🚨 Breaking News: Shortened course for the first leg of La Solitaire du Figaro Paprec

Due to the poor weather conditions between Cape Finisterre and Vigo, the port of arrival of the first stage of La Solitaire du Figaro Paprec, the race management has decided to shorten the initial course.

A first mandatory passage gate, already in place before the start of the leg, will then allow the sailors to head towards a second gate, where the finish line for this leg will be located. This line is situated off Cape Finisterre, approximately fifty miles from Vigo.

The competitors are expected to pass through this gate between 11:00 and 14:00 tomorrow. They will then proceed to the port of Vigo.

Yann Chateau, race director:

“For several days now, the weather files have shown us a large ridge of high pressure over the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, blocking the passage. There were multiple challenges. First, to have a race that was competitive, and therefore the challenge was to determine, using the various weather models, how far we could consider there would still be wind and ensure consistency between the models. The second challenge was to reach Vigo during the night from Thursday to Friday, in order to give the sailors a proper rest. According to the weather models, the last 80 miles to Vigo would take more than 24 hours, meaning the first boats would arrive on Friday morning and the last ones on Friday evening.”

These various criteria led us to choose a solution to take the race as far as possible, as close as possible to the Vigo estuary, while maintaining its sporting coherence and respecting the sailors' rest schedule. We are at the very beginning of the Solitaire, there is still a long way to go, and they need to be able to get some sleep for the rest of the competition.