Gregoire into the lead

As Figaro fleet pass Ushant en route to Dingle

The 44 skippers who left Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie, France yesterday bound for Dingle on the third leg of La Solitaire Afflelou Le Figaro are making steady in roads into the 479 mile long leg.

Between 0230 and 0630 this morning Jeanne Grégoire on Banque Populaire moved into the lead. Grégoire is one of three sole women competing, in addition to Sam Davies and Liz Wardley. The latest position reports shows Grégoire hold a narrow lead of just 0.2 mile over her immediate rivals. The leaders are currently heading upwind on starboard tack due west of Ushant. Grégoire is at the southwestern end of a line-up of five boats all jockeying for the lead. To the northeast of her are Armel Le Cléac’h ( Brit’Air), Erwan Israel ( Delta Dore), Gerald Veniard (Scutum) and Kito de Pavant on Groupe Bel.

The competitors enjoyed relatively stable conditions overnight and early morning while being vigilant due to all the maritime traffic area running past Ushant and attempting to keep dry in the sudden rain squalls. The wind conditions became more variable late morning: “We have had some light air, but also some big squalls with 25 knots and gusting much more” commented Jean-Yves Chauve from the medical boat accompanying the fleet on the race course. “The sailors have had to make lots of sail changes. Currently some are sailing under solent and others with their genoa. The wind is lifting and is moving further north and the sea is slightly choppy.”

With a depression centred over the middle of the UK, the northwesterly wind, is currently blowing at 20 to 25 knots gusting to 27.The wind is due to veer slightly further to the west in around 24 hours time as the depression shifts east over the North Sea.

The boats are expected to reach the Scilly Isles, by mid-morning Sunday. The most experienced sailors will no doubt maintain a full main and solent and stay at the helm in order to make advantage of the slightest opportunity tonight. There will be a front to negotiate tomorrow afternoon as the boats head up to the Celtic Sea.

Positions at 1700GMT

Pos	Skipper	Bateau	Latitude	Longitude	Crs	Spd	DTF/L
1	GREGOIRE Jeanne	Banque Populaire	48 25' 20' N	5 48' 66' W	342 °	6.3	293.6 nm
2	LE CLEAC'H Armel	Brit Air	48 25' 80' N	5 47' 22' W	343 °	6.2	0.2 nm
3	VENIARD Gérald	Scutum	48 27' 18' N	5 44' 58' W	344 °	6.1	0.2 nm
4	ISRAEL Erwan	Delta Dore	48 26' 40' N	5 45' 96' W	341 °	6.6	0.2 nm
5	de PAVANT Kito	Groupe Bel	48 28' 02' N	5 42' 42' W	341 °	5.7	0.6 nm
6	CAUDRELIER Charles	Bostik	48 24' 78' N	5 47' 76' W	342 °	6.2	0.7 nm
7	DOUGUET Corentin	E.Leclerc - Bouygues Télécom	48 26' 58' N	5 44' 46' W	344 °	6.1	0.7 nm
8	ELIES Yann	Groupe Generali assurances	48 24' 48' N	5 48' 36' W	342 °	6.5	0.8 nm
9	DUTHIL Frédéric	Brossard	48 25' 62' N	5 45' 48' W	339 °	6.1	1.1 nm
10	TROUSSEL Nicolas	Financo	48 24' 60' N	5 47' 22' W	342 °	6	1.2 nm
11	ROUXEL Thomas	Défi Santé Nutrition	48 25' 98' N	5 43' 80' W	343 °	6.1	1.4 nm
12	BERENGER Nicolas	KONE Ascenseurs	48 24' 12' N	5 46' 68' W	340 °	5.8	1.7 nm
13	PELLECUER Laurent	Cliptol Sport	48 24' 30' N	5 46' 14' W	342 °	5.8	1.8 nm
14	TABARLY Erwan	Iceberg Finance	48 22' 44' N	5 49' 32' W	348 °	6.3	1.9 nm
15	MAHE Gildas	Le Comptoir Immobilier	48 24' 42' N	5 45' 48' W	343 °	6	2 nm
16	SVILARICH Etienne	Sogeti	48 26' 10' N	5 42' 00' W	345 °	6.2	2.1 nm
17	DAVIES Samantha	Roxy	48 24' 48' N	5 44' 88' W	344 °	6.4	2.3 nm
18	DICK Jean-Pierre	Virbac-Paprec	48 25' 62' N	5 42' 66' W	338 °	5.5	2.3 nm
19	TREUSSART Ronan	Groupe Céléos	48 25' 26' N	5 42' 78' W	339 °	5.4	2.4 nm
20	KRAUSS Oliver	AXA Plaisance	48 24' 12' N	5 44' 28' W	341 °	6.6	2.7 nm
21	PERON Eric	Cigo	48 24' 78' N	5 43' 20' W	323 °	4.6	2.8 nm
22	GOUEZIGOUX Laurent	Côtes d'Armor	48 23' 88' N	5 43' 56' W	340 °	5.9	3.3 nm
23	TOULORGE Alexandre	Starkey	48 23' 22' N	5 44' 28' W	344 °	6	3.4 nm
24	d'ALI Pietro	Nanni Diesel	48 20' 40' N	5 49' 56' W	348 °	6.4	3.5 nm
25	DROUGLAZET Eric	PIXmania.com	48 20' 46' N	5 48' 96' W	347 °	6.3	3.7 nm
26	TRIPON Armel	Gedimat	48 19' 62' N	5 49' 20' W	347 °	6.1	4.3 nm
27	LE GAL Franck	Lenze	48 20' 58' N	5 46' 80' W	350 °	6.3	4.5 nm
28	LE MIERE Grégoire	Man Of All Seasons	48 24' 30' N	5 39' 24' W	344 °	6.2	4.7 nm
29	EMIG Marc	A.ST Groupe	48 18' 36' N	5 48' 60' W	329 °	4.9	5.5 nm
30	MOUREN Jean-Paul	M@rseillEntreprises	48 18' 36' N	5 48' 36' W	310 °	4.3	5.6 nm
31	VACHETTE Vincent	SCO Saveur et Vie	48 16' 74' N	5 48' 36' W	298 °	3.8	7 nm
32	CHABAGNY Thierry	Littoral	48 13' 26' N	5 54' 96' W	273 °	4.4	7.2 nm
33	NAGY Robert	Theolia	48 15' 48' N	5 50' 34' W	285 °	4.2	7.2 nm
34	AUBERT Jérome	La Normandise	48 17' 70' N	5 43' 92' W	267 °	4.7	8 nm
35	DEFERT Eric	Suzuki Autombiles	48 15' 72' N	5 47' 76' W	250 °	6.5	8.1 nm
36	PELLET Jean-François	Lubexcel	48 13' 80' N	5 51' 60' W	251 °	6.4	8.1 nm
37	LE BAUT Jimmy	Port-Olona	48 16' 68' N	5 45' 06' W	248 °	6.5	8.4 nm
38	LOISON Alexis	Région Basse-Normandie	48 13' 26' N	5 51' 84' W	249 °	6.6	8.4 nm
39	SEGUIN Damien	AltéAd Region Pays de la Loire	48 12' 66' N	5 52' 68' W	249 °	6.7	8.6 nm
40	DA CRUZ Antonio Pedro	Baïko	48 19' 08' N	5 39' 24' W	246 °	6.8	8.8 nm
41	LEBAS Christophe	Armor Lux	48 10' 68' N	5 53' 88' W	258 °	5.2	9.7 nm
42	WARDLEY Liz	Sojasun	48 08' 88' N	5 56' 64' W	243 °	6.7	10.2 nm
	MORVAN Gildas	Cercle Vert			°		nm
	PRATT Christopher	Espoir Crédit Agricole			°		nm