Solitaire du Figaro fleet halted by the high

Elies still attempting to fend off Fabien Delahaye has boat tackle a benign Bay of Biscay

Tuesday June 26th 2012, Author: James Boyd, Location: France

The Solitaire du Figaro fleet is in compression again this morning as the boats encounter the high pressure in the middle of the Bay of Biscay en route to Gijon in northern Spain. 

As 2310 UTC last night, Yann Elies on Groupe Queguiner/Journal des Enterprises led the boats around the Les Birvideaux turning mark to the north of Belle Ile. As ever the persistent Fabien Delahaye on Skipper MACIF 2012 followed with Morgan Lagraviere on Vendee close behind in third, but with then a substantial gap back to fourth placed Nicolas Lunven on Generali who rounded at 2350 UTC, which a huge pack of boats chasing him.

Since then the boats have fanned out to the south across about 7 miles with the lead trio in the west, closest to the direct course toward Gijon and Charlie Dalon on Keopsys and top rookie, Julien Villion on Seixo Promotion, holding the east but with Francesco Lobato on ROFF, attempting to carry out a 'buffalo girl's' manoeuvre, another six miles out to the east.

The forecast has the area of high pressure moving NNE over the fleet today. With this there will be a shift from the west with a transition before the wind fills in from the favourable east/northeast. So the key move will be to be in the best position to exit the high in the best possible fashion. At the latest sched all the boats are wriggling south and the boats positioned further east are making better progress. But will they make enough headway over the next few hours to sail around the lead trio? 

Among the Brits, Nick Cherry holds 19th, 5.2 miles off the lead, with Sam Goodchild in 23rd place, 6.1 miles back from first. Both are in the middle of the chasing pack while Henry Bomby is further east.

Positions at 0548 UTC: 

 

Pos Boat Skipper Lat Long Spd Crs Spd Dist DTF DTL
          4 hours   24 hours      
1 GROUPE QUEGUINER / JOURNAL DES ENTREPRISES Yann Elies 46 50.00' N 3 35.75' W 4.8 201 4.8 151.5 213.9 0
2 SKIPPER MACIF 2012 Fabien Delahaye 46 49.78' N 3 34.94' W 4.2 203 4.8 151.4 214 0
3 VENDEE Morgan Lagraviere 46 50.78' N 3 36.59' W 4.5 213 4.8 151.1 214.4 0.5
4 GENERALI Nicolas Lunven 46 51.47' N 3 31.84' W 5.4 197 4.8 149.9 216.4 2.5
5 SEPALUMIC Frederic Duthil 46 51.35' N 3 31.04' W 5.6 196 4.8 150.8 216.5 2.6
6 CERCLE VERT Gildas Morvan 46 52.22' N 3 30.86' W 5.5 196 4.8 150.6 217.4 3.4
7 KEOPSYS Charlie Dalin 46 51.94' N 3 29.96' W 5.4 199 4.8 151.4 217.4 3.5
8 NACARAT Erwan Tabarly 46 52.37' N 3 31.10' W 5.5 195 4.8 150.2 217.4 3.5
9 IN EXTENSO experts - comptables Nicolas Jossier 46 53.44' N 3 33.37' W 5.4 198 4.7 148.5 217.7 3.8
10 SEIXO PROMOTION Julien Villion 46 51.94' N 3 28.45' W 5.2 200 4.8 151.3 217.8 3.9
11 DLBC Yoann Richomme 46 53.50' N 3 32.26' W 5.3 203 4.7 148.9 218.1 4.2
12 SKIPPER HERAULT Xavier Macaire 46 54.40' N 3 35.05' W 4.8 202 4.6 148.5 218.1 4.2
13 SKIPPER MACIF 2011 Paul Meilhat 46 54.51' N 3 35.41' W 5.3 199 4.6 149.4 218.1 4.2
14 DESTINATION DUNKERQUE Thomas Ruyant 46 53.63' N 3 32.11' W 4.7 203 4.7 148.8 218.3 4.3
15 BRETAGNE – CRÉDIT MUTUEL ESPOIR Corentin Horeau 46 54.24' N 3 34.01' W 5.3 200 4.7 149.2 218.3 4.3
16 PRATI'BÛCHES Vincent Biarnes 46 53.68' N 3 31.91' W 5.1 159 4.7 148.8 218.4 4.5
17 BANQUE POPULAIRE Jeanne Gregoire 46 53.69' N 3 31.10' W 5.9 193 4.7 150.7 218.6 4.7
18 GALETTES SAINT-MICHEL Isabelle Joschke 46 55.07' N 3 33.86' W 5.3 201 4.6 151.6 219.1 5.1
19 ARTEMIS 77 Nick Cherry 46 54.91' N 3 33.31' W 4.8 203 4.6 147.6 219.1 5.2
20 ROFF Francisco Lobato 46 50.39' N 3 19.42' W 5.2 193 5 150.9 219.2 5.3
21 GROUPE FIVA Alexis Loison 46 56.00' N 3 35.87' W 4.8 206 4.6 149.3 219.4 5.4
22 BRETAGNE CRÉDIT MUTUEL PERFORMANCE Anthony Marchand 46 55.21' N 3 32.45' W 4 212 4.7 150.7 219.6 5.7
23 ARTEMIS 23 Sam Goodchild 46 55.88' N 3 33.25' W 4.8 207 4.6 149.2 220 6.1
24 AGIR RECOUVREMENT Adrien Hardy 46 57.04' N 3 36.64' W 5 203 4.5 149.6 220.1 6.2
25 GEDIMAT Thierry Chabagny 46 56.84' N 3 35.93' W 5.1 203 4.5 148.6 220.1 6.2
26 LA SOLIDARITE MUTUALISTE Damien Guillou 46 57.25' N 3 35.39' W 4.8 204 4.5 146.1 220.6 6.7
27 FINANCIERE DE L'ECHIQUIER Thomas Normand 46 56.72' N 3 33.10' W 5 198 4.6 147.6 220.8 6.9
28 BRITANIE COSMETIQUES David Sineau 46 55.64' N 3 28.54' W 5.9 196 4.7 147.2 221.1 7.2
29 ARTEMIS 37 Henry Bomby 46 57.39' N 3 30.81' W 5.7 198 4.6 148.4 222.1 8.1
30 ENTREPRENDRE LAFONT PRESSE Matthieu Girolet 46 58.99' N 3 32.48' W 5 206 4.5 147.6 223 9.1
31 JEHOL Didier Bouillard 46 59.95' N 3 33.09' W 5.3 205 4.4 149.3 223.7 9.8
32 GROUPE SNEF Jean-Paul Mouren 46 59.25' N 3 30.72' W 5.5 202 4.5 148.1 223.8 9.8
33 KICKERS Sebastien Picault 47 02.91' N 3 34.07' W 5.4 209 4.3 147.1 226.2 12.2
34 VOYONS LARGE Eric D'Hooghe 47 03.23' N 3 29.23' W 6 204 4.3 145.1 227.8 13.9
35 KRISTIN FOR FULLE SEIL Kristin Songe Molle 47 08.23' N 3 27.20' W 6.1 195 4.2 142.5 232.9 19
36 ONE NETWORK ENERGIES Yannig Livory 47 07.72' N 3 24.44' W 5.5 194 4.2 140 233.3 19.3
37 BERNARD CONTROLS Jean-Pierre Nicol 48 22.68' N 4 29.19' W 0 0 0.9 24.1 347.1 133.2

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