Irish sailor in contention as endurance yacht race stops over in Kinsale

Tom Dolan from Meath said conditions during the 642-mile first leg were 'very harsh'

The racing fleet will remain tied up in Kinsale over the coming days before competitors set off this Sunday on the second leg from Kinsale to the scenic Bay of Morlaix in Brittany, via the Isle of Man. Picture: David Creedon

Irish sailor Tom Dolan is in contention to win one of the world’s toughest solo yacht races after he claimed second place in the first leg of the La Solitaire du Figaro Race which finished in Kinsale on Thursday.

The 36-year-old Meath man, and the rest of the 30-strong racing fleet, set off from Caen, France, on Sunday to compete in the arduous 1,850-mile three-stage race over three weeks.

It is widely regarded as one of the world’s toughest annual solo, multi-stage, offshore races, with a challenging mix of inshore, coastal and open, offshore racing which requires the skippers to spend up to four nights at sea during each of the three legs.

The 642-mile first leg took competitors from Caen, on the Normandy coast, north to the Isle of Wight, then south again to round a lighthouse off the north coast of Brittany, before they headed northwest to round the Fastnet Rock.

The fleet then raced east along the south coast of Ireland with Dolan arriving into Kinsale at 8.18am on Thursday some 16 minutes behind leg winner Benoit Tuduri. Dolan covered the leg in his vessel, Smurfit Kappa – Kingspan, at an average speed of 7.04 knots.

His second place was his highest career finish to date and puts him in real contention to win the race overall. Moments after tying up in Kinsale, he said: “I'm tired. We took three occlusions, one after the other. The wind was hyper oscillating.

Even the naps we were able to take were short. The conditions were very harsh.

“During the last sprint after the Fastnet, I admit that I had a small local advantage and I'm super happy.” It is the 21st time the La Solitaire du Figaro has had a stop-over in Kinsale, and it is the race’s first overseas stop-over since the covid pandemic.

The racing fleet will remain tied up in Kinsale over the coming days before competitors set off this Sunday on the second leg from Kinsale to the scenic Bay of Morlaix in Brittany, via the Isle of Man.

The race has planned to go north from Kinsale to the Isle of Man before but bad weather has prevented it from happening so far.

It is the 21st time the La Solitaire du Figaro has had a stop-over in Kinsale. Picture: David Creedon

But organisers are hopeful that weather conditions next week will allow that part of the leg to go ahead, with skippers facing the challenge of navigating their way around sandbars and fishing boats, and finding their way through the current off Land's End at the southwest tip of England, just as fatigue begins to mount.

The final leg, which includes a crossing of the Bay of Biscay to a buoy off Gijón, Spain, should see skippers cross the finishing line in Piriac-sur-Mer around September 13.