At the forefront of the solo sailors’ minds will be the fact that this is a race against the clock, where the sailor with the shortest elapsed time accumulated over the 1,706 miles that make up the four legs, wins. On the first leg, the major points of passage to negotiate will be Groix Island, which needs to be left to port, where the influence of the passage and affects of the land can complicate sailing, then the Birvideaux platform before the 300 miles across the open Bay of Biscay to Cap Ortegal in Galicia. The final 30 miles along the Galician coastline will require special planning as the skippers tire and calculate how best to avoid the becalmed areas around the headlands leading to La Coruña; Candelaria point, the Fraiseira point, the famous Cape Prior and lastly Cape Priorino.

Meteo France predict light and variable wind conditions of between 10 and 15 knots from the North, northwest for the first night followed by the passage of a front from the South-west that could bring up to 25 knots and gusts of up to 35 on Friday night as the wind heads round to the Northwest. There will be “lots to play for and we could see quite big gaps build” comments Race Director, Jacques Caraës. We expect to see the first arrive in to La Coruña on Saturday night.” Concludes Caraës.

Michel Barrault, who created the first race in 1970, will fire the start gun for 2009 edition of La Solitaire du Figaro at 13:00 tomorrow.