Normandy region heads for Brittany

It's a special morning for the 31 sailors still racing in this final leg of La Solitaire du Figaro Paprec. For two reasons, because after the shock following the announcement of Thomas de Dinechin's dismasting on Almond for Pure Océan, which sparked much sympathy, it's now time to turn our attention to the day's objective: landing on the tip of Brittany and entering the Iroise Sea. At 7:00 a.m., Jules Ducelier on Région Normandie leads the way ahead of Alexis Loison (Groupe REEL) and Charlotte Yven (Skiper Macif 2023).

The nights follow one another and are almost alike on this final leg of the Solitaire du Figaro Paprec. Apart from the cold, which is becoming increasingly biting, the hours at the helm and the tacking are incessant, and fatigue is on the lips of all the sailors who answered Yann Château's call from the race management's No Limit catamaran. Indeed, early this morning, the fleet is waking up haggard following the announcement of Thomas de Dinechin's dismasting at 8:20 p.m. yesterday. The second support boat, the trimaran Express, is currently on a towing mission. The idea, for this extraordinary convoy, is to head northwest to bring Thomas as close as possible to the coast so that he can reach Concarneau or Lorient under his own power. Around 10 a.m., Express will cast off the tow and resume its course towards the head of the fleet.

The Chaussée de Sein in the line of sight

Up front, things are changing, but the leading trio, with the tacks, continues to move north. At the 7:00 a.m. time, on a route a little further west of the fleet and straighter, Jules Ducelier on Région Normandie, is in the lead. He has a 1-mile lead over Alexis Loison (Groupe REEL) and 2.4 miles over Charlotte Yven (Skipper Macif 2023). Tom Goron (Groupe Dubreuil), still at the forefront, is only a few cables behind Charlotte. Still on his trajectory, Victor Mathieu (Elitys) continues his long climb due north but with a well-to-the-west option. He is currently in eleventh place. It will be interesting, at the intermediate sprint, to see whether his audacity has paid off or not. The top five in this ranking are separated by 5 miles. The intermediate sprint line west of Sein is about forty miles from the bows of the leaders. The sailors still have a few hours of sailing left but must already plan ahead to anticipate entering the Iroise Sea. Current, easing wind, and positioning for the next stage will be at the center of thoughts and actions on this new day at sea.

They said

Laure Galley (DMG Mori Academy)

"The upwind is starting to get long, especially as the wind eases. The wind is quite unstable in strength and direction, you have to be pretty much on top of it. I can't rest as much as I'd like. We'll have to start thinking about the current for the area of the western Sein and for the aftermath too. We'll go back to coastal sailing. The end of the race will be quite intense. I'm pretty happy with what I did and my positioning, we'll see how it goes, but the fatigue from the two legs is starting to take its toll."

Arthur Meurisse (Kiloutou)

"It's very complicated on the water with big variations in pressure and angle. I can't see much, depending on the time differences, sometimes it starts and sometimes it doesn't. I'm not sleeping much and I'm trying to optimize each variation. I'm rather offset in the north and the rest of the fleet is to my east. I think I'm doing quite well for the moment. It's very cold too. My goal is to get north as quickly as possible. For the moment it's not going too badly. I'm cruising rather ahead of those in the east."

Tiphaine Ragueneau (ORCOM)

"I'm going to start thinking about what's next, but I don't know how it's going to go. I'll have to check the weather as soon as I get the next report. Things change so quickly in 12 hours."