Le Chacal a mangé sa deuxième étape en deux ans...

Photo : Ch.Guigueno / Pipof.com/voile

  The 463-mile leg from Portsmouth to Saint Gilles-Croix-de-Vie in France, the longest in the La Solitaire Afflelou Le Figaro race, has been particularly demanding, testing the levels of endurance and skill of the 50 skippers who have sailed it. 

Mother nature threw her best at the competitors throughout the leg ; on the Solent light winds for the Friday start, followed by strong tides and currents, sand banks and very light and shifty airs across the southern shores of England. The turning tide past Star Point will remain a very sore point to many of the sailors who found themselves fighting a loosing battle as they made little headway on Wolf Rock Lighthouse.

The lucky few to make an early break such as, Yann Eliès (Groupe Générali Assurances) who was first to round the lighthouse (and in so doing won the Prix Aigle), and Armel Le Cléac’h (Foncia TBS) found themselves crossing the channel under good conditions. The late-comers suffered a cruel wait for the tides to turn once more, all the more painful as the leaders wolfed up the miles to the finish. 

The 117-mile Channel crossing to the île de Sein was to be one of the only short moments of respite for many of the sailors, as they enjoyed a steady 8 to 10 knots of breeze, time enough for short naps and autopilots to be switched on. 

The final 155-mile stretch of inshore sailing opened the game up once more. The erratic winds dropped to between 4 and 6 knots and thunder, lightning, rain and poor visibility kept the sailors on the edge of their seats trying to outguess each other’s moves. Monday morning saw the sailors fight against sleep and exhaustion from setting in as they faced the final run to the finish line, a tactical conundrum for the skippers.

Three sailors maintained a lead over the last 100 or so miles of the leg. Armel Le Cléac’h (Foncia TBS), Jérémie Beyou (Delta Dore) and Charles Caudrelier (Bostik Findley) all played cat and mouse and with often less than 0,10 of a mile distance between each other.

Yann Eliès (Groupe Générali Assurances), Oliver Krauss (Espoir Crédit Agricole) and Eric Drouglazet (Crédit Maritime - Zerotwo) gambled on an inshore course in the hope that they might get some of the thermal shore breeze to give them that much needed extra boat speed.

Within 10 miles of the leader, Jeanne Gregoire (Banque Populaire), spearheaded a group of 11 boats within 3 miles of each other leading up to the final 40 miles of the race. Each skipper and boat grouping looking for the best angle of attack for the final sprint to Saint Gilles Croix-de-Vie.

Line honours went to the 2003 winner, Armel Le Cléac’h on his Benetau Figaro boat, Foncia TBS after 81 hours 32 minutes and 30 seconds of racing.

Armel Le Cléac’h (Foncia-TBS) : “ On Track for a double win !”
 “A leg win for me and an overall lead for Jérémie (Beyou) : perfect ! We are both happy. Jérémie has been trying to win for a long time...I win a beautiful leg, what I had classified as a very tough leg. I go into second place overall... not far behind Jérémie : I am on the right track to achieve my objective, doubling up on my win !” Jérémie Beyou (Delta Dore) : “We deserve it !”

“Hard, hard... but shared. Thank you Jackal, he leaves me the champagne bottle and the overall lead ! Both hard to earn boys and girls... because the girls are never far behind. We had a nice little group going, and then at the end there were three of us. Armel played his hand better than I, maybe I will not ever win a leg of the Figaro...I am however in the lead on overall timing, a few second ahead of Armel. The most important thing is that we have left many behind, at quite a distance, and we deserve it !

Samantha Davies on Skandia crossed the line in Saint Gilles Croix-de-Vie in 14th place, two hours and 30 seconds behind the winner.

• Classement de la deuxième étape : Portsmouth / Saint-Gilles-Croix de Vie (462 milles)

1- Armel Le Cléac’h (Foncia - TBS), arrivée le 02/08 à 21h 30’ 30’’
 Temps de course : 81h 39’30’’ à 5,66 nœuds de moyenne.

 2- Jérémie Beyou (Delta Dore) à 48’’
 3- Charles Caudrelier (Bostik Findley) à 3’ 04’’
 4- Dominic Vittet (Atao Audio System) à 5’ 54’’
 5- Oliver Krauss (Espoir Crédit Agricole) à 34’ 44’’
 6- Yann Eliès (Groupe Generali Assurances) à 38’ 10’’
 7- Eric Drouglazet (Crédit Maritime Zérotwo) à 43’

• Le classement provisoire après deux étapes

 1 Jérémie Beyou (Delta Dore) en 114h25’00’’
 2 Armel Le Cléac’h (Foncia - TBS) à 1’28’’
 3 Charles Caudrelier (Bostik Findley) à 11’43’’ 
 4 Yann Eliès (Groupe Generali Assurances) à 36’12’’
 5 Dominic Vittet (Atao Audio System) à 40’ 16’’
 6 Eric Drouglazet (Crédit Maritime Zérotwo) à 1h05’35’’
 7 Oliver Krauss (Espoir Crédit Agricole) à 1h19’06"" (premier bizuth)