The Irish solo sailor Tom Dolan is leading the 52nd La Solitaire du Figaro fleet towards the Fastnet Rock with high hopes that he will be able to stay in front and lead the 34 boat fleet round the iconic lighthouse around midnight local time tonight.

The skipper of Smurfit Kappa-Kingspan made a key move early this morning when he chose to stay west, close to the Scilly Isles where he found more wind and was able to accelerate ahead of his rivals, most of whom had stuck close to the Cornish coast.

Dolan, 34, from County Meath, has had a good record racing to the Fastnet in recent editions of the annual French multi-stage solo race. Last year he also led the race and rounded third, en route to finishing fifth overall.

After two disappointing stages to Lorient and Fécamp, Dolan is hoping he has saved his best for the last leg, a marathon 685 miles leg which started from Roscoff Sunday afternoon and should finish into Saint Nazaire on the French Loire-Atlantic coast late on Thursday.

With 70 miles to sail to the Fastnet, he was more than five miles clear of the next sailor, France’s Xavier Macaire (Groupe SNEF) who led Dolan round the rock last year. Macaire, who lies second on the overall standings after three of the four stages, has been fast all afternoon and was closing miles on the Irish leader.

I was kinda expecting this ranking following my route to the west of TSS. I knew I was ahead but I didn't know by how much. It’s great to be in this position, especially when I feel like I’m heading homewards towards Ireland. I come from a small town which is in the northeast of Ireland, north of Dublin, almost on the border with Northern Ireland.” He told the race media team on board the guard boat,

Explaining his strategy he said, “I had seen from the files that it was more wind in the west, and that there was something to do. I lost everyone with the fog last night and the AIS not working. I had my doubts, I thought I was the only one going that way. But we have also Philippe (Hartz) and Maël (Garnier) I think it was them as I heard them talking in the radio. The Fastnet, I must have passed it about 50 times because I spent a lot of time in Baltimore, and we often went out there often.”

“Right now the sun is shining, it's great if a bit rare at this time of year. I'm afraid there won’t be much wind when I get to the lighthouse. This morning, I slept a lot and now I'm steering a lot to get to the Fastnet because I would like to get round before the bad wind arrives. I feel like I'm on the right timing I think, I have my fingers crossed, I might get some good luck from Ireland.”

In English Dolan said, “I am happy with my position at about 80 miles from the Fastnet, I think we will arrive there about midnight Irish time, it will be a bit of a pig because I was looking forwards to seeing Ireland, so I won’t see much of it this time around. I am happy to be going there just the same. The conditions are fairly good at the moment. I have around 20-24kts of wind and am under big spinnaker with a bit of swell over the back of the boat and I am pushing along at 12-13-14kts. I am happy with what happened. On the GRIB files I had seen there was a but more wind in the west and sailed very low and it seemed to work. I was a bit doubtful heading into the fog but here we are, voila, voila.

Tracker here

Irish solo sailor Tom Dolan was placing his faith in a slightly different, more westerly strategy as he left Morlaix Bay in north Brittany this afternoon at the start of a mammoth 685 miles final stage of La Solitaire du Figaro. The skipper of Smurfit Kappa - Kingspan, who lies 19th overall, had left the dock saying he expected to stick with the main group as much as possible on the 270 miles leg up to the Fastnet Rock.

“I have to be nice and patient and work hard on the climb north I would say. I am going very, very low risk on the way up, stay with the group as much as possible.” Dolan said.

After three nights of decent sleep, extended today as the start was delayed until 1600hrs this afternoon because of light winds, Dolan was in a positive frame of mind, looking forwards to seeing the Irish rock lighthouse close to where he started his sailing career as an instructor at Glenans in Baltimore, “I feel a lot better than when I came in here a few days ago. I have had some good rest and am ready for this. I often do quite well going out to the Fastnet, certainly it feels like going home even if it is only hearing the weather forecasts in a nice Irish accent and knowing the French guys won’t be understanding it! But I spent a number of happy years teaching at Glenans in Baltimore near the light. I don’t think there is any extra local knowledge I might have, it will be so light, and most of these guys have been out there a few times. But I feel good, light downwind I don’t seem to be too bad at. But I want to just stay with my ‘petits copains’ (friends) as much as I can and then see on the way back.”

Reviewing the complex weather picture Dolan concluded, “There will be a lot of downwind sailing and a lot of light wind sailing. Getting up to the Fastnet is not going to be that complicated and there might be a bit of a bend in the wind around Cornwall which you have to play right. There is not too much to be gained from splitting from the pack and taking big risks and a lot to be lost. If you are a little bit behind at the Fastnet that could turn into a big kicking, a big loss. There is a weird frontal system at the Fastnet which the first boast can get through with a nice big lead.”

The fourth and final stage of the race should finish in Saint Nazaire on the Loire-Atlantic coast late on Thursday.

The disappointment was etched into Tom Dolan’s tired face as he docked Smurfit Kappa-Kingspan into Roscoff this afternoon at the end of a tough 624 miles Stage 3 of La Solitaire du Figaro.

Having been ninth at Bishop Rock, at the Scilly Isles yesterday afternoon Dolan crossed the finish line in 19th place more than three hours and 13 minutes after stage winner Pierre Quiroga.

The final night across the entrance to the English channel proved very tough and confounded many of the other top solo racers. The breeze was very unsettled in terms of wind strength and direction making it hard to maintain a rhythm. South of the Scillies, he lost places on the east side of the Traffic Separation Scheme exclusion zone around 0300-0400hrs early this morning when racing in a tight group and then tacked away with a group to the south in anticipation of an expected increase in the breeze and change in the wind direction.

His problems were compounded when the breeze dropped and the contrary tide started building within a few miles of the finish line, Dolan being stuck with a group of others trying to make the finish gun.

Dolan grimaced, "I feel a bit sickened really. I felt like I had sailed quite well until last night and one cross, just before the wind died and then I did not get going. It was a pretty brutal stage and right now I am pretty fed up, especially sitting out there for an extra three hours fighting the tide. I feel like I sailed better than that."

Things had been looking good for Tom Dolan on Smurfit Kappa-Kingspan going into the final 120-mile Isles of Scilly to Roscoff leg of Stage 3 in the Figaro Solo 2021.

He’d worked his way up to 8th as they made their way in difficult winds across the English Channel, but with first one side of the fleet being favoured, and then the other, the Irish skipper seemed too often to be with the wrong group, until by the time he finished at 15.13.03 hrs French time this afternoon, he was back in 19th place in the 34-boat fleet. More detailed analysis from the Dolan Team here

Tracker here

In the exceptionally challenging sailing of the 620-mile third stage of the Figaro Solo 2021, Tom Dolan on Smurfit Kappa-Kingspan was lying eighth as he rounded the Bishop Rock at the western point of the Isles of Scilly at 1400 hours today (Wednesday) and shaped his course for the 120-mile final leg to Roscoff in Brittany. To say that his fortunes have been up and down really understates it, as he has been in a best placing of sixth, but equally for a while was back in 30th in the 34-boat fleet in which the boats have seldom seen more than a six miles range across the fleet, but now in the closing stages are beginning to experience a greater spread.

Details in Tracker here

Ireland’s solo offshore racer Tom Dolan set out from Fécamp on the north coast of France at midday today ready to take on the 620 miles Leg 3 of La Solitaire du Figaro. After two tough stages which both featured long periods battling upwind in brisk winds, Leg 3 looks set to be a complicated, light winds stage with the breeze rarely topping 20 knots but mostly downwind and reaching and many, many transitions and potential options to make up lost time.

Dolan lies 17th in the 34 boat fleet with a deficit of 5 hrs 34 minutes on the leader Pierre Quiroga of France, but the Irish skipper of Smurfit Kappa-Kingspan has rested well on the four-day long stopover in Fécamp, making sure he was well prepared and fully briefed for the leg which takes the fleet across the Channel to a buoy off Chichester -east of the Isle of Wight – where the leaders should reach around midnight tonight.

Then there is a strategic choice to be made during Monday morning whether to go south of the Casquettes traffic separation zone which excludes small craft from the busy shipping lane north of the Channel Island and south of Brixham.

But this stage will be mainly raced in light winds on tidal currents which are now getting stronger each day. The race goes to Saint Gowan shoals off the southwest tip of Wales and finishes into Roscoff on Morlaix Bay. The weather situation becomes quite dynamic through the last 24 hours of the race with a small, not very active low pressure passing over the fleet. This will likely allow the fleet to compact again close to the finish, which may be one of the many opportunities for Dolan to claw back some time.

“It looks like it will be light winds.” Commented the Irish skipper who was tenth of the first leg, “It looks like there will be a split in the fleet at the Casquettes but it was changing all the time on the files this morning. The strategy will be to get south if possible in the Channel. Off the start line you need to be anticipating where the tide will be at the first mark and not get stuck there. When the wind and tide are going the same way there is in effect less wind and so you have to avoid that.”

“At least there are lots of options on this leg with boats going in different directions at different times. I will be looking to make up for my disastrous second stage. It will be tricky getting round that first mark tonight with light winds and strong tides. There will be lots of opportunities to win and to lose, it is a good old fashioned leg of La Solitaire. I have slept four good nights here, eaten well and looked after myself and so I am on top form. Getting down the English Channel it will be important to get down towards the southwest as the wind is stronger there. But the winds will be light and angles will be all over the place.”

It was a tired, disappointed but totally objective Tom Dolan who arrived in Fécamp, France this morning in 22nd place at the end of a tough 490 miles Leg 2 of La Solitaire du Figaro which started on Sunday afternoon from Lorient in Brittany.

Dolan was on the back foot all the way through the leg after being unable to hold his own off the start line and around intense four-leg circuit designed to give spectators a sight of the action before the 34 boat fleet leaves for the open sea.

A small deficit to the leaders opened further in the English Channel and this morning finished 3 hours and 34 minutes behind the stage winner Pierre Quiroga. After a solid 10th on the first leg Dolan now lies in 17th, two seconds ahead of his British rival Alan Roberts.

“Look we are halfway in and there is a long, long way to go.” Dolan remarked, “I am paying a price for my starting. I suppose that it was easier last year when we just left and were straight into it because of the health situation.” He commented on the dock in Fécamp, “I made a mess of the start and then for the first 12 hours I was not that good and from there it was generally a rich get richer situation. You forget how harsh the English Channel is when you end up nearly a tide behind. You get further and further back and when the tide changes from the west you get worse. I was sailing straight at the buoy on the first leg to Rochebonne and that did not seem to work. I passed some boats and some passed me but so much is down to the start. I was blessed last year because of the health situation there was no inshore courses and we just left every time. I am a bit disappointed to be honest, but in terms of how far I am behind the leader, I did think it would be a lot worse. So I need to be more careful and get going at the start. And I have water all over the place inside the boat. My starboard side foils is wobbling all over the place and I was definitely quicker on one tack than the other. I was not so worried about losing a couple of boats coming in, this is all about the big picture, aggregate time.”

Dolan and the 33 other skippers have three days to rest up before Stage 3 starts on Sunday.

Tom Dolan (Smurfit Kappa-Kingspan) is hoping for some compression with the front of the fleet as Stage 2 of La Solitaire du Figaro, from Lorient to Fécamp, takes on the notorious Alderney Race. The strong tidal current there, between Alderney and Cap de la Hague on the NW corner of the Cherbourg Cotentin peninsula, will build against the leaders this morning from around nine o’clock.

Dolan is lying in 19th place and has a deficit, according to the official tracker of around eight miles, but in reality, the bow of Smurfit Kappa-Kingspan is around 4.6 miles from the stern of leader Pierre Quiroga (Skipper MACIF 2019) and Dolan is making good speeds to the south of the main group, trying to stay out of the worst of the tide.

Racing in unsettled northeasterly winds of 18-20 kts it has been a very long night with not much rest, sailing in close to the rocky coastline round the north Brittany coast.

The leaders should pass the Cap de la Hague and the tip of the Cotentin peninsula this afternoon and evening before the long passage across the Bay de la Seine towards Fécamp.

“We are looking at really low tidal ranges at the moment and so tides will not be as important as on leg 1, or normally, Tuesday afternoon there should be a shift in the breeze to the left and that should be the trend as we get east of the high pressure system. So from north of Barfleur onwards it should be all on port tack, straight in to the finish on a slowly lifting breeze.” Marcel van Triest, weather adviser to Dolan’s Lorient training group advised pre-start in Lorient, Sunday.

The winds look set to build in the final night at sea to give a brisk, tough finish into Fécamp Wednesday morning.

After a promising tenth place on the 627 nautical miles first stage of La Solitaire du Figaro, Ireland’s Tom Dolan was fighting something of a rearguard battle after a modest start to Stage 2 this afternoon off Lorient.

At the exit from a challenging four leg round the buoys sprint stage, leaving Lorient, Dolan on Smurfit Kappa-Kinsgpan was in 24th place over one mile behind the early leader, French ace Tom Laperche.

Dolan was staying cool and planning to stick to the strategies discussed with weather guru Marcel Van Triest who advises the Lorient Grand Large group that the Irish skipper has been training with since his days in the Mini650 class. A slow down was predicted for early evening some three or four hours after this afternoon’s 1400hrs start. As the 34 boat fleet approach Belle Ile on the early part of a 100 miles downwind passage to Rochebonne light, the NE’ly wind should go light and so present some opportunity for a catch up.

But in terms of the General Classification he was in good shape, starting the 490 miles stage round Brittany with a deficit of 2hrs 15 minutes 41 seconds on the leader of the race Xavier Macaire (Groupe SNEF) 47 minutes behind third placed Tom Laperche (Bretagne CMB Performance) and within a handful on minutes of the top five.

His tenth place on the first leg as a great morale boost for him, not least as an opening benchmark in the 34 boat fleet. But this second stage passes through all of Brittany’s notorious tidal traps including Raz du Sein at Ushant and the Raz Blanchard – or Alderney Race – as well as an often challenging finale into Fécamp – and so big time gaps can be opened or closed depending on timing at these key stages and the prevailing wind strength.

As he cast of his lines from Lorient this afternoon, in bright sunshine Dolan commented,

“The weather is looking that there might be no really big tidal gates unless we are behind the routing we have. We get stuck a bit at Penmarc’h tomorrow but you never know. Because the wind has been in the North East for so long it might mess up the tides a bit in the English Channel but let’s see. The focus straight away is getting off the start line better this time and not being left behind, and not crashing into anyone. This first part has a lot of manoeuvres and so they need to be clean and then you need to be quick tonight. I know this passage to Belle ile and to Rochebonne pretty well, I’ve been out there more times than I have had hot dinners!”

“This is a good old fashioned La Solitaire coastal course. There will be hardly any time to sleep, maybe a bit of a siesta before the chenal de Four but it not like the first leg when we could sleep a lot on the upwind in the open waters of the Bay of Biscay. But with this high pressure system centred over Ireland and Scotland the thing is it will upwind almost all the way. That should, I hope be good for me as I had pretty good speed upwind, I have a little magic setting for my jib that I have worked on. That was good in the strong winds, but let us see.” Dolan explained on Saturday as he did his final strategic planning.

“It has been a good stopover for me. I feel rested even if I struggle to sleep. This morning I found myself up at four in the morning doing weather, but I kind of figure that is OK. As long as I bank sleep when I am feeling tired then I do find it is better to try and stay in the rhythm of the race.” He explained.

“The English channel will be interesting. I have two very different routings and need to see how it plays out nearer the time.”

The stage is expected to finish into Fécamp on Wednesday morning, which would in theory mark the halfway point of the four stages race.

Tracker chart here

Localised wind shifts in the finishing sections of Stage 1 of the Figaro Solo 2021 at Lorient this morning saw Tom Dolan in Smurfit Kappa - Kingspan being pipped for ninth place by one minute by female skipper Elodie Bonafous racing Bretagne - CMB Oceane. After being in or around 16th place for much of the first half of the race out to the turning mark off Spain, Dolan revelled in the sometimes rugged windward conditions coming back across the Bay of Biscay towards the Loirent finish, and at one stage he was pacing so well that he was being recorded as lying seventh.

However, with his immediate competitors including the likes of proven performer Alexis Loison, it was all he could do to maintain his placing rather than move even further up the rankings, and some difficult tactical challenges saw Loison slip through to finish sixth, while Dolan’s Transatlantic shipmate Gildas Mahe in Breizh Cola also got away to finish seventh. The battle for 8th was then between Gaston Morvan, Elodie Bonafous and Tom Dolan, and just 1 minute and 20 seconds covered the finish times of the three boats, but it was Tom Dolan who’d drawn the short straw.

Up at the front of the fleet, however, things were rather different with winner Xavier Macaire taking it by 43 minutes clear from Pierre Quiroga in Skipper Macif 2019, with Tom Laperche in CMB Performance 41 minutes further astern in third.

On the dock in Lorient this morning a tired but content Dolan said, “Tenth is a good result. The group of boats behind me split in two and I didn’t know which to cover. One group got past, but apart from that, it was good. I had fairly good boat speed upwind and I chose the right tacks and stuck to the plan and it worked well. It was cool to be alongside Gildas Mahé as we train together. A pity I didn’t catch him, but I’ll get him next time. For me, it was important not to knock myself out on the first leg as that would mean spending your time trying to catch up. Time-wise, I am in touch with everyone, apart from Xavier. Mentally I was good and never cracked even after the bad start. I was pleased with the speed. It was good fun in the waves and gusts of thirty knots and some extreme broaches. There was a full moon, so that was good fun. I had the mast nearly in the water twice. It was not the hardest leg we’ve done. Upwind it was OK. We just had to trim the sails now and again and try to decide where to go.”

Ireland’s Tom Dolan finished 10th into Lorient this morning concluding the first stage of La Solitaire du Figaro with a result which matches his 10th place in 2020 when he finished fifth overall at the end of the three stages. The skipper of Smurfit Kappa- Kingspan was 17th in the 34 boat fleet when they rounded the La Coruna buoy, the midpoint of the 627 miles course but made good gains with excellent upwind boat speed. 

Tracker chart here