By Thomas Campion — La Solitaire du Figaro
The first night of this final leg of the 2026 Solitaire du Figaro Paprec felt like time suspended. After an lively evening, the breeze gradually died away, forcing the skippers to stay sharp as a tack to hold their lines in the pressure corridors. Come first light in early June, Paul Morvan (Foricher – French Touch) leads the fleet ahead of Nicolas Lunven (PRB) and Tom Goron (Xplorassur), who’s delighted to find himself back in the mix. Under a generous full moon lighting up the water, the Figaros ghosted along the Vendée coast in an almost surreal scene. The sea looked peaceful enough, but nerves were constantly on edge – watching for wind shifts, anticipating flat spots and keeping the boat moving. The gaps have been built incrementally, often thanks to a few extra degrees of breeze or simply reading a wind line better than your mate. That pattern should continue through the morning as the wind keeps fading. Right from the gun on this final sprint of the Solitaire du Figaro Paprec, the sailors are grappling with proper weather navigation. Early doors, the solitaires are now offshore of the Charente islands in still manageable conditions. Positions remain delicate: the fleet’s clustering back together, stragglers are scrapping their way back into contention and every new gust could reshuffle the deck. Now more than ever, patience and reading the water are the real keys to this leg. Bottom line: a night of moonlight and tactics, with fading wind and constant course corrections. Some managed to grab kip after all the gybing on the coastal section, but others have already renewed their grim acquaintance with fatigue. The leg’s only just kicked off and it’s going to get tougher still. Staying switched on and digging deep will be crucial in this final battle.
From the pointy end
Tom Goron (Xplorassur): “We got the spinnakers down just before Noirmoutier and had a really solid run – fast and lovely – until the last few hours when the breeze started to pack it in. That’s when it gets tricky with the swell and barely any wind. It’s gone alright for me though. I reckon I came out third and today we’re back in the scrap with the boys. That’s a real buzz finally mixing it with them – reckon it’s the first time this race we’ve been able to do that. The wind’s dropping until midday, maybe into the arvo, so we’ll try creeping towards BXA nice and easy. Could be a bit of a slog. After that we’ll head back on the wind and get into a phase where we might actually grab some shut-eye. I got some decent sleep last night but right now it’ll be hard to kip until the breeze picks up. Then we’ll have that long beat to windward where we can start thinking about getting our heads down properly.”
Originally published in French by La Solitaire du Figaro.
