Finishing in seventh place on the 710 nautical miles Stage 3 into La Turballe on France’s Loire Atlantique coast at 05:18:10hrs this Thursday morning, Ireland’s Tom Dolan (Smurfit Kappa-Kingpsan) is the provisional overall winner of the 55th edition of La Solitaire du Figaro Paprec, the annual multi-stage solo offshore race which is considered the toughest event of solo offshore sailing.
On his seventh challenge on the race the 37 year old Irish skipper finished ninth on the first leg from Le Havre across the Bay of Biscay to Gijón in NW Spain, just 5 mins 31 secs behind the stage winner. He then conclusively won the second stage from Gijon to Royan, establishing a lead on aggregate time of 57 minutes which gave him a solid cushion going into this brutally tough, decisive stage which saw winds of over 30 knots and huge seas during a passage from Royan round a mark off Portland Bill by Weymouth and Skerries off Dartmouth.
His seventh early this morning gives the skipper who grew up on a farm in County Meath in rural Ireland an overall winning margin of 25mins 38 secs over French rival Lois Berrehar (Skipper MACIF 2022) who won Stage 1 and Stage 3.Dolan becomes the first ever non-French skipper to win La Solitaire du Figaro since 1988 when Swiss skipper Laurent Bourgnon triumphed when the race was still sailed in half tonner class yachts.
Delighted and exhausted Dolan told the fans and media on the dock, “It’s a moment I’ve dreamed of for year and years, dreamed and dreamed, and so to win now is incredible, it is so surreal right now, I can’t believe it’s true. That was an incredible leg, six or seven hours full on in 25-30 knots of wind. Gybing in the 30 knots. But this is about years and years of hard work and sacrifice. Before this it was things in my head which held me back but now I have a super team with me, a great team.”
He enthused, “Others in sailing talk of the Sydney Hobart or the Fastnet for me it has always been La Solitaire. When I won into Royan it was special with all the boats coming out to meet me that really allowed me to dream I suppose. But on the water on this leg when Lois (Berrehar) got in front and I knew I had an hour and 40 minutes on him I was starting to think. But it was really only at the line that I realised finally”
Dolan won Stage 1 into Kinsale in his native Ireland last year. Actually crossing the line second he was promoted to first after the French skipper who took first gun received a time penalty for a fundamental rules infringement. But on the second stage, after carrying a six minutes lead at the start he was becalmed for hours – along with most of the fleet – and his chances of winning overall evaporated.
A carefully planned strategic move in light winds off the NW corner of Spain was the key to Dolan’s big win on Stage 2 which has proven the foundation for his overall triumph. He established a small lead which he grew to 57 minutes over second placed Gaston Morvan (Région Bretagne-CMB Performance) who secured third overall.
But it was at the prizegiving last year listening winner Corentin Horeau talk of the difference his ‘mental coach’ had made to his self belief and mental game that Dolan decided he too needed to bolster his psychological game, especially in remaining lucid and positive when in a state of extreme tiredness and stress, ensuring small mistakes did not escalate into a poor result. He sought out Gerry Hussey a renowned Irish sports psychologist. The two bonded over their similar backgrounds and Hussey has been a powerful positive influence as has his sailing coach and boat technician Gildas Mahé who is a very successful Figaro sailor in his own right.
His work with Hussey clarified the need to return to enjoying the fundamentals of racing and being on the water but behind Dolan’s mantra this season ‘sticking to the processes and just enjoying myself’ he firmly believed he could win this La Solitaire du Figaro and wanted to more than anything else.
“Tom has grown in stature bit by bit but this year for sure he wanted to win, he knew he could win and did all he could to make sure he would. No one has worked harder over the years for this than Tom and this year having a great team behind him has made the difference.” Said his long time friend and mentor, Irish businessman Gerry Jones who first met Tom at Glenans sailing school in Baltimore, Ireland when Dolan was sailing instructor in 2008, and who has been his mentor ever since.
The back story of the new La Solitaire du Figaro winner differs from most of the French winners to date. He grew up on a 48 acre farm in the north of County Meath. On something of a whim his father bought a Miracle dinghy which he and Tom sailed on Lough Key. He went to farming college but dropped out and was unemployed before signing up for an outdoor education course at college in North Dublin. From there he moved to Glenans in Baltimore and when the famous French sailing school closed in Ireland he moved to Conceaneau, France.
His father subsequently passed away and with his modest inheritance Tom Dolan bought a Mini 650 which he raced, at the time setting up a small offshore sailing school in Concarneau using the Mini, in order to make money. He quickly proved he was a very natural, fast sailor with great stamina as well as a sharp mind. In the Mini class he gained a reputation for his speed, becoming nicknamed ‘The Flying Irishman’ finishing sixth on the 2017 Mini Transat before joining the Figaro circuit in 2018.
On the dock in La Turballe this morning Dolan said (translated): “When the leaders got away from me into the strong wind, when they left in front, I said to myself: it’s all over, it’s all over. It was close. I always knew it is was going to be complicated to come back and win. I can’t say that winning this time was my objective. It has been a dream for years. All I wanted to do was win. We’re here to win.
There was a big lull in the breeze in the Iroise sea and there, I really said: "Shit they've gone." I couldn't see them anymore, I said to myself: "Now, this doesn't smell good. At least, if I catch up with an bit I’ll get a podium." Then I saw the right shift coming, I saw the clouds coming. I said to myself: "This might be good. I gybed straight away and I don't know where they ended up, but it realigned everyone a bit”
“But now, right now I feel like I'm sleeping and I'm having a dream. I don't know what to say. What you have to know is that these are years of work, of sacrifices that end like this. It's crazy, it's weird. I don't know how to explain it.”
“I had things in my head especially before that were the big problem. Now we have a great team. This year, I had nothing that stressed me out. Gildas helps me with the preparation. The team like Gerry (Jones) who manages everything, the other Gerry (Hussey) who manages my head. Mino for the great weather strategies. I don't know……everything was perfect this time. There was not a single link in the chain that was weak. And I had a little luck too, it must be said. Every time someone wins, he says that you have to have a little luck. A little transition in the light airs early in the second stage allowed me to start far ahead on this leg
Every time the others won, they said: "You need a bit of luck." I would say to myself: "That's easy to say!"
“Now I'm going to rest a little, but yes, definitely. I think I'd like to do this again. I'd like to do 20 years of this. I don't know if I'd have the energy to go out and do a fourth stage if there were one, right now I need to rest a little!”
“It's an addictive competition. I've just won it, I want to come back. I think it's a sign that it never stops. This period is incredible. This race, for years, I've heard people talk about Fastnet Race, Sydney Hobart but now, we're doing it three or four times, you're all alone, in the same conditions, in much more extreme boats. The level is extremely high, we're all racing next to each other for days and days. It's such an addictive competition. Here I am I just won it and I already want to come back. I think it's a sign that it never stops. It's incredible.”
“I don't do all this alone. I do the boat part alone, but if I don't have everyone around me, it's not possible. I'm proud of these people,”
“The finish of the second leg where I won, with all the boats around me, is my first memory. It really looked like what I saw on TV: swell, with the boats around, that's it. I didn't allow myself to celebrate because I had to focus so much on the third stage. I was a bit reserved and grumpy with everyone, I wasn't very sociable. I wanted to do so well. I think it's the down to victory on the second stage. It's special."
(All results are provisional, subject to jury)