Solitaire du Figaro Paprec: a shortened 2nd leg

Due to weather conditions deemed too mild, and therefore too slow, the route between Kinsale and the Bay of Morlaix has been modified.

Yann Chateau, race director of the Solitaire du Figaro Paprec, told the 32 skippers on Friday evening that he had made the decision to shorten the course of the second leg. The fleet will therefore not go around the Isle of Man, the fault of the expected weather between Kinsale and the bay of Morlaix (Roscoff). The conditions, announced as too mild, in fact pose the risk of a very slow progression of the boats delaying the arrivals of this stage.

“We are in a rather exceptional weather situation. The Isle of Man is renowned for its relatively active depressions. There, we have a very spread out high pressure ridge over the Celtic Sea and the Iroise Sea, while there are low pressure systems off the coast of Spain, which is quite rare in weather. Routing times are very long with arrivals announced between Friday and Saturday, not offering enough rest time to the skippers at the end of the race”justifies the race director who had no other choice but to shorten the route of this stage which will start on September 3rd.