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Solitaire du Figaro

Cascades of close finishers behind Antoine Koch

vendredi 9 août 2002Information Solitaire du Figaro

And the young Antoine Koch has ricocheted into the lead bringing an end to the preliminaries.. An exciting climax. The artists are on track and there are still a good 15 holding out with very little distance separating them. On the Irish finish line, it was still too crowded to move. Inevitably, they vowed to fend off the star on the next part of the course bound for Cherbourg. In Ireland, the first leg is reaching an end. But the frequent canon fire from the Race Committee separating the competitors also sounds a new start for the Single-handed Figaro 2002.

« One of the most beautiful », said Ronan Guérin (Saint-Nazaire – Escal’Atlantic). « Difficult, indeed very hard » according to Gildas Morvan (Cercle Vert). « Classic, very rough and bumpy », stated Jean-Paul Mouren (M@rseille Entreprises). The soloists haven’t stopped recounting the 437 miles of the first leg. Back on land again it hardly feels as if they’ve been at sea at all. « We really enjoyed it. It was like a regatta the whole time, all in contact with one another throughout. We slept very little – maybe just four hours in total – but the time just flew by », confides Charles Caudrelier-Benac (Bostik Findley). In the lead barely 48 hours ago, he finished a very solid fourth. Eyes over-sensitive after more than 91 hours of regatta and racing, he a relieved look, unable to disguise the pleasure of having finished the hard work of solo sailing. On the pontoons of Crosshaven, there is a handsome and very young winner, but very few losers. All of them savouring a finish which is only the very beginning. They have certainly nothing to be ashamed of in their display. Just now it’s stoppage time.

At dawn, Antoine Koch (Saunier Duval), « fabulous surprise » winner, heralded a rush hour lasting two hours on the finish line. It has to be said that hot on the heels of the winner, who took the lead just off Land’s End, the other candidates didn’t once let up, tacking upwind and constantly changing tack between the south-west of England and Crosshaven. After 290 miles of pure and hard coastal regatta racing, they experienced the worst of the weather in the last sprint for home, close-hauled for 150 miles. But there you have it, the first stretch of the route along the English contours failed to separate them and that was the price to pay for avoiding the deadly time differences. Perhaps that’s something that may give Eric Drouglazet (David Olivier) some food for thought with the rankings. For a long time he was the leader of the pack and although he finished tenth, he was only 34 minutes behind the front runner. « Half an hour, it isn’t over yet. I’ll try to remain positive », emphasised the race title-holder. The fighting spirit of the leg can be summed up here : « I worked hard, hard as I could to get up with the leading group. But in the end, things turned out pretty well for me with 40 minutes behind on the clock », said Yann Eliès (Groupe Generali Assurances).

At the top of the rankings, we actually saw no less than 5 skippers going for the star awards : Gildas Morvan (Cercle Vert) escaped in the Channel, Eric Drouglazet (David Olivier) was champion of all areas of the coastal category, Kito de Pavant (Malice) was very crafty and on the ball, Charles Caudrelier Benac (Bostik Findley) a firm candidate, and Antoine Koch (Saunier Duval) in particular, performed with sheer finesse and strength. At the height of his 24 years, Antoine carries all the strengths of the new wave of skippers : all those that in just a few years have learnt all the ropes of single-handed monotype Monotype #sportboats sailing. He is living proof of a homogenization in highest level sailors.

« It’s crazy, there are no longer just five favourites, but three times as many ». The comments are flying in order to relate the to-ings and fro-ings of the first leg to a public waiting with bated breath. And it has only just begun…

Echos from the pontoons

One leg, four groups

After 437 miles of intensive regatta and contact racing, the figures are there and they clearly speak for themselves. The first three, Antoine Koch, Kito de Pavant and Jérémie Beyou came across the line one after the other within 12 mins 05 secs. A review of the time differences reveals that in fact 16 skippers needed just a few minutes, that means only seconds separated them. After 437 miles, they held onto each other to within 50 mins and 17 secs well into the race ! Coming next a small group of six skippers was confirmed, copping a slower time. The follow-up promises to be hard – and they’ll have to play with the weather options – to get back the 1hr 13mins which currently separates them from the winner. There are others too, the latecomers. Newcomers or amateurs, they have paid dearly for the infernal rhythm imposed on them by the maestros of the Figaro displaying times which were 4 hours behind the winner of the first leg.

Hard, hard to be a newcomer

The ranking honours for first-time participation goes to Arnaud Boissières (Delta Dore & Partenaires). A fine performance which ranked him 1st among the 10 freshmen and enabled him to go ahead of Gwénaël Riou (Espoir Crédit Agricole), who celebrated his quarter century today all the same. « To be the first newcomer in, it’s great. The others are just behind, we fought well. But in the general rankings, it’s not great. The first night was very hard and I started off very badly. After that I managed to gain a few places, but the others are a long way ahead. It’s impressive how fast they go and to what extent they know what to do in the periods of transition », declared Arnaud, half-content, half-disappointed.

437 miles… amazing !

Nearly 5 days of relentless regatta, with far too few let-ups of 10 or 20 minutes in the hands of Morpheus, wearing away the spirits. And to each his amazing spectacle, Kito de Pavant (Malice) saw a light on the side of his bow indicating a fire aboard under the effect of a wave. An exhausted Philippe Vicariot (Thales), should have already dropped the sails, but maintained his course to the point where he confused the light of an oil rig with some casinos. Sébastien Audigane (Sports sans Frontières) saw and heard a couple sitting on his boom talking out loud. Jeanne Grégoire (Region of Aisne) didn’t have her fair share of hallucinations, but she tells of all her rude awakenings which are proof in themselves that she emptied her regulation credit of fatigue.

Mashed !

The least you can say is that the team comprising the two Créaline boats remained united. The two skippers, alone, but together as far as the line ! Sébastien Josse had his bow just in front of that of Armel Le Cléac’h in fact and the two rogues finished eighth and ninth respectively. Better still,


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