This Sunday, the 32-year-old Saint-Malo skipper Arthur Hubert will take the start of the mythical Solitaire du Figaro for the second time aboard MonAtoutEnergie.fr. The man who is also the technical director of the Be Racing team run by Louis Burton and Servane Escoffier is eager to take on this legendary race.
The trained engineer, who joined Be Bacing in 2015, is obviously passionate about his sport. He did all his internships and professional experiences in the environment, before joining the team, which allowed him to participate in a Jacques Vabre in Class 40 and a Route du Rhum in 2018. He signed with his sponsor MonAtoutEnergie until 2023 two years ago.
It’s the legendary race, the goal of the year – Arthur Hubert
A refined preparation for this 53rd edition
Twenty-second in the standings last year, Arthur Hubert worked hard to prepare for this 53rd edition of the Solitaire du Figaro: “With my participation last year, I already have offshore racing experience, I was able to see what I was missing and what I needed to work on to get a better result.“
And for this, the skipper joined the Lorient Grand Large training center, where he was able to work on several aspects of his navigation with a dozen other sailors: “It allows you to compare speeds, to see the technical choices of each other, to see their way of preparing the boats, their way of preparing for the races. We have a meteorologist, we have a coach, and the fact of being in a group makes it possible to exchange really. La Solitaire puts the body to the test, so I also work on the physical, with a lot of sport during the year and on mental preparation too.“
Top 15 goal for Arthur Hubert
For this Solitaire, the annual justice of the peace for the Figaro class, the Malouin hopes to prove that his navigation has progressed in one year: “It is often said that the second Solitaire can be more complicated than the first, because you know the pitfalls and you take fewer risks. There isn’t really a target result, but I’d like to be in the top 15. But it’s a race in stages and against the clock, so the places don’t mean much… You have to above all, not having a big gap with the leaders, it’s a bit like on the Tour de France by bike, you can lose everything on a stage. If we make two good ones and miss one, it can be catastrophic in the standings. You have to be regular, be in the right group, these are stages of five or six days with a significant weather variable.”
Departure of this 53rd edition of the Solitaire du Figaro from Saint-Nazaire at 3:20 p.m. this Sunday, August 21.