Sailing fans and supporters currently flocking into the French port of Le Havre for the start of the first of four stages of La Solitaire URGO Figaro 2018 on Sunday are looking to enjoy the shared and at times noisy excitement of one of sailing’s great events writes W M Nixon.
But the 36 lone skippers taking part are meanwhile seeking moments of peace to finalise their personal preparations - both of their boats and of themselves and their physical and mental condition - as this multi-faceted challenge is almost infinite in the demands it will make on them.
The renowned Marcus Hutchinson, who cut his sailing teeth in Howth, has since become a leading figure at the sharpest edge of the French sailing scene. He is deeply involved as a coach and adviser and has a veritable stable of Figaro talent to nurture, including rookie Joan Mulloy of County Mayo with her BIM-sponsored entry Taste the Atlantic.
Marcus Hutchinson, the Vincent O’Brien of Figaro racing
While we may point to Irish women athletes who have achieved top-level international success in times past, such as deservedly admired heroes like Sonia O’Sullivan and Annalise Murphy, it has to be remembered that their medals were achieved in women-only competitions. But La Solitaire URGO Figaro has been gender-blind since its inception in 1970, and the fact that Mulloy is the first Irish woman to take it on gives her campaign an added significance.
Over the years, we’ve had a few male participants, the most successful being Damian Foxall who actually won one of the legs – at this level, that’s quite an achievement in itself – and went on to build his exceptional global ocean racing career on it.
But for Joan Mulloy it’s still all in the future, though for the other Irish 2018 competitor, Tom Dolan of County Meath racing Smurfit Kappa, there’s a significant sailing CV is already in place, with worthy performances in the Mini Transat class, and a victory in the rookie division in this year’s Two-Handed Transatlantic Figaro Race.
Joan Mulloy, Ireland’s first woman entrant in the Figaro
Two for Ireland – Joan Mulloy and Tom Dolan share a training session
However, for both of them the short Prologue Race on Wednesday – it lasted for only an hour and a half – produced decidedly mixed results, for although both were up around 12th at one stage, by the finish Dolan was back in 22nd while Mulloy was 28th.
Sage observers including Marcus Hutchinson are firm in their assurance that the short Prologue gives only a very distorted guide to performance in a race which will provide 1695 miles of the most varied sailing imaginable. But then, he can afford to take the broad view in comfort, as one of his protégées, Alan Roberts from Scotland, was second in the Prologue after a scorching performance, while another – amateur sailor Hugh Brayshaw – was fourth.
As for the Prologue winner – reputedly a position which blights your subsequent performance in the big one itself – that was Martin le Pape, and he seemed remarkably sanguine about such early success.
Even with a fully-crewed boat, this course would be a formidable challenge. Single-handed in such diverse waters and facing so many obstacles, it requires super-human endurance and concentration
