Postponement of the start of the second stage of the Solitaire du Figaro Paprec 2025

Initially scheduled for Sunday, September 14 at 1 p.m. off the coast of Morlaix Bay, the start of the second leg towards Vigo in Spain will be postponed to Monday. The disturbed weather conditions with the passage of an active front off the coast of Brittany on Sunday do not allow the fleet of 34* Figaro Bénéteau 3 to be sent out safely. Yann Chateau, race director, has therefore decided to postpone the start, but the door to arrive in the Bay of Biscay before the passage of a new low pressure system looks quite tight.

© OC Sport Pen Duick

"We haven't really been blessed with the weather since the start of La Solitaire, with trains of low pressure systems passing through the North Atlantic. We've already had to adapt the first leg. Which hasn't taken anything away, it seems to me, from the sporting aspect of this course. And now, we have to, once again, manage to deal with the weather. We have a low pressure system passing through on Sunday with strong winds and a sea state with waves of more than 5 meters or around 5 meters in the Iroise Sea and in the northern Bay of Biscay. These conditions are really complicated for setting off safely . "

With the start delayed by one day - the start time has not yet been set - the official route for this second stage will undergo some adjustments.

"The fact of postponing the start has forced us to also anticipate what comes next a little. We have a final leg that is very long. We have to arrive in Vigo as quickly as possible to give the sailors an optimal rest time and to be able to set off again on Sunday for the final leg. So, indeed, the route has been modified. It will be a direct route to Vigo, direct on paper because in reality, the sailors' route will be very different from a straight line. There will be several paths."

After rounding the tip of Brittany, the solo sailors will head towards Cape Finisterre. The detour via the Birvideaux passage mark between the island of Groix and Belle-Île has been removed.

A departure time to be refined

"The new departure is scheduled for Monday. For the moment, we haven't set a schedule because the window of passage is quite short. We have a low pressure system on Sunday that will clear out fairly quickly on Monday but will leave a fairly strong sea state. And we have another low pressure system arriving on Wednesday. The goal is to succeed in refining a departure schedule that allows us to leave with conditions that are not too strong, manageable - but which will still be quite committed - and to leave early enough to pass before the low pressure system on Wednesday ," analyzes Yann Chateau.

* Thierry Levayer, having been unable to repair his boat in time to safely take part in this stage, has decided not to take part in this 2025 edition of La Solitaire du Figaro Paprec.