northerly breeze: “It was a case of winning a favourable position in the early stages, and then watching every little detail, not letting any opportunity go by. I was above the rest of the fleet throughout, and needed to be because the wind was very shifty, like during the final afternoon when it was really at its worst. You just had to be steering and trimming the whole time. It was a definite decision to go north to find the breeze. That position above the fleet was a good one to be in, because I could bear down on them at any time. I was a bit early in making my move perhaps, I could have waited a bit longer, but there you go, it paid off anyway: I’m back in the overall rankings, back in the game, I’m no longer 46 minutes behind the leader”. Beyou now stands 5th overall, with a more manageable time deficit of just 27 minutes.

26-year old Nicolas Lunven (CGPI) has every reason to be pleased with his second place: two consistently good performances now propelling him to the top of the overall leaderboard, ahead of first leg winner Yann Elies, himself slowed down by illness on this leg. On only his third participation in La Solitaire, Lunven is rapidly forging a reputation as a rising star, having first come to notice in 2007 when he secured the ‘best rookie’ title. For now however he has resolved to keep a cool head: “Pressure? No, I don’t feel any particular pressure. I’m going to try to stay focussed, the others can have the pressure, to have some youngster shaking up the hierarchy a bit !”

For Thierry Chabagny, who at the half way point of the leg was lying in 24th place, the key was never to give up, and to forver try new tactics: “In trying to creep up to the north a little, I realised that you could go up without losing too much ground in the rankings. So I kept creeping up, and didn’t lose anything, and even gained a bit. So I said to myself, we’re on an escalator here, onto a good thing, I’ll stick with it as far as it goes. So that’s how I pulled it off. I found myself with a lot of lateral separation but without having lost anything. Afterwards, when the wind came back a bit stronger, all I had to do was just come down to lay the mark at St. Nazaire and win some places.”

Perhaps the most remarkable feature of this testing leg was the close grouping of the fleet right to the very end: no less than 40 of the 52 boat fleet finishing within 1 hour and 5 minutes, after more than two days of intense concentration and attention to detail, exceptional even by the standards of this race. For the two British skippers, Nigel King ( Nigel King Racing) and Jonny Malbon ( Artemis) there will be much encouragement to be gained from their ability to stay in contact with the fleet and find comparable boat speed when necessary. King finished in 39th, an hour and five minutes behind Beyou, with Malbon keeping his deficit to 1 hour 42 minutes to take 43rd place.

Leg 2 finish times:

Pos	Skipper	Boat	Time/TTL
1	Beyou Jérémie	BERNARD PAOLI	Finished 20:20:37 on 06/08/09  in 52h21m37s
2	Lunven Nicolas	CGPI	+12'24'
3	Chabagny Thierry	SUZUKI AUTOMOBILES	+13'07'
4	Troussel Nicolas	CREDIT MUTUEL DE BRETAGNE	+15'31'
5	Duthil Fréderic	BBOX BOUYGUES TELECOM	+17'41'
6	Caudrelier Benac Charles	BOSTIK	+18'07'
7	Mahé Gildas	BANQUE POPULAIRE	+22'14'
8	Le Cleac'h Armel	BRIT AIR	+25'55'
9	Desjoyeaux Michel	FONCIA	+26'54'
10	Tabarly Erwan	ATHEMA	+28'13'
11	Morvan Gildas	CERCLE VERT	+28'40'
12	Rouxel Thomas	DEFI MOUSQUETAIRES	+28'44'
13	Péron Eric	SKIPPER MACIF	+29'37'
14	Veniard Gérald	MACIF	+31'38'
15	Loison Alexis	ALL MER INEO GDF SUEZ	+34'52'
16	Gabart François	ESPOIR REGION BRETAGNE	+36'07'
17	Douguet Corentin	E.LECLERC MOBILE	+36'20'
18	Berenger Nicolas	KONE ELEVATORS	+36'22'
19	Hardy Adrien	AGIR RECOUVREMENT	+37'23'
20	Mouren Jean-Paul	M@RSEILLENTREPRISES	+38'00'
21	Livory Yannig	CINT 56	+38'48'
22	Joschke Isabelle	SYNERGIE	+38'52'
23	Delahaye Fabien	PORT DE CAEN OUISTREHAM	+39'38'
24	Gouezigoux Laurent	TRIER C'EST PRESERVER	+41'13'
25	Toulorge Alexandre	AUDITION SANTE	+42'25'
26	Drouglazet Eric	LUISINA	+43'23'
27	Espagnon Christophe	GROUPE LEGRIS INDUSTRIES	+44'56'
28	Monnet Jean-Charles	49° NORD	+45'24'
29	Elies Yann	GENERALI	+45'29'
30	Pellecuer Laurent	ARNOLFINI.FR	+46'09'
31	Bouillard Didier	MEDEVENT	+46'47'
32	Treussart Ronan	BLACK HAWK	+47'41'
33	Tripon Armel	GEDIMAT	+50'37'
34	Koch Antoine	SOPRA GROUP	+55'46'
35	Jacquier Vianney	ALHYANGE ACOUSTIQUE	+57'26'
36	Le Gal Franck	LENZE	+59'02'
37	Jossier Nicolas	ESPRIT VOILE 50	+01h00'26'
38	Brault Joseph	SAMSUNG MOBILE	+01h04'30'
39	King Nigel	NIGEL KING YACHTING	+01h05'31'
40	Godart-Philippe Arnaud	SENOBLE	+01h05'38'
41	Bougard Patrice	KOGANE	+01h20'23'
42	Girolet Matthieu	ENTREPRENDRE (LAFONT PRESSE)	+01h21'41'
43	Malbon Jonny	ARTEMIS	+01h42'33'
44	Meilhat Paul	DOMINO'S PIZZA	+01h47'42'
45	Nicol Jean-Pierre	GAVOTTES	+01h51'01'
46	Belloir Aymeric	CAP56	+01h55'29'
47	Le Foll Oswenn	COTES D'ARMOR	+02h02'45'
48	Samuel Jérome	OPERA EN PLEIN AIR	+02h04'09'
49	Houery Thibault	VIRIA LCN	+02h10'01'
50	Duc Louis	CAEN NORMANDIE	+03h07'33'
51	Rateau Christophe	SUADEO DECISIONNEL	+04h30'30'
52	Tannyères Louis-Maurice	NANNI DIESEL	+06h21'09'

Overall results (combined elapsed times from legs 1 and 2):

Pos	Skipper	Boat	Time/TTL
1	Lunven Nicolas	CGPI	105h 49min 21s
2	Elies Yann	GENERALI	+17'00'
3	Le Cleac'h Armel	BRIT AIR	+24'19'
4	Caudrelier Benac Charles	BOSTIK	+27'10'
5	Beyou Jérémie	BERNARD PAOLI	+27'59'
6	Duthil Fréderic	BBOX BOUYGUES TELECOM	+28'47'
7	Morvan Gildas	CERCLE VERT	+34'10'
8	Desjoyeaux Michel	FONCIA	+37'48'
9	Tabarly Erwan	ATHEMA	+39'00'
10	Chabagny Thierry	SUZUKI AUTOMOBILES	+41'03'
11	Berenger Nicolas	KONE ELEVATORS	+42'20'
12	Troussel Nicolas	CREDIT MUTUEL DE BRETAGNE	+49'00'
13	Pellecuer Laurent	ARNOLFINI.FR	+53'54'
14	Rouxel Thomas	DEFI MOUSQUETAIRES	+01h06'55'
15	Gabart François	ESPOIR REGION BRETAGNE	+01h07'07'
16	Koch Antoine	SOPRA GROUP	+01h08'27'
17	Douguet Corentin	E.LECLERC MOBILE	+01h08'56'
18	Drouglazet Eric	LUISINA	+01h11'53'
19	Tripon Armel	GEDIMAT	+01h30'37'
20	Toulorge Alexandre	AUDITION SANTE	+01h33'16'
21	Mouren Jean-Paul	M@RSEILLENTREPRISES	+01h39'11'
22	Mahé Gildas	BANQUE POPULAIRE	+01h44'31'
23	Loison Alexis	ALL MER INEO GDF SUEZ	+01h56'33'
24	Veniard Gérald	MACIF	+01h59'48'
25	Delahaye Fabien	PORT DE CAEN OUISTREHAM	+02h11'44'
26	Hardy Adrien	AGIR RECOUVREMENT	+02h12'37'
27	Meilhat Paul	DOMINO'S PIZZA	+02h17'25'
28	Monnet Jean-Charles	49° NORD	+02h22'20'
29	Joschke Isabelle	SYNERGIE	+02h26'18'
30	Le Gal Franck	LENZE	+02h28'50'
31	Livory Yannig	CINT 56	+02h29'19'
32	Treussart Ronan	BLACK HAWK	+02h33'47'
33	Brault Joseph	SAMSUNG MOBILE	+02h34'26'
34	Péron Eric	SKIPPER MACIF	+02h38'13'
35	Bouillard Didier	MEDEVENT	+02h40'47'
36	Gouezigoux Laurent	TRIER C'EST PRESERVER	+02h48'09'
37	Jossier Nicolas	ESPRIT VOILE 50	+03h00'21'
38	King Nigel	NIGEL KING YACHTING	+03h07'08'
39	Girolet Matthieu	ENTREPRENDRE (LAFONT PRESSE)	+03h13'25'
40	Espagnon Christophe	GROUPE LEGRIS INDUSTRIES	+03h18'24'
41	Nicol Jean-Pierre	GAVOTTES	+03h21'18'
42	Belloir Aymeric	CAP56	+03h29'25'
43	Le Foll Oswenn	COTES D'ARMOR	+04h10'11'
44	Bougard Patrice	KOGANE	+04h28'19'
45	Duc Louis	CAEN NORMANDIE	+05h25'59'
46	Jacquier Vianney	ALHYANGE ACOUSTIQUE	+05h29'22'
47	Godart-Philippe Arnaud	SENOBLE	+06h05'26'
48	Houery Thibault	VIRIA LCN	+06h53'32'
49	Malbon Jonny	ARTEMIS	+07h44'49'
50	Tannyères Louis-Maurice	NANNI DIESEL	+10h19'00'
51	Rateau Christophe	SUADEO DECISIONNEL	+13h56'56'
52	Samuel Jérome	OPERA EN PLEIN AIR	+17h07'15'