After a promising first solo leg of “Les Sables-Les Azores-Les Sables”, Ireland's Thomas Dolan, or l’irlandais Volant”, or the Flying Irishman, as he has been christened by French media, currently stands in second place with 1 hour and 35 minutes of a gap between himself and France’s Tanguy Bouroullec, who dominated the first 1200 miles of racing.
After crossing Biscay in relatively light winds, the fleet of 22 mini 650’s had an intense three days of reaching in 20 to 25 knots of wind. This allowed them to hastily tuck into the 800-mile offshore leg from the north of Spain to the Azores Archipelago. Most of the routings at the start had tended to favor a southern route, skipping along the edges of a ridge of high pressure which stretched across the Bay of Biscay. However, things rarely being as they are announced in ocean racing and the Azores High began to move westerly with the competitors, opening up a corridor or Northerly wind along the rhumb line.
The mini class prides itself in being ‘low-tech’. Thus the only weather forecasting available to the skippers once they are at sea is a barometer, the clouds and a Shortwave radio transmission once per day. Dolan ended up taking a rather mediocre route, not too south and not too north and was in 6th place as the fleet arrived in the Islands. As the fleet compacted into the high pressure zone, it was almost like a second start. 24 hours of close contact tacking and the Meath man had managed to come out in second, having cut Bouroullec’s lead from 20 to 7 miles.
Having experienced problems with his generator, Dolan had to run a number of nights without use of the autopilot and even navigation lights. It was only when the sun rose and the solar panels kicked in that he could rest and recharge both his and the boat’s batteries. “At one stage I looked at the GPS and saw 750 miles to go and though it’s impossible I’ll have to turn around and pull into a Spanish port….” But he held out and even though there is less than 15 minutes between Dolan and the sixth place boat he remains hopeful of an overall podium finish.
The second leg leaves on Tuesday at 1700 Irish Time. There will be a complex ridge of high pressure too cross in search of a weak cold front which will sweep across the Bay of Biscay. Some of the routings even send the fleet as far north as the Fastnet Rock! So it is certain that the game is long from over.
