Under a grey sky the 44 skippers taking part in La Solitaire du Figaro, left Kinsale for the fourth and decisive leg. Tension was high and the Committee was forced to give two general recalls. Swiss Bernard Stamm (Cheminée Poujoulat) and French Matthieu Girolet (Entreprendre) were involved in a collision and suffered from serious damages to their boats. Both decided to abandon racing.

Excellent start for young Portuguese Francisco Lobato and Italian Pietro D'Alì. Weather conditions are expected to be fairly tough, for a fast 435 miles passage to the finish in Cherbourg. A lot is at stake, for the leaders as for each one of the competitors to the 2010 Solitaire and tension builds easily. That is especially the case at the start of the last and decisive leg. And today the 44 skippers were eager to leave Ireland, apparently. So much that the Race Committee was forced to hoist the general recall flag twice before getting a clear start. And, it was when tension ran so high that between the first and the second start that a violent collision occurred involving Swiss Bernard Stamm (Cheminée Poujoulat) and Matthieu Girolet (Entreprendre).

As boats suffered from serious damages to their hulls both skippers decided it was not safe to continue racing and abandoned the Solitaire. Stamm's Figaro had a conspicuous hole on the bow and despite all the other competitors' shore teams immediately started working on it in a solidarity effort, the damage was too extensive to be repaired in a reasonable amount of time. Girolet's breakage was equally evident, and he also reported to have some parts detached inside the boat and doubted also that the rigging was still efficient. Stamm will be given a DNF in the final ranking which means the last's time plus two hours.

Racing continued for the other 42 skippers, who, before heading offshore had to sail a windward/leeward course between the Seamobile and the Radio France Marks, with a good breeze of 10 to 12 knots. Racing was very close and intense and gaps reduced to a minumum. At the Radio France Mark, located near Bulman, it was Laurent Pellecuer (Arnolfini.fr <http://Arnolfini.fr/> ) to round in first, very closely followed by Jean Pierre Nicol (Bernard Controls) and by a brilliant Francisco Lobato (ROFF/TEMPO-TEAM) who showed very good speed under spinnaker.

It was then the turn of Jérémie Beyou (BPI) and Yann Eliès (Generali Europ Assistance). Behind them boats arrived grouped together, creating a pretty confused mass with more collisions and protest flags. The other non French sailors were Pietro D'Alì (I.NOVA.3) in 11th, Jonny Malbon (Artemis) in 15th and Isabelle Joschke (Synergie) in 27th. Competitors will now have to sail along the Irish coast to reach the famous Fastnet lighthouse that lied 45 miles away, leaving it to port side. The leaders should get there around midnight. According to the weather forecast by Météo France's expert Sylvain Mondon, after having rounded the Fastnet on their way to Lizen Ven, the fleet will encounter stiffer NW breezes topping 25 with gusts over 30 knots.

Quotes form the skippers:Bernard Stamm (Cheminée Poujoulat) "The accident was quite unfortunate. I heard on the VHF that the Committee was announcing a change of the pin end, I was trying to find a right spot to check and all of a sudden I saw Matthieu's transom. It was too late, there was nothing I could do to avoid the crash. I was sailing pretty fast, 6 or 7 knots, ballasts full and couldn't change my course. It all happened in seconds. It was a big, loud crash. It's a pity, I'm really sad and disappointed." Matthieu Girolet (Entreprendre)"I'm really sorry, it was my fault no doubt about it (he was sailing on port tack when the accident occurred ed. note). I couldn't see Bernard coming because I was paying attention to the many spectator's boats around, trying to avoid them and did not see Bernard coming. I should have because I was on starboard tack. I definitely can't start again, my boat is badly damaged, I guess it would be unsafe and uncosiderate. We fight and train all year long to be in the Solitaire and it is just sad, disappointing, to be finishing like this."

Preparing for La Solitaire du Figaro here