HARD AND FAST
“This is the hardest race – not to win, just to do. Winning is something else,” says Michel Desjoyeaux. “For me, the Figaro is harder than the Vendée Globe.”
It is a bold statement about an annual single-handed coastal series that involves four offshore legs of around 500 miles apiece, each designed to take around three to four days to complete. But when Desjoyeaux speaks, the solo sailing scene listens.
La Solitaire Urgo Le Figaro, which celebrated its 50th anniversary this year, attracted a big fleet of 47 entries, including a spectacular gathering of the most decorated and accomplished solo sailors, but is still a world apart from the 28,000-mile, non stop, 100-day round the world marathon.
‘THIS IS VERY SPECIAL EVENT; IT’S AN IRRESISTIBLE CHALLENGE’
In France, the 54-year-old Desjoyeaux is a national hero. He is the only person to have won the Vendée Globe more than once, taking victories in 2001 and 2008. He is not alone in thinking that this is harder, though. There are plenty other French A-list offshore sailors who point to winning the Figaro as their proudest moment.
“People always expect me to say that the Vendée Globe is my best victory,” said Alain Gautier, who won the solo around the world race in 1992. “For me, it’s not. Winning the first leg of the 1983 Figaro into Kinsale when I was 21 was my proudest moment as I crossed the line ahead of one of my sailing heroes, Philippe Poupon.”
A scroll down the list of winners in both events reveals a close connection between the two races. Five of the eight Vendée winners have been Figaro champions. All but one have been
