Charlotte Yven holds a slim lead over rookie skipper Hugo Cardon in the final stage of the La Solitaire du Figaro Paprec Leg 2
The two leaders, who hedged their bets with a course down the middle, enjoy a cushion of more than seven miles to the chasing bunch, which includes overall La Solitaire du Figaro leader Alexis Loison – in ninth place.
The leaders have around 67nm to the finish in Vigo. but are sailing very slowly, 1 to 2 knots at 23:00 HRS.
A pattern of wind filled in from the east to power the eastern group towards the north-western tip of Spain, meaning the group that hitched their fortunes to the line of breeze out west faced a double challenge – longer route, less breeze.
That group includes Ireland’s Tom Dolan who headed west in search of a line of wind that was forecast to try and recover some distance. The gamble did not pay-off and he is now back in 33rd place
Leading positions at 23:00 hrs Thu 18 Sep
1st Charlotte Yven – Skipper Macif 2023 FRA
2nd Hugo Cardon – Sarth’Atlatique FRA
3rd Tom Goron – Group Dubreuil FRA
4th Victor Le Pape – Region Bretagne-CMB Espoir
5th Arno Biston – Aeticle.1 FRA
6th Thomas De Dinechin – Almond For Pure Ocean
And:
9th Alexis Loison – Groupe REEL (Leg 1 winner)
25th Ellie Driver – Women’s Engineering Society GBR
31st Tom Dolan – Kingspan IRL
