La Solitaire du Figaro 2009 – courses to be announced
With La Solitaire 2008 just finished, all thoughts turn to 2009. This 40th edition will be special, measuring up to expectations with the return of some of the biggest names in offshore sailing. As a preview, the organisers have announced the French host ports of call for the new edition; the overall course will be revealed, as each year, on the eve of the opening of the Paris Boat Show on Thursday 4th December.
If you check the archives of the Figaro (La Solitaire du Figaro), you’ll see the names of most of the top skippers in the Vendée Globe. Sailed in smaller one-design boats built by Bénéteau (about 36 feet long) and over a series of legs, it attracts large fleets (50 boats started last year).
Last year’s race had 3 legs, starting in La Rochelle with intermediate stops in Vigo and Cherbourg Octeville then finishing at l’Aber Wrac’h. The first leg, across the southern part of the Bay of Biscay, was uncharacteristically calm, so the course was shortened. The last leg, originally scheduled as a marathon 800-odd miles up the Irish Sea and round the Isle of Man, was changed to a 500-mile open sea course round a mark some 250 miles out in the Atlantic. The committee decided, very wisely, that for the 46 boats still in the race, it would be too dangerous to do the original course in the forecast 40-50 knot winds.
It’s one thing for Corentin Douguet to tear around off the wind alone in daylight out of the shipping lanes with an aircraft filming him, and quite another for 46 boats in close company to sail day and night both upwind and downwind in a zone full of commercial traffic. The enclosed waters of the Irish Sea can get nasty, too – I was in Liverpool once when the ferry to the Isle of Man took 24 hours because she couldn’t dock.
So far, the Three French ports for the 2009 race have been announced:
Lorient, Britanny
At the foot of the old Lorient-Kéroman Submarine, which has become a development centre of boating and offshore racing, the fleet will benefit from the new infrastructures created two steps away from the Cité de la Voile Eric Tabarly before setting off for the start. Lorient is a much-loved sailing base for offshore racing, it will be the 4th time that the town welcomes La Solitaire du Figaro…
Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie, Vendée
The town has already been a host port of call in 2004 and 2006, and together with the Vendée General Council, welcomes La Solitaire for the 3rd time. In the very centre of town, “Port La Vie” is a magnificent setting. Home to the Bénéteau shipyards, the seaside resort has become a sailing hot-spot on the Atlantic coast, and once again the town presents all the assets for a successful stop-over for the organisers of the Figaro circuit’s summer race.
Dieppe, Upper Normandy
The finish will take place, for the very first time, in Upper Normandy. The Dieppe CCI (Local Chamber of Commerce) is committing itself to and organising, with the support of local bodies, the welcome of the finish of the 40th edition. Almost four decades of the race have gone by without it stopping on the Alabaster Coast. The oldest French seaside resort, Dieppe will without a doubt seduce and give a warm welcome to the competitors at the end of their sailing saga…
The Course
Still under wraps, this will be disclosed on Thursday 4th December on the eve of the opening of the Paris Boat Show.
