The 54th La Solitaire du Figaro Paprec, a renowned solo sailing race, kicked off its first stage today at Ouistreham beach off Caen on France's Normandy coast. The 32 solo skippers were given a purposeful but relatively straightforward start on a 610 nautical miles leg, which passes down the English Channel. The racers will giant slalom across the Channel three times before turning northwest to the popular, pretty haven of Kinsale on Ireland's south coast.

Gaston Morvan, a young sailor from Région Bretagne CMB, broke the start line first and built a decent lead around a short upwind-downwind inshore course. He earned the Trophée Windchaser by Bollé for his start and the Paprec Trophy for leading round the first circuit. The moderate to fresh breeze was both shifty and puffy, keeping the solo racers on their toes from the gun. The racers were blown away by the built-up nerves and stress of a week of countdown, waiting in Caen city, with an immediate surge of adrenaline.

A sharp rain shower hit the racers, which was heralded by a sudden drop in the wind. However, as soon as the little front blew over, the fleet headed out into the Channel, heeled sharply. The first cross-channel section on Sunday afternoon and evening should be a speed race to Nab Tower in a heading, fading breeze. The leaders will likely stay south, outside of the Isle of Wight, unless there is enough north in the breeze to make it through the Solent on one tack with the new, favourable tide. 

The course crosses back to Les Jument des Haux off Paimpol on the north Brittany coast, where the long climb through the Scillies to the Fastnet begins, passing the tip of Lands End. The leaders should be into Kinsale first thing Thursday morning. Early on the stage out of the bay this afternoon, a collision occurred between Loison and Hugo Dahlenne from YC de Saint Lunaire, a top Bizuth prospect. However, neither skipper was injured, and the damage is described as "not performance affecting."

Overall, the start of the race was purposeful, with Morvan leading the charge and the fleet experiencing a mixture of shifting and puffy breezes. The racers will now continue on their journey, with the leaders expected to reach Kinsale by Thursday morning.

A true Figaro ‘full fat, no holds barred’ edition

This 54th edition of the pinnacle French annual solo offshore race – the first of five editions to be sponsored by giant French recycling and alternative energy group Paprec – comprises three long stages, all over 600 miles (usually four days and four nights) – totalling 1850 nautical miles. After the Kinsale opener, which starts with tiring tidal, coastal, channel sections moving into a more open offshore stage up the Celtic Sea, the 630 miles second leg goes to Roscoff via a passage up the Irish Sea to the Isle of Man and down into the mouth of Bristol Channel round Land’s End to the Bay of Morlaix.

And before the finish in Piriac sur Mer there is a big, ‘standard issue’ open, offshore across the Bay of Biscay and back. Race Director Yann Chateau, an accomplished offshore racer in his own right, has drawn a course that maximises time on the water, minimises recovery periods to a sensible level and should fully test all of the different key attributes required by a deserved winner.

Who’s who?

Of the young guns, on paper one of the outstanding talents is Le Havre’s 28-year-old Guillaume Pirouelle (Région Normandie). The former 470 Olympic campaigner, a youth European champion in the class, was second overall last year and won the second stage and has just won the Solo Concarneau Guy Cotten. Gaston Morvan shows great promise and is consistently in the top group, fifth overall in 2022, but is still looking for his first stage win but could make it onto the overall podium this edition.

Corentin Horeau, 34, returns for his seventh La Solitaire du Figaro. After a six-year break, Horeau came back in 2021 and has finished eighth and 13th but is very much on form this year. He races now in the colours of Banque Populaire, who are back in La Solitaire du Figaro Paprec and won the early season Solo Maire CoQ. And Alexis Loison is back for his 17th La Solitaire at the age of 38 with a new sponsor Groupe REEL. He is the veritable Jedi master in the Channel tides and currents and has been sailing fast. Has has finished fourth twice and many times in the top ten.

And Ireland’s Tom Dolan (Smurfit Kappa-Kingspan) has worked hard to become a regular fixture near the front of the peloton. He was seventh last year and fifth in 2020 and has the potential to finish on the podium. Briton Alan Roberts is, of course, engaged in an IMOCA programme and misses the race for the first time in ten years. There are five women racing this year, including Élodie Bonafous (Queguiner La Vie en Rose), who finished eighth last year and was third on the last leg last year, the first female to do so since Clare Francis. Bonafous already has a 2028 Vendée Globe programme under way with her sponsors Queguiner which supported Yann Eliès on the 2016-17 race.

Overseas, non French

As well as Dolan and Swiss skipper Nils Palmieri (Teamwork), there are four other international racers. Susann Beucke (This Race is Female), Germany’s 49er FX Olympic silver medallist in Tokyo, returns for her second challenge, more experienced – not least after time with the Holcim-PRB team winning Leg 2 of The Ocean Race – she has hopes of a solid, competitive race.

Celtic adventurer 61-year-old Piers Copham has designs on the 2028 Vendée Globe with the Voiles des Anges charity, which supports bereaved parents and families who lose infant children. Brit David Paul (Just A Drop) is into his third race, aiming to finish every leg with a decent performance to build a platform for the future. And Kiwi Ben Beasley (Ocean Attitude), 23 is one of the ten rookies competing this year for the Beneteau Trophée.

They said:

Corentin Horeau (Banque Populaire): “ I don't care if people say I'm one of the favourites. I try to do my race without looking too much at others as I have been doing since the start of the season. I will try to stick to my course, favorite or not favorite. Last year, I think I was in the favorites and I was 13th. We'll see at the end. The first stage will be a real Figaro stage. You have to get into the top group. There will be twists everywhere. We will try to take pleasure in seeing the others come back individually or come back in the groups. I think there will be a lot of lead changes. We do not really know what it will be like when we arrive in Ireland. We are really in a pure and hard stage of Solitaire”.

Tom Dolan (IRL) Smurfit Kappa-Kingspan: “ The big question is between The Needles and the mark at Jument des Heaux no one really knows what will be going on there, if there might be a sea breeze coming in from England. The thing is of there is sea breeze we might end up getting stuck for six hours (as the sea breeze would kill the gradient) with no wind. I feel grand.”

Alexis Loison (Groupe REEL): “Most of all you have to have a clear weather picture in your head it's important. It's not going to be simple, just like every start of La Solitaire. You can break it down, there is a coastal part where the land influences the wind, and a lot of current all the same. Even if for the moment we have small tidal coefficients, they will increase quickly. And then the strong current can lead to many possible stop-starts. And in terms of weather, there are quite a few small phenomena that pass with very dynamic fronts which are often poorly detailed by the models. There is a real element of uncertainty, you might see a boat be 500 meters next to you which flies away in a puff, a gust that you don’t get will have to have your eyes open. And above all, believe in your options. I am aiming for a podium, at the minimum”

Elodie Bonafous (Queguiner La Vie en Rose): “I am ready. Everything is on board the boat, I have plenty of good things to eat, I have the weather forecast and clear ideas. I can't wait to leave. We are always afraid of having forgotten something, but the stress I had was more positive stress that boosts me. I feel fit. It ended well last year, started well this year. I've worked a lot mentally so I want to be pushing even more, to be at sea every night and give my all. The Solo Guy Cotten, after my recovery from injury, was quite positive so I remain on target for my objectives for the start of the season. The general objective is to finish ideally in the Top 5 to do better than last year. I hope to repeat and be back on the podium, and most of all not to make big mistake, not to take too long, not to take too many risks risky or burn myself out at the start of the race. The first stage is like a series of little coastal courses where there are currents and local effects. I like that. There will be a lot happening in terms of the weather, which will be very uncertain. I'm starting with more experience so I think it can be an advantage to be able to remain lucid and be able to make good decisions towards the end of the legs We will see ".

Racing in westerly winds gusting to 30 knots, local crews hold the top three places overall after the first two races of the Squib South Coast Championship at Kinsale Yacht Club.

National champions Ian Travers and Keith O'Riordan won both races that were held outside Kinsale Harbour.

The 21-boat fleet assembled for the Squib South Coast Championships at Kinsale Yacht Club Photo: Bob Bateman

Second in the 21-boat fleet is James and Harvey Matthews who took a 2,3 to be on five points and one ahead of club commodore Matthias Hellstern and Colm Daly. 

Second overall James and Harvey Matthews lead around a weather mark at the Squib Southern Championships at Kinsale Photo: Bob Bateman

With the forecast looking slightly lighter for Sunday, the hope is to run three races in the Frank Clark Ltd Sponsored event.

Squib Southern Championships 2023 Photo Gallery by Bob Bateman

The Squib South Coast Championships are scheduled for this weekend at Kinsale Yacht Club, where the class has strong support.

Racing is planned for Saturday and Sunday, with the rules requiring that boats be kept afloat during the event, no hauling-out and no cleaning below the waterline by any means allowed during the championships. Pretty strict regulations to keep the boats in equal conditions!

As Afloat previously reported, the National Squib Championships were raced at Weymouth Bay in Dorset, hosted by the local sailing club last week on the south coast of England. In strong conditions, with winds up to 25 knots, they did not thrive. Kinsale YC’s 'Outlaw' (Ian Travers and Keith O'Riordan) was best Irish-placed, in 26th.

Squibs are two-person keelboats measuring seven metres long, originally designed in 1967 as a racing and teaching boat. There are 800 of what is a one-design class around Britain and Ireland.

The Department of Transport has been advised by the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences at University College Cork that on on Tuesday 12 June it deployed 12 benthic sensors between the Seven Heads and the Old Head of Kinsale in West Cork.

These sensors are being used in scientific research which aims to track skate using acoustic tracking equipment.

The benthic sensors will be deployed for 12 months. Each sensor consists of a mooring weight and an acoustic sensor for tracking tagged skate in the area. None have surface markers.

A map and coordinates of the sensor positions as well as contact details can be found in Marine Notice No 39 of 2023, attached below.

Kinsale Yacht Club will host the “O’Leary Life South Coast Dragon Championships” from the 26th – 28th of May. The event, which is the first regional event on the Irish Dragon class calendar, will mark the start of an exciting 16 months for Kinsale Yacht Club, which host the Nationals in August this year and then the Gold Cup in September 2024.

Commodore Matthias Hellstern, who is sailing with long-time Dragon sailor, Anthony O’Neill for the South Coasts, commented, “Firstly, thank you to Brian Goggin and all at O’Leary Life for sponsoring the event; we simply can’t run the event without sponsors. Kinsale Yacht Club has such a fantastic history with this wonderful class, and we are really looking forward to showcasing to all Dragon sailors what Kinsale has to offer over the months ahead”

Brian Goggin of O’Leary Life commented, “This month, O’Leary Life celebrates being 50 years in business. As part of our 50th-year celebrations, for the next 12 months, we will support various community organisations and give back to those who have supported us throughout the years. For the month of May, we are thrilled to sponsor Kinsale Yacht Club for the South Coast Dragon Championships”

Kinsale Yacht Club Commodore Matthias Hellstern (left) with Brian Goggin of O’Leary Life at the South Coast Dragon Championships for the West Cork port later this month

Although the sponsor may be celebrating 50 years in business, they are still some years behind the Dragon Design, who will turn 94 this year, having been conceived in 1929!

The class continues to reinvent itself, with Glandore now home to the largest fleet in Ireland, with many of their youth sailors looking like future dragon champions. Of course, the legendary dragon sailor Don Street has been one of the major backers of youth dragon sailing in Glandore, sharing his knowledge for decades in the West Cork harbour

The event will be an early season indicator of who has “wintered” the best, with stalwarts like Peter Bowring and his team on Phantom and Cameron Good with Little Fella among the early entries. James Matthews, fresh from winning the recent Keelboat regatta in Kinsale, are the early favourites but other local boats such as Whisper and Ghost will also be battling at the sharp end in what is shaping up to be a seriously competitive fleet.

The first Wednesday night of La Bougie Early Summer Cruiser Racing at Kinsale Yacht Club in Cork had to be cancelled due to high winds, but it is hoped to get going this Wednesday night, May 10 with First Gun (FG) at 18.55.

One Design Racing for Squibs and Dragons will be on Thursday at FG 18.55. McCarthy Insurances Early Summer TGIF on Friday will have FG 18.55.

The past weekend saw the Keelboat Regatta sponsored by Kinsale Boatyard. Six Dragons raced with James Matthews, TBD, being the winner on 5 points overall, from three first placings and two seconds in the five-race series. Second was Whisper (Brian Goggin) on 9 points and third Little Fella (Cameron Good) on 10,

The Squibs Class also sailed five races in the Kingstons Kinsale Boatyard series, which was won by Outlaw (IanTravers/Keith O’Riordan), having been first in all five races. Second was Fuggles (Sean and Paul Murphy) and third Flora (Bobby Nash/Frances Corkery).

The O’Leary Life Dragon South Coast will begin on Friday May 26.

Sea Sunday will be held next Sunday, May.14.

Final preparations are underway for the Simply Blue Sovereigns Cup which begins on June 21.

Fog may have shrouded the reappearance of the classic 33-metre superyacht Mariette off Kinsale Harbour County Cork yesterday, but there was no mistaking the silhouette of the two-masted gaff schooner.

Designed and built by Nathanael Greene Herreshoff in 1915, Mariette arrived in Kinsale after a one-day voyage from Falmouth on the English South Coast.

Mariette was built as "Project 698" by Nathanael Herreshoff, at his Bristol, Rhode Island yard, for prominent yachtsman Harold S. Vanderbilt.

She was part of a series of seven large schooners built between 1903 and 1905 by the Herreshoff shipyard. Mariette and her sister-ship, Vagrant, are the last of this series still in service.

Yesterday's arrival into Kinsale was not a maiden voyage to West Cork as Bob Bateman's photos below document; Mariette sailed in 17 years ago, cutting quite a dash at the Fastnet Rock in the summer of 2006.

(Above and below) Designed and built by Nathanael Greene Herreshoff in 1915, Mariette is pictured off the Fastnet Rock in 2006 Photos: Bob Bateman

Located just a few miles from Kinsale town on the banks of the River Bandon, River House is back on the market with a €950,000 price tag, as the Irish Examiner reports.

The four-bed bungalow hasn’t been getting enough use as a holiday home for its current Dublin-based owner — but it could be your perfect getaway or even a new primary home for a more easy pace of life.

Breathtaking views over the river from this waterfront property are a given through the generous floor-to-ceiling windows in the master bedroom and living area.

Access to Kinsale is by road or by water, as the property comes with its own slipway, pier and mooring.

The locality has has its fair share of famous residents, too, with the Georgian-era Ballywilliam House up the road once owned by Tori Amos.

The Irish Examiner has more on the story HERE.

Two-and-a-half million euro could snag you a stunning home right on the waterside in the Summercove area of Kinsale.

The Anchorage dates from the Victorian era when it was home to a British navy admiral. In more recent times, Hollywood star Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio and film director Patrick O'Connor called it their address.

Today it’s a luxury three-bed, three-storey waterfront property with a blend of traditional and modern styling that maximises its space to the fullest — not to mention magnificent views over the West Cork harbour from its many windows.

Viewing is by appointment with agents Engel & Voelkers, who have more on this property HERE.

The course for 2023's 54th edition of La Solitaire du Figaro will be contested over three stages over the period August 27 to September 13 and will call to Kinsale in late August.

As Afloat reported earlier, the route was unveiled today at the Hôtel du Département de Loire-Atlantique in Nantes with the news that Ireland will have at least on entry in the race thanks to County Meath sailor, Tom Dolan.

This time, the perennial pinnacle solo race of the French Elite Offshore Racing Championship covers a monumental 1,850 nautical miles over three successive, demanding stages.

It starts from the Channel port of Caen (Calvados) and finishes three weeks later on the Loire Atlantic coast at Piriac-sur-Mer (Loire-Atlantique). It takes the solo racers to stopovers in Kinsale (Ireland) and the Bay of Morlaix (Finistère). More than 30 solo skippers are expected to compete on what remains the ultimate annual solo racing multi-stage offshore race.

La Solitaire du Figaro course 2023

The course passes through the English Channel, Celtic Sea, the Irish Sea, Iroise Sea and out and back across the Bay of Biscay. So La Solitaire du Figaro 2023 promises to be as demanding as it ever has been, each stage this time requiring the skippers to spend up to four nights at sea.

“We have kept true to the DNA of the race with varied types of course. After a start in the English Channel from the city of Caen, the Figarists the stages will combine an almost equal mix of inshore coastal and open, offshore racing. " says Yann Chateau who is the race director of La Solitaire of Figaro.

The race moves to a stopover outside of France for the first time since the global helath crisis. And the intermediate time bonuses for the podium positions at the sprint markers now get 5 minutes subtracted from their elapsed time for the first to pass the mark, the second gets three minutes and the third one minute.

Ireland's Tom Dolan competing off Kinsale in 2019 - the County Meath Irish solo sailor harbours a strong ambition for a top result when the race returns to Kinsale at the end of the first leg of the 2023 Figaro Race this August Photo: Bob Bateman

Kinsale, Ireland hosts a race stopover for the 21st time in history

After leaving the City of Caen, which hosts the Grand Départ of the race for the third time after 2004 and 2007 there is a very technical opening to a first course mark at the Saint-Marcouf Islands which are left to starboard followed by a passage across the Channel to the Isle of Wight passing the Nab Tower, east of the Isle of Wight and the Needles Fairway, the west of the island, where the first intermediate sprint marker is.

"Bypassing the Isle of Wight, either down the Solent to the north of the island or offshore outside depending on the current and the strategy of each, could well open the game here," says Yann Chateau.

He continues, " The fleet will double back across the Channel a second time towards Bréhat where a new tactical choice needs to be made at Guernsey depending on the current and the weather forecas before making the long tack to get the Fastnet then heading back east along the Irish coast to get to the beautiful haven of Kinsale, a great classic stop which will host La Solitaire du Figaro for the 21st time”.

Concentration and maximum focus will be required until the finish, the topography of the Irish coastline and the different headlands points can create local wind effects and in 2019, last time there, the top three into Kinsale were separated by just 3mins and 47 seconds, Yoann Richomme winning the stage by 1 min 13 seconds ahead of a debuting rookie named Tom Laperche.

Roscoff - Baie de Morlaix in 2021 Photo: Alexis Courcoux

An unprecedented second stage between Kinsale and the Bay of Morlaix via the Isle of Man

La Solitaire du Figaro will then head for Brittany, the scenic Bay of Morlaix, which will welcome the Figarists for the 6th time in its history, with one single waypoint at the Isle of Man and an intermediate sprint at Chicken Rock.

“La Solitaire du Figaro has planned to go north to the Isle of Man before but it has never happened yet, usually because of the weather. But our recent experience of the 3rd leg of the 2022 race underlined again that the Figaro BENETEAU 3s are very seaworthy and can withstand strong weather conditions. This course is therefore feasible in September." says Yann Chateau. "It is a stage that can be considered as coastal knowing that the Irish Sea is not very wide. There are sandbars, lots of fishing boats and points to pass.”

The other difficulty of this stage includes the current at the passages of Land's End, the south-west tip of England. And of course fatigue really accumulates for the sailors as they arrive back towards the Breton coast on a leg on which there is really no let up and very little time to rest. 

A finish in Piriac-sur-Mer, in Loire-Atlantique

The major partner of the event, the Department of Loire-Atlantique sees the finish of La Solitaire du Figaro into a new host city: Piriac-sur-Mer. The finale stage, will once again arrive in the Pays de la Loire region and is a more open, offshore sailing stage.

The first course mark at the Chaussée de Sein will open up the field of play from the start in the Iroise Sea where choices need to be made, among other things, between the Chenal du Four and the Passage de Fromveur, before crossing the Bay of Biscay to a buoy off Gijón, Spain which will also act as a gate for the third intermediate sprint.

“This stage can be quite tricky knowing that at that time, there can be high pressure ridges in the Bay of Biscay with only little mouse holes of wind to use ,” says Yann Chateau. "It's a stage on which the fleet should be more spread out than on the previous one and the potential gaps greater. The finish into Piriac-sur-Mer will offer a technical 'sting in the tail' with the Four plateau, the prohibited areas and the potential windshadows and puffs of the islands."

The course is very much specified to the strengths of the Figaro BENETEAU 3 as well as the expectations of sailors and stopover cities. All in all there should be a great, engaging race on the water until the final finish line as well as a very popular celebration on land.

IN BRIEF

Stage #1 Caen – Kinsale : 610 nautical miles
Departure August 27 (expected arrival August 30)

Stage #2 Kinsale – Baie de Morlaix : 630 nautical miles
Departure September 3 (expected arrival September 6)

Stage #3 Baie de Morlaix – Piriac-sur-Mer : 620 nautical miles
Departure September 10 (expected arrival September 13)