Conditions on the Gironde Estuary were perfect for 36 solo racers who started the decisive third and final stage of La Solitaire du Figaro Paprec off Royan.
A windy beat is on the cards for the climb up the northwest Brittany coast Sunday night during which the skippers will need to accumulate some snatches of rest as the 36 hours in the English Channel looks set to be windy and very demanding.
At 18:00 UK, Loïs Berrehar (Skipper Macif 2022) and Basile Bourgnon (Edenred) were was holding an overall leading margin of 0.3nm from Élodie Bonnafous (QUEGUINER – La Vie en Rose).
Berrehar was the first to round the first course mark, he wins the Windchaser by Bollé Trophy.
Holding an overall leading margin of just over 57 minutes at the top of the leaderboard, Ireland’s Tom Dolan (Smurfit Kappa-Kingpsan) made an accomplished start and was in 8th place, 1.3nm off the leaders.
Although he had no plans to cover his nearest rivals Gaston Morvan (Région Bretagne CMB Performance) and Charlotte Yven (Skipper MACIF 2023) Dolan was in close contact with the two of them this evening.
