Figaro : les dernières infos Tip & Shaft

Catalan racer Pep Costa, who moved in 2020 from Castelldelfels to France to pursue his ocean racing dreams, seems to have been popping up everywhere these past weeks. In fact just now his racing is split between Class40 with Erwan Le Draoulec, Ocean Fifty alongside Thibaut Vauchel-Camus and now again back to the Figaro on the Tour de Bretagne which he races with Elodie Bonafous on Quéguiner-La Vie en rose. In all, then, it seems like the right time for Tip & Shaft to talk with the 24-year-old. 

On Wednesday Paprec were announced as the main partners of La Solitaire du Figaro as well as becoming the official title partners of the Figaro Beneteau 3s biennial Transat en Double Concarneau-Saint-Barthélemy race which now becomes a ‘mixed doubles’ race. Both races are organised by OC Sport Pen Duick. Tip & Shaft explores these developments.

The Figaro Beneteau class held its general assembly on December 9. There the 2022 calendar was adopted and the creation of an Academy was validated. This initiative is intended to facilitate access to the circuit for newcomers. This is seen as a necessity for a class which is seeing the number of participants on the circuit dropping.  

After two out of the four stages have been sailed, Pierre Quiroga who was second on the first stage and them won the second, has control of the general classification of La Solitaire du Figaro with a solid lead of more than an hour and a half over Tom Laperche and Xavier Macaire. Has the Skipper Macif 2019 skipper already got the race in the bag? Tip & Shaft assembled a few experts in the field to analyse this first half of the race.

In mid-August more than 80 solo sailors and duos – most of them at least in their forties – will set off from Lorient and Marseille embarking on the tenth edition of the Transquadra. The race is contested every three years in two stages to Madeira and onwards. This hugely popular transatlantic race sees a majority of boats racing that were specially designed for open waters, racing with small crew. Tip & Shaft investigates to what extent the event influences the model and marketing choices of builders and designers of cruiser-racers.

Approaching 37 years old, Alexis Loison will this summer compete in his 16th consecutive La Solitaire du Figaro. That will make him the most experienced sailor on the start line. Before setting this week Solo Guy Cotten, the sailor from Cherbourg – who will race The Fastnet in August –  talks about his season, his ambitions and his future.

Racing in the colours of the State Street Mixed Marathon Sailing Team, American Jesse Fielding and Francesca Clapcich made their debut in the Figaro circuit in the Solo Maître CoQ. Tip & Shaft caught up with Jesse on his return from Les Sables d’Olonne.

The Figaro Bénéteau season gets underway again in a month from now with the Solo Maître CoQ, the first of the seven events on the race calendar. In spite of the economic and health crisis, the class seems to be resisting well. Tip & Shaft looks at their latest projects.