Christophe de Pavant(Malice) : the kind corsair

He’s a sailor with five children, twenty five transatlantics, and a multitude of crossings of the Pacific and the China Sea. Christophe, nicknamed Kito by everyone, has already rolled around all the swells in the world and busies himself « part time » with his concession « L’Espiguinguette » on the beach at Espignette at the Grau du Roi. Three years ago, he suddenly showed his pirate face on the solo circuit, after wakening his competitive soul. At 41, « more relaxed », he has taken the head of the provisional general rankings today. Kito came back into this second course between Crosshaven and Les Sables d’Olonne in which he proved to be a great entertainer at the outposts.

« Ah, so much has happened ! Wednesday morning, I thought I would be better recompensed since I had lead for the past two days, I was having a ball… but like lots of others, we were blocked by the current and almost straightaway three other boats passed in front of us. It’s never, never over this type of regatta. The first night, I took some risks, it was a real sleigh ride. It wasn’t easy, but you just hung on to get away from the others from the outset.

With Philippe Vicariot, it’s going to be really hot in the general rankings, but it’s fantastic news to be in the lead. That said, we’ve had two legs with little distance between each competitor so we’ll be leaving the Sables in almost the same way as we left Boulogne. It’s always better to be in front, even though the pressure will be on and that’s evidently not a good thing. Luckily, this is my third solo race, and I’m surprising myself, I’m very relaxed this year… »

Philippe Vicariot (Thales) : the engineer-skipper

He’s laying in ambush, just four short minutes (4’48’’) from Kito’s stern. Still among the top-rankers in the positioning, Philippe, the engineer-skipper, remains, at 42, an old hand of the solo which he undertakes to assuage his passion for sea spray. With a heady dream for a motorised Vendée Globe, he keeps the memory of the 1995 edition well anchored. Philippe finished second, eight minutes in the wake of Poupon. So near to tasting and yet so far from savouring victory. He is quite ready to forge ahead.

« We’ve had a lot to deal with, a lot of emotions and that’s why we sail. Like during the first day in the Irish Sea, under spinnaker, bordering on the reasonable. But we had to push under heavy spinnaker just to gain a few metres at the finish. Every second will count as far as Cherbourg. And then afterwards, it was 25 hours of light winds which made you pull your hair out and makes holes in your stomach. One spell is ok … another is not ok. At the end, the concertina effect played in my favour. I passed via the south-west of the island of Yeu. At that time, things were so equal that you had to take a few risks. You had to do something, give it a little bit extra. I finished second at the Sables d’Olonne. For me there was the added incentive to do well since I really hope to be at the start of the Vendée Globe, at the helm of a boat twice the size of this one. »

Gilles Chiorri (32 01 of Météo Consult) : gentleman skipper willing Mac Giver

He talks anticyclones, depressions, and passages of fronts. He explains the phenomena to everyone – fine weather for a parish priest or a big splash of Trafalgar – awaits the competitors. He is very taken with weather issues, a science that he has experienced a great deal of, as much in solo races as around the world, which he has just done at high speed with a capital S aboard Orange. Officer in the merchant navy, then skipper of the prestigious Gitana VI, then graduating with an MBA, Gilles can change tack as he wishes.

Always listening out for the mermaids of the sea and of competition, he never hesitates in really pushing the helm to increase his experiences and stand out as an atypical profile. This partaker of the Figaro, with all the allures of a "gentleman skipper", goes out of his way to be different and has succeeded rather well. So that explains how he has got to number three in the general rankings, at less than 10 minutes from the leader (9’26’’), after playing Mac Giver on leaving the Irish Sea. « We hadn’t been at sea for four hours before I racked up a sorry tale of misfortune : a torn mainsail and spinnaker. I was handicapped but thanks to some ingenious DIY, I managed to get the boat back on course again after 24 hours. Even the on board pharmacy was brought in and I was able to make use of the plasters – as well as the Figaro logo –to repair the sails. I did the Mac Giver, but it was worth it. In solo sailing, you have to know how to do everything : you have to be a high performance sailor, have good physical strength and sometimes use a bit of technique… like using a tube of adhesive ! ».

Changes afoot amongst the newcomers

It’s Gwénaël Riou (Espoir Crédit Agricole) who takes the lead in the rankings among the first participations. But he had his work cut out with the « miss » of the fleet, queen of the breeze, always right amongst the best of them in the circuit. « It’s a shame, I dropped a lot of places in the last day », laments Jeanne Grégoire (Département de l’Aisne) who payed dearly for her pitstop at the island of Yeu. Arnaud Boissières (Delta Dore & Partenaires) lost out the most between Crosshaven and Les Sables d’Olonne : first at Crosshaven, he sadly drops to third place. It’s always hard, hard being a newcomer !

Laure Faÿ