This week OceansLab skipper Phil Sharp will join a fleet of 32 skippers in the 44th edition of the Solo Guy Cotten.
The Solo Guy Cotten Concarneau is the final warmup race ahead of La Solitaire du Figaro 2020.
This return race from Concarneau around the islands of north Biscay will start Thursday at 15:00 CEST and is expected to finish on Saturday 8 August.
The race will give Sharp the chance to check his new rudders . . .
Sharp explained, “Since the last race we have made some performance improvements, which should hopefully improve both reaching and downwind speeds.”
“In particular, since the steering problems I experienced in the Solo Maitre Coq, both rudders have been replaced after discovering that neither were straight!”.
On the 30 August Sharp will start in La Solitaire du Figaro, a single-handed 1,830 nautical mile race over four stages, taking just under a month to complete.
The 51st edition will start in the bay of Saint-Brieuc and include several crossings of the English Channel passing key landmarks; Fastnet Rock and Wolf Rock, a stopover in Dunkirk, and finishing in Saint-Nazaire on the 19 September.
Sharp will be one of 35 solo skippers to contest the notoriously competitive race challenged by shipping lanes, sandbanks, rocks and tidal currents.
Achieving a good result in this race class, aboard a Figaro 3 (32 ft) one-design boat, means little sleep and close finishes with just minutes, sometime seconds apart.
This will be Sharp’s second entry after racing aboard a Figaro 2 in the 2011 edition, where he finished as 3rd rookie on an adjusted 18th position overall.
“The Solo Guy Cotten is the final opportunity to benchmark myself against the fleet ahead of the Solitaire pinnacle event.” Sharp added.
Guy Cotten Concarneau race website . . .
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