The reward for rounding Chicken Rock light among the lead group early this morning has been a modest slingshot southwards, sailing downwind at almost double the speed of those who had still to complete this long climb from Kinsale to this most northerly turning mark of this Stage 2 course.
Hugo Dhallene, stage leader, was making 11.5kts at 0800hrs local time, already nearly passing the NW tip of Wales, with a lead of 4.6 nautical miles over the Normandy duo Alexis Loison (Groupe REEL) with Guillaume Pirouelle (Région Normandie) – Loison’s protégé – who is 2.3 miles behind him. And Ireland’s Tom Dolan (Smurfit Kappa-Kingspan) is eighth some 13 miles behind the leader.
Hugo Dhallenne (YC de Saint-Lunaire), 1st at Chicken Rock said this morning: “The climb was like a real speed race with those round me. It's the one who got the fastest north. Overall, the wind-current sequence means that this tends to widen the gaps in our favour. I try to make the most of it. It's really nice to be at the front. Now there is the downhill, with more uncertain weather at the end of this stage. We're going to start attacking downind As they passed the lighthouse, the situation was fairly calm with 14 knots from the northeast. This allows you to go south at 8.7 knots, under tight big spinnaker. We are going full south, because we're going with the current. I slept a lot last night, I ate well too. Since the start, I am on my 5th bottle of water everything is fine on board. My goal is the rookie ranking. If a seasoned Figaro sailor overtakes me, it will be a shame, but it won't be super serious.”
Times at Chicken Rock (French time)
1 / Hugo Dhallenne (Saint-Lunaire YC): 4h28 2 / Alexis Loison (REAL Group): 4h49 3 / Arthur Hubert (MonAtoutÉnergie.fr): 4h55 4 / Guillaume Pirouelle (Région Normandie): 5h00 5 / Jules Delpech (ORCOM): 5h05 6 / Nils Palmieri (TeamWork): 5h11 7 / Julie Simon (TWELVE): 5h17 8 / Philippe Hartz (National Navy-Foundation of the Sea): 5h25 9 / Tom Dolan (Smurfit Kappa-Kingspan): 5h32 10 / Charlotte Yven (Skipper Macif 2023): 5h48