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At the forefront of the solo sailors’ minds will be the fact that this is a race against the clock, where the sailor with the shortest elapsed time accumulated over the 1,706 miles that make up the four legs, wins. On the first leg, the major points of passage to negotiate will be Groix Island, which needs to be left to port, where the influence of the passage and affects of the land can complicate sailing, then the Birvideaux platform before the 300 miles across the open Bay of Biscay to Cap Ortegal in Galicia.

The final 30 miles along the Galician coastline will require special planning as the skippers tire and calculate how best to avoid the becalmed areas around the headlands leading to La Coruña; Candelaria point, the Fraiseira point, the famous Cape Prior and lastly Cape Priorino. Meteo France predict light and variable wind conditions of between 10 and 15 knots from the North, northwest for the first night followed by the passage of a front from the South-west that could bring up to 25 knots and gusts of up to 35 on Friday night as the wind heads round to the Northwest.

There will be “lots to play for and we could see quite big gaps build” comments Race Director, Jacques Caraës. We expect to see the first arrive in to La Coruña on Saturday night.” Concludes Caraës. Michel Barrault, who created the first race in 1970, will fire the start gun for 2009 edition of La Solitaire du Figaro at 13:00 tomorrow.

Quotes from the boats: Isabelle Joschke (Synergie) – 2nd participation on La Solitaire and sole woman competing “At the end of the last season I felt that I had made a lot of progress and that I knew the boat well and had learn how to get good speed out of the boat so felt good all round. My objective is to get back to that condition as quickly as possible because this year the races I have done do not have anything like the pace of the Figaro. I have only done races of two or three days… on the weather side of things, it is not going to be straightforward, generally speaking we are going to leave in not much wind, then we will get quite strong upwind conditions with South-westerly and then once again no wind for the finish. Strategically there will be a lot of calls to make. When it is not stable, strategy more than speed, can make a big difference.”

Corentin Douguet (E. Leclerc Mobile): A not so simple first leg Winner in La Coruña and third in the overall rankings in 2007, Corentin Douguet describes how he foresees the first leg from Lorient to La Coruña: “I am happy to be going back to La Coruña where I have some good memories! It is not a simple leg in terms of weather: we should have very light winds on the first night, before having to negotiate a front and then we could have light air again for the approach to the Galician coastline. Predicted arrival for La Coruña is on Saturday night or Sunday morning, so we could see quite a few gaps build. It is going to be interesting in terms of strategy because is everyone has a plan I mind there will be lots to play for with final adjustments on when to time making the right moves.”

Thierry Chabagny, Suzuki Automobiles - 2nd overall in 2006, give us his view on the first upcoming leg from Lorient to La Coruña… “Last year the overall ranking was pretty much decided on this first crossing of the Bay of Biscay. I really suffered personally and have no intention of doing so again this year! The thermal breeze for the start will drop quite quickly so we should have a pretty light first night. Those ahead will be best set up to reach the front that is due to come over. We are going to have to watch out on the approach to La Coruña because if the wind becomes very light, which is highly likely, there could see some big time gaps build. To cover a mile you can take half an hour, but you can also take an hour…”