After a week in Caen, Normandy, the 32 competitors competing in the 54th edition of La Solitaire du Figaro Paprec will head out to the English Channel on Sunday to make ready for a challenging first leg to Kinsale, Ireland. This first of three legs starts off Ouistreham at 1302hrs local time.
Caen – Kinsale
The first stage of this Solitaire du Figaro Paprec 2023 starts from the Côte deNacre, crosses the English Channel three times before rounding the Fastnet Rock and heading into the beautiful Irish haven of Kinsale.
“This will be a very varied, challenging stage with lots of twists and turns.” Says Yann Chateau, race director who has drawn a course that mixes coastal passages before a more open, offshore passage across the Celtic Sea to Ireland.
As they start this 610-mile (1,130 km) long leg the 32 solo opens with a short, inshore preliminary course, for the Trophée Paprec, which is designed to salute the city of Caen, which has hosted the start week.
The stage should begin with a northwesterly wind of 12-15knots as they reach across the Channel to Nab Tower, where they turn west past the Isle of Wight. An occluded front – the first of three - is likely to see the breeze drop away here and make it difficult as they near the Needles Fairway mark. From there they head for the Héaux de Bréhat at the northern tip of Brittany. As tiredness starts to bite, decisions need to be taken how to deal with the currents and the maritime traffic.
“Tuesday, we are expecting the arrival of a depression which will pass in the North of the British Isles during the day of Tuesday. This new system will bring a sustained flow from the South, strengthening up to 25 knots as it turns right to settle in the North-West. But then the scenario becomes more uncertain. The models still diverge a lot on the conditions of this end of the course in the Celtic Sea, around the Ireland of and the Fatsnet that the first should wind between Wednesday evening and early Thursday morning," comments Yann Chateau.
It seems likely then that this will be a course full of opportunities right to the finish.
Ireland's Tom Dolan (Smurfit Kappa-Kingspan) said: “For the past week, I have been trying not to think too much about the finish line of this stage, which takes me home to Ireland. It's a stage just like the others with the weather and the competitors to manage, but I really try not to lose focus by thinking too much about the final result and where we are going. Three occluded fronts will pass over the fleet between here and Ireland. We will race mainly upwind, but we will also have to manage shifts in the wind, especially when we have to negotiate the TSS (traffic separation scheme) of the Scillies. We could see the fleet heading in all different directions. This will certainly be a key moment, just like the Needles, which we risk passing right through the front, then with light winds with a lot of current. And plenty can happen there, just like in West Scilly. Also, when to really aim for the Fastnet, the timing of that move might prove key.
