Game, set and match to Yann Elies

First into Cherbourg, ex-IMOCA 60 skipper wins the 2012 Solitaire du Figaro. Winners share their thoughts

07:18:53 UTC this morning, Yann Elies and his Groupe Quéguiner - Le Journal des Entreprises was first to arrive into Cherbourg-Octeville to claim leg three of this year's Solitaire du Figaro - Eric Bompard Cashmere as well as overall victory.

Last year's rookie class winner Morgan Lagravière was second to finish and claimed a well deserved second place overall aboard Vendée, with Nicolas Lunven on Generali fourth home, taking the remain spot on the podium, just three minutes behind Lagravière on cumulative elapsed time after three legs. Thomas Normand, skipper of Financière de l'Echiquier is crowned the first rookie.

For Elies victory has finally arrived in La Solitaire on his 13th attempt. It is also 33 years since his father Patrick won the event, claiming all four legs of the 1979 race. Elies has been particularly hungry for victory this year, mounting his campaign with his own money before finding a partner at the last minute in Groupe Quéguiner - Le Journal des Entreprises. With victories in the first and third leg, and coming third into St Gilles Croix de Vie on leg two, Elies nearly equally his father's record.

It should be noted that Elies is the third consecutive former IMOCA 60 to have lost his sponsor and then gone on to win La Solitaire, following Armel Le Cleac'h's victory in 2010 and Jeremie Beyou last year. Both have since acquired new IMOCA 60 sponsors and are competing in this year's Vendee Globe. We very much hope Elies is able to do the same.

The skippers staggering ashore this morning, zombie like and unshaven. Yann Elies admitted going beyond the limits of fatigue. Such was the state of Morgan Lagravière that he stated "it's too hard - I will not sail a third Solitaire." But then they all say that... Nacarat skipper Erwan Tabarly, third into Cherbourg admitted having given everything on this leg.

Yann Elies: "It was my 13th [Solitaire], so it was time! After twice coming so close to the goal, I'm really happy, particularly with this addition [leg] victory at the end. But the amount of pain you have to endure to achieve those wins! The three sailors behind me are future champions. One of them has won the Solitaire, the other two will also win one day. They are very strong. This just required me to be on another planet, on my own little cloud, to be in the fight. It looks easy from the outside, but it's still extremely difficult to achieve. It's always full of doubt, and requires much risk taking. I think I'm mature. It's been so many years that I've sailed in the Figaro, that all the tricks and settings, just come to me, there's no need to think, emprinted on me after 13 Solitaires. I think of my father (who won the race in 1979) - my parents are in Polynesia and are watching it closely. I think of my son Titouan because I won my first leg in 2002, the year he was born here in Cherbourg. I thought about that throughout the Solitaire. I said I must win in Cherbourg. "

Morgan Lagravière said: "I am pleased. I'm so tired, but I'm really happy. This is the finest result of my career, even though it is not really a victory because I'm second. It took a lot of suffering. You can say what you want, it's a really tough race, La Solitaire. And on legs like this, as you sail along, always in close combat with your competitors... it feels like a day of Olympic sailing but a 50 or 60 hour version. I'm torn between my performance and fatigue. But I am the happiest of men, perhaps even more than Yann today! There were a lot of twists and turns in this race, hard times, easy times, conditions where I sailed well. What I say to myself, here, is that I do not think I would come back a third time [he said the same thing last year]. It's too hard. I don't feel the energy of do it again." (But then Morgan said the same thing last year, after his first Solitaire)

Nicolas Lunven said: "I'm very happy. Yann had a small cushion over Fabien [Delahaye] and Morgan Lagravière but it was very tight. So I'm really happy. This step was tricky! Meteo Consult didn't deceive us: very irregular and unstable winds. So finally some sleep... Even last night, after the Needles Fairway Buoy, the wind was so variable that it had to be over. It feels good when it stops! "

First rookie Financière de l'Echiquier skipper Thomas Norman said: "I feel quite divided on this victory because Julien [Villion] had ​​a great race on Seixo Promotion and I'm a little frustrated at not being able to compete with him. I'm still super happy to fulfill my goals for this race and win the rookie class. This has been a dream for the last six months of intense preparation. It hasn't sunk in you, but I filled one of my goals this season. I had read and heard many things about the Solitaire, the accounts of sailors who said it was very hard and intense, but I did not expect that. It's a crazy thing, you have to do it to learn what it is and suddenly the victories of Yann and Jeremie last year take on another dimension. You understand the difficulty of achieving such a feat. Inevitably, we discover a little more every day during these races. We also understand our limits a little more than we imagined."

Among the Artemis Offshore Academy sailor Sam Goodchild on Artemis 23 had a good race, one he has been working towards since the start, finishing leg 3 11 minutes behind leg three and overall winner Yann Eliés. Henry Bomby on Artemis 37 and Nick Cherry on Artemis 77 both had to overcome poor starts, from which they battled on to finish in 23rd/2nd Rookie and 26th/4th Rookie respectively.

The final leg of the Solitaire required the skippers to keep their sleep to a minimum with Goodchild estimating he got just three hours sleep in 72 hours of racing, and even then only in 15min catnaps. The final leg took the 36 skippers into British waters for the first time this year: “I enjoyed going down the south coast, there were good surfing conditions downwind, lots of close racing and sunshine,” reported Cherry.

For Goodchild the final leg enabled him to race at the front of the fleet and see how they race: “Coming across the English Channel I changed my settings quite drastically half way through and went to being sailed away from, to being able to catch up, which was really encouraging!” Whilst for Bomby this leg taught him a lot about how to successfully handle himself when facing problems: “In the second leg when I had problems I was very frustrated and wasn’t able to think clearly, but when I had the same problems in this leg I was calmer in dealing with it which meant I kept a clearer head throughout the problem solving which took about three hours – I was mentally stronger through the process.”

Artemis Offshore Academy race coach Marcus Hutchinson goes on to explain this further: “It is often the way that younger skippers learn the most on the last leg, about their boats, about the race and about themselves. From what I can see and what I have heard from the three Academy sailors this is very much the case again. They probably all learnt more in this last leg than they have over the last 12 months.”

John Thorn, Performance Director added: “It’s great to end on a high note in this last leg of the 2012 Solitaire du Figaro. The Artemis sailors, Sam, Nick and Henry have made us proud.”

Leg 3 finish times:

Overall results (cumulative elapsed time after three legs)