The departure of the 53rd edition of the Figaro Solitairethe big meeting of the season for sailors on the Figaro circuit, will be given this Sunday August 21 (3 p.m.) off Saint-Michel-Chef-Chef in Loire-Atlantique. Three stages are on the program with four consecutive nights at sea for each stage. The Solitaires will only have three nights ashore to sleep and prepare the boat before tackling the next leg.
Among the 34 sailors engaged this year, five women, including Violet Dorange. At 21, La Rochefortaise is going to compete in her 3rd Solitaire du Figaro. Before seeing bigger and taller. The Charentaise-Maritime will then sail on 60-foot Imoca boats with the focus on the Vendée Globe 2024. A huge challenge, but Violette Dorange feels she has a size. Maintenance.
I’m aiming for the Top 15, but the goal is really to feel good in my boat
France Bleu La Rochelle: The preparation was intense before this Solitaire du Figaro which you approach with what ambition?
Yes, the preparation lasted all year. It’s really the most important race of the season and it’s been several weeks of training and four preparation races, there’s also the boat race. This year, the ambition is to be in the Top 15. But the result does not mean much. Sometimes we sailed badly, but we were very lucky and vice versa. My objective is really to feel good in my boat. This year I want to try more small strategic moves, maybe a little less tracking and making my way at times, showing everything I’ve learned this year and feeling that I’ve actually sailed well. The pure and hard result is not that important.
Despite your young age (21 years old, on April 17), you accumulate experience in Solitaire.
Yes, this is my third participation. The first was in 2020, a somewhat complicated year with the Covid. I got the boat just in February so it’s pretty quick. The second year went pretty well. I wanted to make Top 20 and I made 19th. In addition, I had a rudder problem, I hit an OFNI which broke my rudder during the race. These first two editions were a bit difficult, but this year I really feel more comfortable on my boat and I have a little more speed than in previous years, so I hope I can show all that at sea.
The pace is super-high on the Solitaire, we don’t have much time to sleep at sea
La Solitaire du Figaro 2022 is three big stages, four nights at sea, three days on land. In short, is it going to be physical?
It’s clear, it’s going to be tough, it’s three big steps. We go as far as England, around the island of Skokholm, which no competitor knows. It’s going to be pretty fun going that far. Afterwards, we go to La Coruña in Spain, a stage around the Channel Islands, it’s going to be really nice, big routes. This is the particularity of the Solitaire du Figaro, the pace is very high, you don’t have too much time to sleep at sea, you have to sleep as little as possible and then you only have three days of rest on land . The first day, we just sleep, the second and third, we prepare the boat and the strategy. In fact, it’s a hyper-high pace and it’s going to be too cool. I have good memories of last year when for a month, we were in a bit of a bubble, we were in racing competition and we had a clear objective every day.
Royan will welcome the arrival of the 2nd stage (from September 1st) You will be almost at home!
It’s clear ! Royan is really 20 minutes from my house. I’m so happy that the Solitaire is stopping this year in Charente-Maritime. It will be an opportunity to see my family who will be able to come to the start. It is really awesome.
– Guillaume SALIGOT / WEST-FRANCE
When you arrive on an Imoca, everything is double
The future is now. Have you started sailing on 60 feet?
Yes, I started training with Jean Le Cam. In fact, I’m going to pick up his boat after the Route du Rhum and do the ferry back on the boat. It’s a big project that is being prepared. There, we have been looking for partners for a good year for the Vendée Globe 2024. The idea is really to prepare, to do all the races, it’s a big, big project. The Vendée Globe is in 2024, but in the end, the project begins immediately after the Solitaire du Figaro, so it’s really topical.
What feelings do you have when you’re at the helm of an Imoca?
At first, it’s quite impressive, because I’m really used to my little 10-meter Figaro. I’ve been on it for three years and I’m used to this size, and when you arrive on an Imoca, everything is double. The sails, the boat and inevitably each error can be very expensive because it is no longer just the strength of the arms that will be able to solve the problem. You have to be clever and find solutions if you have a problem, so it’s quite impressive at first, but on the other hand, it’s also exciting to be able to say to yourself “I will learn to manage this big machine to be able to go around the world”. It’s amazing actually.
It’s more than a dream, it’s a goal
And precisely, is the Vendée Globe a childhood dream for you?
Not for all sailors, but for the offshore racing community, it really is the holy grail. For me, it’s a dream. Since I was little, I have followed the Vendée Globe. I was quite close to Jean-Pierre Dick. My father did a study with him. The day before departure, I piled his bags in the boat or I passed the brush. At each start of the Vendée Globe, I said: “I will do it later when I grow up” joking. And then it becomes real. I’m starting to know which boat I’ll have, which people I’m going to work with for this project. I really want. It’s more than a dream, it’s a goal.
Are you still looking for partners for this Vendée Globe project?
Yes, I’m still looking for partners, I already have a good base, we have leads. But there, we are still looking for the title partner or the two co-title partners for the Vendée Globe.
What will happen between the end of the Solitaire du Figaro and the Vendée Globe in 2024?
The project is quite interesting because in 2023 there will be the Transat Jacques-Vabre. There will be four races with great stages. And as I was telling you, there is the return trip from the Route du Rhum at the end of the year. It’s going to be my first big sail for several days on Imoca. I’m really too excited.
The Solitaire du Figaro 2022
- Stage 1 – August 21 (3 p.m.) Nantes / Port-la-Forêt
After five days of festivities, at the foot of the Anne de Bretagne bridge, the fleet will go up the Loire, the time of a popular parade, to reach the waters of the Estuary and take the start, this Sunday August 21, of the first stage in the direction of Port-La-Forêt (Finistère).
- Stage 2 – August 28 (1 p.m.): Port-la-Forêt / Royan
The solo sailors will set sail on Sunday August 28 to join Royan passing through the Channel Islands and the British coast before reaching the mouth of the Gironde. Arrival in Charente-Maritime on September 1st.
- Stage 3 – 4 September (12 p.m.): Royan / Saint-Nazaire
The third and final stage will start from Royan on September 4 across the Bay of Biscay, via a long detour via La Coruña in Galicia. This offshore course promises to give pride of place to weather knowledge and analysis and strategic options. Final outcome in Saint-Nazaire where the festivities will take place from September 7 to 11.