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Solitaire Afflelou Le Figaro • 3rd Leg

Corentin Douguet victorious in La Coruña

Michel Desjoyeaux takes the overall lead before last leg

jeudi 16 août 2007 – Redaction SSS [Source RP]

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Corentin Douguet crossed the finish line on the Wednesday 15th of August at 23h39m45s to win the third leg of La Solitaire Afflelou Le Figaro race between Brest and La Coruna. The skipper of E.Leclerc / Bouygues Telecom covered 562 miles in 4 days 5 hours 29 minutes and 45 seconds at an average 5.52 knots. This is a first victory for the 33 yearold French sailors from Nantes who won the last Mini-Transat in 2005.


Nicolas Troussel (Financo) finishes in second place and Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) in third. These three lead also make up the top three in the overall general ranking.

Corentin Douguet (E. Leclerc / Bouygues Telecom) – first words from the winner…

“You must not this kind of thing too often ; it is not good for your health ! I have aged at least 10 years. It was too much…hours and hours of upwind in 40 knots, its pure hell. These boats are only little and the sea was truly awful. It was painful and at one point I nearly gave up. I had been there for hours and went below deck to check on the charts…have a look and see I was exactly half way between the home and the finish, only that heading home would have been downwind and hesitated at one point because it was so tough. I never thought that all my fellow competitors would leave me to work alone. When I heard that I was in 33rd place on this mornings poling, I even told myself that fine, they had all tacked before me so felt confident. I said to myself that maybe there is a chance here. On the next position report I was 18th and then on the last one I was second behind Bostik. It was incredible when I thought I could do it.

I was with Gildas (Le Comptoir Immobilier) and then Mich’ (Foncia) in the same place. I must have continued west for a couple of hours. It is just incredible because that happens because Michel Desjoyeaux does not make mistakes.

I had been checking the weather charts since the start to try and work out when the wind shift would come in. It was important to use that to work out when to tack. We had everything on this leg and particularly on the long stint in the windy conditions. It was not so much the 40 knots of wind, but the violent sea state. I tied the lifeline round my waist as a belt and clipped on to stop me from being thrown off whilst helming. When you are tired you fall asleep and if a wave crashes over the boat you can get washed out the cockpit.

At one point I told myself to just forget about the race, just sail safely. It really is that : sailing as a good sailor and not get worked up about pure performance because in those conditions it was no longer possible.

Douguet, Desjoyeaux and Troussel – top three to finish on the podium of the third leg of La Solitaire Afflelou Le Figaro between Brest and La Coruña
Nicolas Troussel (Financo) finishes 2nd 28 minutes and 5 seconds behind to the leader. Nicolas currently lies in third place in the overall time rankings, 17 minutes and 26 seconds behind Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) and 8 minutes and 13 seconds behind Corentin Douguet (E.Leclerc / Bouygues Telecom).

First 20 in Spain

– 1 10 Douguet Corentin E. Leclerc / Bouygues Telecom arrivé le 15/08/2007 à 23H39
– 2 5 Troussel Nicolas Financo arrivé le 16/08/2007 à 0H07
– 3 45 Desjoyeaux Michel Foncia arrivé le 16/08/2007 à 0H28
– 4 38 Mahe Gildas Le Comptoir Immobilier arrivé le 16/08/2007 à 0H58
– 5 2 Drouglazet Eric Luisina arrivé le 16/08/2007 à 1H03
– 6 97 Rouxel Thomas Défi Mousquetaires arrivé le 16/08/2007 à 1H06
– 7 8 Grégoire Jeanne Banque Populaire arrivé le 16/08/2007 à 1H28
– 8 7 Duthil Frédéric Distinxion arrivé le 16/08/2007 à 1H52
– 9 19 * Lunven Nicolas Bostik arrivé le 16/08/2007 à 2H00
– 10 6 Morvan Gildas Cercle Vert arrivé le 16/08/2007 à 2H08
– 11 72 * Biarnes Vincent Côtes d’Armor arrivé le 16/08/2007 à 2H14
– 12 13 Mouren Jean-Paul M@rseillEntreprises arrivé le 16/08/2007 à 2H21
– 13 70 Lepesqueux Marc Rapid’ Flore - Caen-La-Mer arrivé le 16/08/2007 à 2H30
– 14 9 Pratt Christopher Espoir Crédit Agricole arrivé le 16/08/2007 à 2H58
– 15 24 Le Gal Franck Lenze arrivé le 16/08/2007 à 3H07
– 16 4 Veniard Gérald Scutum arrivé le 16/08/2007 à 3H08
– 17 11 Lebas Christophe LoLa La piscine assemblée arrivé le 16/08/2007 à 3H11
– 18 92 Chabagny Thierry Brossard arrivé le 16/08/2007 à 3H24
– 19 68 Berenger Nicolas KONE Ascenseurs arrivé le 16/08/2007 à 3H45
– 20 26 Nagy Robert Théolia arrivé le 16/08/2007 à 3H47

Overall ranking after leg 3

– 1 45 Desjoyeaux Michel Foncia en 211h 15min 52s
– 2 10 Douguet Corentin E.Leclerc / Bouygues Telecom à 08’13’
– 3 5 Troussel Nicolas Financo à 17’26’
– 4 38 Mahé Gildas Le Comptoir Immobilier à 48’00’
– 5 7 Duthil Frédéric Distinxion à 01h10’23’
– 6 97 Rouxel Thomas Défi Mousquetaires à 01h43’44’
– 7 2 Drouglazet Eric Luisina à 02h00’15’
– 8 8 Grégoire Jeanne Banque Populaire à 02h16’01’
– 9 6 Morvan Gildas Cercle Vert à 02h31’38’
– 10 70 Lepesqueux Marc Rapid’Flore Caen-La-Mer à 02h59’59’

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