Good times, bad times, tainted times. Corentin Horeau (left) takes a moment before saying a few words after collecting the trophy for winning this year’s dramatic and as always brutally competitive Figaro Solitaire. This was Horeau’s seventh attempt to win the world’s most important feeder race for hopeful superstars of the world of the Vendée Globe and Route du Rhum. Already backed by Banque Populaire, Horeau is well-placed but he has been around for long enough to know that from here on it only gets harder. Less well-placed is Horeau’s younger rival Benoît Tuduri (right) – penalised early on in the race after being caught shifting ballast, Tuduri was later disqualified from the entire event for downloading GRIB files via a prohibited second phone he carried for Internet access. A forensic examination of Tuduri’s digital history led to the discovery of the illegal phone, impressive work by organisers now facing ever increasing enforcement challenges in a race in which success can fast-track a young sailor to a very lucrative career
so early in a long race. But then I am someone who likes risk…’ But the day after the finish the results for the first stage were
altered, Benoît Tuduri handed a 30-minute penalty after a protest from the race committee for shifting weight illegally. A picture of his boat racing clearly showed a large jerrycan of water – as well as the ship’s bucket – both lashed to the weather lifelines. He dropped to fourth place. But he remained first rookie. This decision could not be appealed and so Tom Dolan (Smurfit
Kappa) became winner of the 610nm opening stage and the first Irish skipper to win a stage of the Solitaire since Damian Foxall won the leg from Gijon into Concarneau in 1998. It is a remarkable success for Dolan whose first ever race was round the Fastnet only 10 years ago (the Mini Fastnet in 2013 on a Pogo 1). Another jury decision concerned Julie Simon (Douze) who, though
third across the line, was awarded a 17-minute double-penalty for sailing into the Fastnet DSS zone and also for not putting enough diesel onboard in Caen. She fell to 17th place. Tom said after the jury decision: ‘It feels strange right now, and
it is not the way I would want to win a stage. I feel sorry for Benoît but I guess, as a rookie, he just didn’t know the rules. I had a tough start to the season and generally have not really been on top form. ‘I was also worried about this leg because it is in home waters and
the last time I came here I did terribly – I was down in the 30s. So this was all going on in my head… that’s why I now feel great.’ On leg 2 south to Roscoff on the Brittany coast the strong currents
and more patchy winds quickly saw the fleet spread out. During the descent to the corner of England it was initially Fastnet champion Alexis Loison (Groupe Réel) who settled in at the head of the fleet. But then came the DSS zone off Wales, and once again some passed to the west and others to the east. This redistributed the cards and at dawn on Wednesday morning
Gaston Morvan was now at the head of the fleet on Région Bretagne ahead of Elodie Bonafous (Quéguiner-La Vie en Rose); both were
sailing faster than Alexis, the ‘old man’ on his 17th go at the Solitaire. Then the race was turned upside down for a second time, giving
hope to the guys at the back… like the young Tuduri, who came back in the game from a long way behind. Then there came a third ‘coup de Trafalgar’ (French expression!)
delivered by Basile Bourgnon (Edenred), son of the great oceanic champion Laurent Bourgnon (who disappeared during a dive), and the youngest skipper on the 2023 Solitaire: ‘I was very lucky with a private wind corridor along the English coast at Land’s End. I gently
sailed around the fleet while everyone was stuck to the water. I could carry my kite the whole way and ended up just behind race leader Corentin Horeau. From there it was a simple match race, something we practised together a lot in the winter. A match race but in no wind, drifting across the Channel side by side… Even so it was a fierce contest to the end!’ Because of the lack of wind and the current the latecomers were
literally glued for hours close to the line as the clock ticked away on the race… which is scored on aggregate elapsed time. At the end of this leg the first three into Roscoff occupied the first
three places overall, with a gap of only eight minutes between Basile and Corentin Horeau, and 32 minutes back to Loïs Berrehar in third. The three leaders are all from La Trinité-sur-Mer! So with a big lead over the boats from fourth place back, surely the 2023 Figaro Solitaire will be decided on the final leg between these three talented sailors? Actually, it was the rookie Tuduri who showed his talent by winning
the last stage (this time without having any penalty... read on) in front of Elodie Bonafous. But the overall competition between Horeau and the young Bourgnon turned in favour of Corentin after a tight finale. After 3d 12h at sea Horeau skippering Banque Populaire crossed
the line in sixth position and 20 minutes in front of the young skipper of Edenred, enough to secure the final victory. Loïs Berrehar (Macif) secured third place on the podium in front of Tuduri. Horeau, a qualified merchant mariner, said: ‘Winning La Solitaire
is a childhood dream come true. Seven participations… I felt that this year I was good for it, that I had prepared well thanks to the support of the Banque Populaire team. ‘I was thinking about winning overall for the last 24 hours, which
did not really help, but I really didn’t want to miss out again. Now it’s done. It was not the most beautiful Solitaire – I sailed it a bit like an accountant. I tried to sail with the fleet without taking too many risks. This is the way you needed to sail to win the Solitaire this year.’
And then… Fourth place French rookie Benoît Tuduri has been excluded from La Solitaire du Figaro Paprec, and Pierre Daniellot disqualified from stages 2 and 3 of the race. Following inspection of the onboard com- puters of all the Figaro 3s after the final finish, the jury of the French Sailing Federation (FFVoile) took these decisions because, in contra- vention of race rules which strictly prohibit phone connections off the boat while racing, the two sailors also downloaded GRIB meteo files which is prohibited by the class rules and so contravenes World Sailing
SEAHORSE 19
ALEXIS COURCOUX
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120
