Crossing the finish line off Royan at the mouth of France’s Gironde estuary at 14:06:20hrs (local time) this afternoon Irish solo offshore sailor Tom Dolan (Smurfit Kappa-Kingspan) took first place on the 515 miles Stage 2 of La Solitaire du Figaro completing the leg from Gijón, NW Spain which started on Sunday afternoon.
The 37-year-old sailor, who grew up on a farm in County Meath before moving to France to pursue his passion for sailing some 15 years ago, becomes the first non-French competitor to win a stage on two successive editions of the French annual solo multi stage race.
Although he was actually narrowly second across the finish line into Kinsale at the end of Stage 1 of last year’s race, the sailor who crossed first was subsequently disqualified for fundamental rules infringements and Dolan took his rightful place in first.
“It feels so good to win, to be the first boat across the line.” Smiled a bleary eyed, exhausted Dolan on the winner’s pontoon in Royan.
He also delivered on his personal pledge to make sure his enjoyment came first on this race after pervious editions were marred by tiredness, lack of self belief and stress leading to poor decision making.
He added, “Being in front coming in with the fleet behind you is fun, the most fun….. I’d want more of that. I really wanted to win a leg in my own right, first across the line and so I suppose since last year I have been wondering if I would ever be able to do it. So that feels good.”
He held his nerve on the way into the finish, racing out on his own, but on his seventh challenge for La Solitaire du Figaro, he has seen many hard won leads turn to custard within miles of the finish gun, so he was mightily relieved to finally hear his winning gun. He also takes the Vivi Trophy prize for the first non-French sailor to finish the stage.
“ I have seen so many legs in this race where someone is ahead and then gets caught at the finish so I was pretty nervous, I kept thinking ‘oh god something is going to happen at the end, and I nearly screwed up a gybe a bit with everyone watching – and I was worried because I was against the tide and the wind was dropping. I was happy to finish. I was most worried about losing time with the tide coming up and the wind dropping.” He explained.
Dolan took the lead of the 36 boat fleet very early on Monday after moving north to best negotiate a cold front which allowed him to be first into the best breeze. Sailing slightly offshore of the main peloton he found more speed than his rivals. This followed his pre-start strategy.
He explained, “On the first night it got really light off the Spanish coast with the whole fleet trying to get west. I was always a little bit faster. I knew I was in good shape as soon as I was through the front first because it was moving east and I was most to the NW and I thought ‘jackpot’. As I was offshore I always had a little bit more wind. But it was a plan I had from before the start, I had worked on it myself and with Gildas (Mahé prep/coach) and Dominic (Vittet meteo coach). And so from there is seemed like a leg where everything just went to plan. Everything I planned or hoped for came true. It was just one of these legs.”
He was first to turn north at the Sisarga Grande island off the NW corner of Spain near La Coruña on Monday afternoon, so winning a five minutes time bonus for being first on the Intermediate Sprint. He then led the race all the way back across the Bay of Biscay to Royan.
Ninth on Stage 1 of the annual three stage solo, multi-stage offshore race, he started this leg Sunday with a deficit behind the leader of just 5 minutes and 31 seconds and so with the next sailor behind him, Gaston Morvan (Région Bretagne-CMB Performance) finishing 41 mins and 59 seconds in second and third placed Charlotte Yven (Skipper Macif 2023) 50 minutes and 26 seconds astern, Dolan will be very well placed going into Sunday’s decisive, very technical stage to La Turballe which will pass through some of Brittany’s most notorious tidal currents.
Several non-French sailors have won stages before, indeed Swiss sailor Laurent Bourgnon clinched the overall title at his first attempt in 1988 by taking victory on the last leg. Renowned English sailor turned novelist Clare Francis won the last stage in 1983. Dolan’s Irish compatriot Damian Foxall triumphed on the final stage from Gijón into Concarneau in 1998 and most recently Italian Olympic sailor turned ocean racer and America’s Cup racer Pietro D’Ali won a stage in 2005.
Now Dolan knows only too well what lies ahead of him and how fickle the stage finishes can be. After winning tha first stage last year into his native Ireland he was among those who became stuck in a windless zone fighting contrary currents within a few miles of the finish into Roscoff where only three sailors managed to cross the line and the rest were left waiting for many hours.
“We will see what happens from here. I am not thinking beyond this at the moment.” He concluded.
Spain’s Pep Costa (VSF Sports) looks set to finish 14th, Germany Sanni Beucke (This Race is Female) had just over 70 miles to the line when the winner Dolan crossed the finish. One place behind her in 33rd is Swiss rookie Annaëlle Pattusch (Nemo)