Ireland’s Tom Dolan (Smurfit Kappa-Kingspan) finishing in seventh place on Stage 3 into La Turballe at 05:18:10hrs Thursday 12 September, wins the 55th La Solitaire du Figaro Paprec overall.
Dolan becomes the first ever non-French skipper to win La Solitaire du Figaro since 1988 when Swiss skipper Laurent Bourgnon triumphed when the race was still sailed in half tonner class yachts.
On this, his seventh challenge on the race the 37 year old Irish skipper finished ninth on the first leg from Le Havre across the Bay of Biscay to Gijón in NW Spain, just 5 mins 31 secs behind the stage winner.
He then conclusively won the second stage from Gijon to Royan, establishing a lead on aggregate time of 57 minutes.
That gave him a solid cushion going into this brutally tough, decisive stage which saw winds of over 30 knots and huge seas during a passage from Royan round a mark off Portland Bill by Weymouth and Skerries off Dartmouth.
His Stage 3 seventh place gives the skipper an overall winning margin of 25mins 38 secs over French rival Lois Berrehar (Skipper MACIF 2022) who won Stage 1 and Stage 3.
A carefully planned strategic move in light winds off the NW corner of Spain was the key to Dolan’s big win on Stage 2 which has proven the foundation for his overall triumph.
He established a small lead which he grew to 57 minutes over second placed Gaston Morvan (Région Bretagne-CMB Performance) who secured third overall.
Charlotte Yven (Skipper MACIF 2023) is top female overall in fifth place, missing the podium by just 27 minutes.
Stage 3 leading finishers into La Turballe, Thursday 12 September
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