Final leg sets sail tomorrow

Can Armel le Cleac'h hold on to his lead in the Kinsale-Cherbourg conclusion to the Solitaire du Figaro

The fourth and decisive leg of 2010 La Solitaire du Figaro starts from Kinsale tomorrow [Monday] at 14.00. The 44 skippers will have to deal with the last 435 miles to Cherbourg and weather conditions are expected to be fairly tough, but making for a fast passage to the finish.

Overall BritAir skipper Armel Le Cleac’h is still solidly in the lead, with a 1 hour 17 minute advantage over second placed Francois Gabart, but this is far from insurmountable should either of Figaro solo sailing fundamentals go wrong - good manoeuvres and no breakage.

The long stopover in quiet and friendly Kinsale is nearly over. After resting, enjoying the scenery, the hospitality or spending time on the golf course or fishing, the skippers have been preparing for the last leg to Cherbourg.

Leaving Ireland, the competitors will once more have to sail along the Irish coast to the Fastnet light 45 miles away, rounding it to port. As opposed to the third leg, the 250-mile leap across the Celtic Sea will see the fleet leave the Scilly Isles and the Bishop Rock to port. The skippers will have to negotiate the cross currents common to the English Channel for more than 100 miles, to the West Lizen Ven cardinal mark north of the île Vierge to be left to port. After this the fleet will set off for 140 miles towards the Channel Islands, but this time, only Ile d’Aurigny will be left offshore. As on the way up to Kinsale, passing through the Channel Islands will require each skipper’s finest strategy, while later on, there will be some tactical chances nearer to the Cherbourg peninsula, the Raz Blanchard opening some opportunities over the last miles to the finish in Cherbourg-Octeville, the final host port of La Solitaire du Figaro.

As is the tradition, the 44 skippers will meet late this afternoon for the leg briefing, to get the final weather forecast for this deciding leg of La Solitaire du Figaro.

As states, Armel Le Cleac’h on Britair has a solid lead, but has two talented solo skippers gunning for him in François Gabart (Skipper Macif 2010) and Thomas Rouxel (Credit Mutuel de Bretagne) and perhaps eight other skippers who could ruin his race. It is similarly close in among the 'bizuths', where Anthony Marchand on Espoir Region Bretagne holds just an 18 minute lead over Yoann Richomme on DLBC in turn 56 minutes ahead of double Velux 5 Oceans winner, Bernard Stamm.

According to Météo France’s expert Sylvain Mondon, after having rounded the Fastnet on their way to Lizen Ven, the fleet should encounter one of two different meteorological outlooks: one with northwesterly winds blowing at around 15-20 knots and one with stiffer breezes topping 25 with gusts over 30 knots. As Race Director Jacques Caraes says: “It will be physical, very tiring and skippers will have to steer a lot. No mistakes allowed there. The leg will be probably faster than expected and we could finally have a finish in daylight.”

The leaders could reach Cherbourg on Wednesday around midday or Thursday as the wind could lighten towards the finish combined with  strong tidal flows and currents that could be as strong as 3.5-4.5 knots.

Romain Attanasio  skipper of Saveol commented:  “We’ll sail fast, under spinnaker and it looks like there won’t be light airs. There is not a big tide coefficient so we don’t expect an awful lot of current at the Raz Blanchard. Yet, we will have to play with a cold front. I had a similar experience and it was a pretty busy time: people going into the low and others who trail behind and at the finish it was… 20 miles. This leg does not worry me more than the others, there will be much spinnaker downwind sailing and I feel at ease with that. I’m not afraid but I know that it will be necessary to be in front from the start. The risks? Breaking a spinnaker would mean disaster.”

Gildas Morvan skipper of Cercle Vert predicted: "“It will be a fast one, there’s wind the route is straight. Not much to think about, it will be breezy, a low to deal with and it looks like we won’t sleep too much, it’s not going to be very relaxing, that’s for sure. Helming and manoeuvring… I like the idea. You can get or loose time easily, the main thing is not to break anything, to gibe well, watch out for the cargos’ route, because we will get to the finish in a dash under spinnaker…”

Anthony Marchand skipper of Challenge Espoir Région Bretagne said: "I did my navigation session earlier, I’m downloading the latest GRIB files to make some simulations. I’ve had three bad starts and I know I can’t have another one… after that is fast downwind, there will be wind but not so much. If it’s downwind, even in 25 knots, on a Figaro you don’t really realize. It’s one of those legs that may seem easy because you’re going straight to the target but then the small lateral gaps when you get to a waypoint can make a difference. I have the impression that there is more difference among us on windy legs, at least this is what I feel. I’m less stressed than I was at the beginning, when I felt like going to a new school not knowing if the schoolmates would be nice. At the end the teachers are nice and the mates too…”

Jonny Malbon skipper of Artemis said: “Kinsale is a beautiful place with very friendly people and we’ve been pretty lucky with the weather. Ready to go now, for me I’ve got to have a good leg cause although being quite close in the last leg it was pretty disappointing to be right down at the back of the fleet. Given the level of the fleet, you just make one mistake and it’s difficult to get back in. So, I’ve got to focus, I’ve got nothing to loose just go full power and try to do my best, be in a good position and a good result in Cherbourg. Fingers crossed the weather looks ok, we should see some good speed downwind and fleet racing. We won’t be having much sleep because you have to be more on form with the boat.”

Elapsed times after three legs: