Just as the course for Stage 2 of La Solitaire du Figaro Paprec was shortened because of a forecast for light winds, so now the final, decisive Stage 3 has been lengthened to a massive 710 miles because the predictions are for a fast, windy finale.

So, in the quest to provide the remaining 36 solo racers with a total course of a properly long distance complete with ample technical challenges Race Direction have extended the Stage 3 course by about 100 miles to ensure the leaders arrive to the race’s final finish line off La Turballe on Thursday. It is believed to be the longest stage ever.

And, of course, whilst there was a need to ensure the sailors had at least three good nights ashore to recover in Royan this is the last leg and so there is no time pressure.

From Royan – which lies at the mouth of the Gironde Estuary, the fleet heads north to the Occidental de Sein and the Pointe de Bretagne before continuing across the Channel to the Skerries Bank mark off Dartmouth where they turn east to round the East Shambles cardinal buoy off Weymouth and Portland before heading back to the finish line off La Turballe on the Loire Atlantic coast west of Saint Nazaire.

Forecasts promise a tough upwind all the way to Skerries where there will be a quite active cold front to be negotiated with winds in the high 20kts. From E Shambles the wind will start to drop and in to the finish it might be quite light again by Thursday when the 2024 La Solitaire du Figaro Paprec champion will be crowned.

Dolan has nearly 1 hour in hand

Ireland’s Tom Dolan leads by 57 minutes and 52 seconds (his elapsed time is now computed with the 5 minutes bonus for winning the Intermediate Sprint) ahead of young Gaston Morvan (Region Bretagne-CMB Performance) who in turn is just 21 seconds ahead of Charlotte Yven (Skipper MACIF 2023) who seems to stand as good chance of being the first ever female on the overall podium as Dolan does of being the first non French overall winner since 1988 when Swiss rookie Laurent Bourgnon triumphed.

Before going on to three Vendée Globe solo races and two double handed Barcelona World Races round the Switzerland’s Dominique Wavre was second overall twice, in 1990 and 1997.

After winning into Kinsale last year Dolan started Stage 2 with a much more tenable six minutes lead and suffered terribly when the wind shut off at the finish line off Roscoff. He is not letting the pressure go to his head, acknowledging that he has the miles and experience to do well in the muscular conditions and has generally fared well when the breeze is up.

The Irish skipper of Smurfit Kappa-Kingspan said, “I suppose I have done the miles but, look, I’ll put on my oilskins and go and see what I can do. I feel rested and raring to go. I have a clear idea again of the weather and what I want to do but it would be crazy to not try and stay with the pack but to go and do something different. I am on fine form. It will be a good, breezy leg with a good old fashioned pounding to finish off the race. I am up for it. I am not going to be saying ‘Oh I love the breeze! because it is always stressful in the wind, things go wrong they go wrong quicky and you damage sails or whatever. But I suppose I have some good ocean miles in these old legs of mine, so I’ll get out there and go for it.”

He continues, “I am not thinking about any more pressure. It is process, process, process. I’ll have a nice long bath and relax tonight and then make a good start tomorrow. Then it will be about playing the windshifts left and right and look after the boat and myself. Then the Occidentale de Sein up to the south coast of the UK will be a bit hairy, so I am about sailing quickly with the right sails up all the time and not breaking them, then a breezy downwind to the Shambles under spinnaker but don’t use up all the muscles with the big spinnaker. Spinnaker size will be important. And the south coast of Brittany looks a bit….well…vague.”

The route explained

Yann Chateau Race Director explains, “This last leg of La Solitaire du Figaro Paprec looks set to be a good start for the skippers. The first part will be upwind to the Occidentale de Sein in winds of 15 to 20 knots. The Channel crossing should be very fast, under gennaker or small spinnaker, with the passage of a cold front when they will be in the English Cornwall and an equally fast return. There will perhaps be a less windy area towards the finish. We have extended the distance of this stage on the southern part of England to the east Shambles, located a few cables east of Portland Bill, because the routings had the competitors arriving quite quickly at La Turballe, during the night from Wednesday to Thursday. The second stage was also fast, we thought it was interesting to be able to extend the distance to have a difficult and complete stage. There will be a few options to play. We will have to play the wind shifts on the first part, but also along the English coast with the negotiation of the passage of the front. Navigation and maneuvers will be very important, because the sailors already have two stages under their belts. We will have to find the right balance between preserving the equipment and the sailor,”