Joan Mulloy, the first Irishwoman to take up the Figaro Solo challenge in France, has gained a couple of places racing Taste the Atlantic in the second day of Stage 2 to northwest Spain, after being delayed by a broken main halyard at the start off Sain-Brieuc writes W M Nixon. But Tom Dolan in Smurfit Kappa, having been up at 12th and within 1.5 miles of the leader, has slipped down the rankings through choosing to take the westerly option in the tricky waters between Ushant and the west coast of Brittany.
Anyone who has ever cruised this island-dotted, rock-strewn and tide-riven piece of the ocean will find it a marvel that people are racing single-handed through the midst of it with 36 powerful sailing machines under full spinnaker. But that’s part of the fascination of the way the Figaro race – now with the URGO organisation as co-sponsors - has developed as it works through the count-down towards its Golden Jubilee next year, when the third generation boats - foiling Figaro 3s - will be introduced.
Meanwhile, the Marc Lombard-designed Figaro 2 is centre stage in 2018 for the last time with style and nostalgia, and approaching the northwest point of Brittany at Lampaul early this afternoon, Gildas Mahe was leading. But he elected to continue offshore towards Ushant, while his closest challenger Anthony Marchand – the local hero after winning Stage 1 from Le Havre to his home port of Saint-Brieuc – gybed over to hold south down the coast.
The fleet had soon split into two distinct groups, and it was the inshore racers – led by Marchand and Pierre Leboucher – who did best, for as they have emerged into more open water well west of the Ile de Seine, the inshore group hold the first 15 places with its leaders shown as 5.2 miles clear ahead of the leaders of the offshore division, which included Tom Dolan with his placing now fluctuating in the 20s.
With winds steady from the northeast, progress is now more or less on rails, with any gains being fractional and hard-earned. The indications are that the mainly nor’east winds will continue across the Bay of Biscay. But the possibility of a low-pressure area developing over northwest Spain could make things more complex towards the finish, with a tricky beat into the Ria de Muros and up to the finish at Portosin being a final challenge for exhausted sailors.
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