Irish sailor Tom Dolan battles strong tides and light winds to climb up the leaderboard on the second stage of the 54th La Solitaire du Figaro, the famous French offshore sailing race. Dolan, the winner of stage 1, is currently in tenth place, trailing French rookie Hugo Dhallene, who leads the fleet as they race north to the most northerly turn of a 570-mile course to the Bay of Morlaix.
The climb to Chicken Rock lighthouse, south of the Isle of Man, is not for the faint-hearted among the 32 solo skippers competing in the race. The combination of strong tides, periods of light winds, and different strategic options creates big gaps in the fleet.
Dhallene, an experienced offshore racer from Saint-Malo, led through the Intermediate Sprint at South Arklow, gaining himself a 5 minutes time bonus. Dolan was around 40 minutes behind but key for him is having some pre-race favourites like Gaston Morvan, Corentin Horeau, and Basile Bourgnon even further behind. Bourgnon – fifth into Kinsale – was two hours behind the leader at the so-called ‘sprint’ mark.
Race Director Yann Chateau announced earlier in the day that the fleet will sail the long course, round the rock south of the Isle of Man rather than a possible shorter course which would have turned south offshore of Dublin Bay. The race is expected to finish in the Bay of Morlaix on Thursday, with the most optimistic models seeing the first finisher during the day and the most pessimistic in the evening.
Hugo Dhallenne (YC de Saint-Lunaire), after passing the mark of South Arklow: “That's it, the intermediate sprint is over. Now to head due north to find Chicken Rock, near the Isle of Man. It is always upwind. The current is quite strong here. For the moment, we have it with us, but it will soon be reversed. We take every little thing we can take, and then you have to deal with it. It's very nice to pass a mark in the lead on the Solitaire, especially 24 hours after the start. But the stage is far from over. There is still work to do, I want to stay at the front.”
