Sea, Sail & Surf newsSolitaire Afflelou Le Figaro
Line honours at the end of the first leg for Yann Eliès
Antoine Koch takes place two ahead of Jérémie Béyou
jeudi 29 juillet 2004 –
Toutes les versions de cet article : [English] [français]
- Yann Elies (Generali) remporte sa troisième étape sur la Solitaire (archive prologue)
- Photo : Ch.Guigueno / Pipof.com/voile
After a 30-minute delay to the start on Tuesday, due to the light winds in the Bay of Caen, the skippers all set off on the first leg to Portsmouth under some 4 knots of breeze.
Gildas Morvan (Cercle Vert), on his ninth Solitaire race, rounded the first mark of the course, the Radio France buoy, 8 miles west along the Normandy coast, leading the fleet out into the English Channel, on a heading for the southern English shores.
After a frustrating night, fighting the currents and “petole” or dead calm the skippers swapped positions. The dying winds shifted throughout the night, with poor visibility, skippers remained alert, having short catnaps whilst they attempted to make the most of the situation.
After some clever tactics, Kito de Pavant (Navy Lest) rounded Royal Sovereign Lighthouse ahead of the fleet this morning at 09h30 (French time). The valuable lead gradually slipped once the forecast breeze turned to S, SE and finally picked up to some 7 to 8 knots. Spinnakers up and tides on with the wind, saw Marc Lepesqueux (Cercle Vert) take pole position along the English shores.
Samantha Davies (Skandia), in 19th position on rounding the Royal Sovereign Lighthouse gradually edged her way up the fleet. Reaching 5th position at the Owers buoy mark, 19 miles from the finish.
How does it feel to be back on the Solent, and does it help knowing these waters ? “Great, I have not seen England for a long time, but it is strange because I do not normally sail near these coasts. The last time was when we made a Round Britain and Ireland attempt on a fast catamaran and tactics like these do not really matter. A lot of tactical decisions are dependent on meteorological situations, but I do hope it is a little bit of an advantage !
I am feeling very good, happy with my boat Skandia... my plan is not to make too many mistakes, its nice because I made a good shift this morning, it is nice because I am back up with the leaders” she added this afternoon.
A race that is fought for on a one design boat means that the first over the line wins, Sam’s tactics are clear “I do not want to take any risks, just get a good result, not a first yet, that will be next year, and if I am in first place when the finish comes I will take it ! She added happily.
The lead was hotly contested for over the last few miles of the race. Yann Eliès (Groupe Generali) rounded the Pullar Buoy, 12 miles from the finish, in the lead, and hot on his heels was Benoît Petit (Défi Santé Voile), Jeremy Beyou (Delta Dore), Antoine Koch (nobody), Thierry Chabagny (Le Caennais Blochon - Martin), Mark Lepesqueux (Maison Pierre), Samantha Davies (Skandia) and Erwan Tabarly (Thalès) all putting their professional sailing skills to the test.
Line honours went to Yann Eliès sailing on Groupe Generali Assurances, crossing the finish at 21h13m22h, followed by Antoine Koch (nobody) and in third Jérémy Beyou (Delta Dore).
It was a nice surprise for Yann “It is both a true pleasure and surprise to have won this leg. It is as if I had won the Figaro... (he laughs) I am really quite taken aback as this morning things were not looking too good. I was not doing too well, I was 15th, after a night of flat seas and erratic wins. But at the moment I all is going well, it must be confidence. I hope I do not loose it. Now I must not get too confident, it is a leg win that does not mean a huge lead”
Jean Luc-Nelias (Chauss-Europ) - first newcomer to the race and 9th in the general class, followed by the 24 year old Australian girl, Liz Wardley (Kookai - eol) in second place and 14th in the general class. Third newcomer to finish is
Sam Davis finishes 6th overall, and only 2 minutes and 38 seconds behind the winner.
Translation Sabina Mollart-Rogerson
• Classement d’étape au temps / Caen - Portsmouth Départ : 27/07/04 à 12h30
1
ELIES Yann
7
Groupe Generali Assurances
arrivé le 28/07/04 à 21:13:32 en 32h43’32’’
2
KOCH Antoine
74
Nobody
à 1’00’’
3
BEYOU Jérémie
4
Delta Dore
à 1’10’’
4
PETIT Benoit
15
Défi Santé Voile
à 1’54’’
5
CHABAGNY Thierry
92
Le Caennais Blochon - Martin
à 2’18’’
6
DAVIES Samantha
27
Skandia
à 3’14’’
7
LE CLEAC’H Armel
1
Foncia - TBS
à 3’26’’
8
TABARLY Erwan
2
Thalès
à 4’03’’
9
*
NELIAS Jean-Luc
72
Chauss-Europ
à 7’17’’
10
ATTANASIO Romain
9
Port Trebeurden
à 8’48’’
11
LEPESQUEUX Marc
70
Maisons Pierre
à 9’58’’
12
TROUSSEL Nicolas
43
D’Aucy
à 10’10’’
13
CAUDRELIER Charles
5
Bostik Findley
à 10’37’’
14
*
WARDLEY Liz
36
Kookaï - Eol
à 11’12’’
15
BERENGER Nicolas
50
Paprec - CNEM
à 13’11’’
16
EMIG Marc
10
Total
à 14’40’’
17
TOULORGE Alexandre
11
Caen La Mer
à 16’23’’
18
de PAVANT Kito
95
Navy Lest
à 17’35’’
19
*
VENIARD Gérald
94
Scutum
à 22’26’’
20
DROUGLAZET Eric
6
Crédit Maritime - Zerotwo
à 24’33’’
21
MORVAN Gildas
Cercle Vert
à 26’08’’
22
PELLECUER Laurent
CLIPTOL Sport
à 27’19’’
23
DUTHIL Frédéric
All Mer
à 27’34’’
24
GUERIN Ronan
Camus Immobilier
à 27’35’’
25
VITTET Dominic
ATAO Audio System
à 36’20’’
26
JACQ Rodolphe
Skipper AG2R Prévoyance
à 36’43’’
27
LE GAL Franck
Monaco Marine - Sodifac Roubaix
à 41’10’’
28
BEAURIN Laurent
Latitude Nord
à 45’53’’
29
KRAUSS Oliver
Espoir Crédit Agricole
à 46’20’’
30
de BROC Bertrand
Aigle
à 48’45’’
31
LECHARPENTIER Bertrand
Entreprendre en Pays d’Auge - Calvados
à 50’52’’
32
TRIPON Armel
Gedimat
à 51’05’’
33
GREGOIRE Jeanne
Banque Populaire
à 54’09’’
34
MABIRE Halvard
Biodiversité
à 56’08’’
35
EINHORN Jacques
Connivence
à 1h12’12’’
36
BOISSIERES Arnaud
Région Aquitaine
à 1h13’35’’
37
MOUREN Jean-Paul
M@rseille Entreprises
à 1h24’29’’
NC
Delord
TAT - Aviation Services
Abandon
NC
Vachette
Duc et Preneuf
Abandon
Dans la même rubrique
Solitaire Afflelou Le Figaro : Stunning line-up of single handed sailors for La Solitaire Afflelou Le Figaro 2004
Solitaire Afflelou Le Figaro : 55 solo Figaro-Bénéteau from Caen this summer
Transat AG2R : Dutchman Sander Bakker and Englishman Ian Munslow after 4 days into the Lorient - St Barth race
Solitaire Afflelou Le Figaro : Line honours for Péan - Le Cléac’h overall winner !
