Leg 2 victory to Morvan

The green giant first home into Cherbourg in leg two of the Solitaire du Figaro

Gildas Morvan celebrated his 40th birthday on the eve of the start the race from Vigo to Cherbourg, three days later he can blow out four candles and celebrate his fourth leg victory since his first participation in the race in 1993. When asked at the start of La Solitaire du Figaro back in La Rochelle, what would his experience bring, he responded: “The difference comes down to how you handle the race, how you start and how you position yourself against the rest of the fleet.” As to whether he would be aggressive or not he responded: “There are key moment on each race, and these you have to know how to recognise and make the most of.”

For Morvan the key moment on this second leg come early on: The strategy to sail close to the Galician shoreline paid off, the narrow lead on the first morning at sea was enough to continue to build on over the 575-mile spinnaker race to Cherbourg. C ercle Vert crossed the finish line at 18:26:10 this afternoon after covering upon covering the 575 mile course in 3 days, 3 hours, 41 minutes and 10 seconds at an average 7.6 knots. The sun was out, spectator, support and media boats were there to meet the victorious 1 metre 97cm tall sailor, affectionately known as the Green Giant.

Behind Cercle Vert, the fight for second has been aggressive right from the start. The chasing pack, Gildas Mahé ( Le Comptoir Immobiler), Erwan Tabarly ( Athema), Christopher Pratt ( DCNS), Jeanne Gregoire ( Banque Populaire), Romain Attanasio ( DCNS 97), Nicolas Troussel…hunted Gildas Morvan all the way from Cape Finisterre.
The strong currents off Brittany and then La Hague brought with the turning tides has made for a thrilling following over the past 24 hours right to the finish line. Behind the leader, the competitors tried every option, to head offshore to avoid the strong currents, to find shelter close to shore or behind the Channel Islands. The gruelling race, was taking its toll on the sailors, “I am not particularly happy with myself,” admitted a disappointed Frederic Duthil ( Distinxion Automobiles) today. The race that Romain Attanasio “had forgotten how hard was” continues for the remaining 46 competitors still racing to Cherbourg.

Competitors describe how it has been going for them...

Laurent Pellecuer ( Docteur Vualnet Aromathérapie): “Passing Ushant was already difficult with the current, boats where overtaking each other and it was not easy to find the right combination…but here, now we are trying to tackle the Channel Islands and each one of us is doing their thing and will have to work out how to deal with La Hague. In Ushant I opted for the exterior route, and those who took the inside option had the current against them whilst further out it continued to flow the right way. For the Raz Blanchard I am going to take the outside option as I could see a bottle neck closing in for a few hours. I was in this situation in 2002 and well remember being stuck fighting against the tide for three hours waiting for it to turn and stuck in light wind. Here we will have a bit more breeze and maybe by heading offshore the current won't be so strong and we can sail along normally. I have had quite a bit of sleep so feeling quite good…I see myself getting in to Cherbourg for around 10 pm as we still have quite a bit of current.”

Alexis Loison ( All Mer): "For sure there is going to be work to be done at the Raz Blanchard when we get there against the tide, I have a plan, but it’s confidential (laughs). Either we take shelter behind the Channel Islands whilst we wait for it to turn, or we shelter along the Cotentin coastline. Apart from that, the sun is shinning…I always say that the weather is always nice in Normandy!”

Antoine Koch ( Sopra Group 1): "Conditions have been pretty nice, we have had pretty steady wind and now with the wind it is actually quite nice. We will have to wait and see if the wind will hold at the Cotentin headland. We have been sailing under spinnaker since th
e start, which has been nice. We are lucky the boat is quite stable with the autopilot so I have managed to get some rest. I hope to get to Cherbourg in time for supper tonight but it is going to be tight as we get to the raz Blanchard against the tide and the fleet could bunch up again. The game consists in finding the least bad way round. I did a little mistake after Ushant and have got detached from the leading pack but hope to make up the ground at the Raz Blanchard.”

Romain Attanasio ( DCNS 62): “I am still up with the good bunch. I made a little mistake last night, which meant I lost the lead of this bunch, but then 50 thousand things are still going to happen. The slightest mistake costs a lot. I had forgotten that the Figaro is so demanding! I got the little northwesterly lift last night and whilst I was unprepared and managed to readjust the boat for it, the others had got away. Right now we face the bottom of a giant toboggan. I am not sure if it is going to help, but one my first great leg on a Solitaire in 2002, I finished 4th and got round the Raz Blanchard against the tide and came out ok, so I am going to give it another go… you never know. I would like to go and have a little nap, the wind is variable and it really is not all that simple!”

Frédéric Duthil ( Distinxion Automobiles): “We will see if we can get past. It is a Figaro race like all the others. The last leg could be as tough as the previous two, so the overall leader board at the end of this leg will not be too bad. On the last leg we can really change everything. The second place is really being fought over by the group of competitors I am sailing with. I sailed really badly yesterday got the shifts wrong and it just has not been going all that well since yesterday morning. I do not feel like I am in it, you just have races that are like that…Now we face the current and I have never got passed, but we will just have to see if it is going to work this time.”