Jonny Malbon informed the Solitaire du Figaro race direction team on Wednesday evening (4th August) that his autopilot had failed, forcing him to spend extended periods on the helm. The ram that controls the rudders, and which in effect replaces the skipper’s arm, was the source of the problem.

 As a consequence, Jonny, who took a good start to leg 2 and was lying 12th at the end of Day 1, quickly dropped to the back of the fleet and had an exhausting sail towards Brest. Being forced to helm most of the time involves spending a minimum amount of time, if any, at the navigation station which naturally has a negative impact on race strategy, and the same goes for managing sleep or food. It’s back to old-fashioned full-time hand steering and in the absence of a crew the experience is extremely demanding. The second leg from Gijon (Spain) to Brest (France) starting off in light conditions but were replaced by strong winds and choppy seas as the fleet headed across the notorious Bay of Biscay. 

But Jonny did not throw in the towel and carried on to complete the 385-mile leg arriving in Brest after midday in a time of 70 hours and 35 minutes.  Jonny told his shore team from the dockside that he had suffered major hallucinations on the final night seeing people being on the boat and telling them ‘to get off’ as it was a solo race!  But he was proud to have finished what he called an ‘epic’ leg, and that he had not opted to retire from the leg. Jonny was ‘chuffed’ that he only finished 9 hours behind the leader.


Jonny will be met in Brest by marine electronics and autopilot French experts from TEEM, and his issue will be fixed in time to take the start of Leg 3 from Brest to Kinsale (Ireland) on Monday, 9th August. For now he has to deal with the disappointment and fatigue resulting from this incident, yet knowing he will be back in the game for the two remaining stages. Naturally in terms of overall rankings, this is a serious blow as the Solitaire du Figaro is based on elapsed times.

Leg 2 was won by expert Figarist Armel Le Cleac’h, a previous Solitaire winner, on Brit Air who now leads the overall rankings after two legs.

Cowes Week in association with Artemis

Across the English channel, Cowes Week in association with Artemis is drawing to a close. Artemis has supported the UK’s largest sailing regatta this year, helping keep the entry fees for the 1,000 competing boats at the same level of 2009.  The fourth edition of the Artemis Challenge took place on Tuesday (3rd August) which saw Mike Golding claim the £10,000 charity donation for the RNLI after winning the 50-mile sprint around the Isle of Wight onboard his IMOCA 60. Sporting stars Zara Philips and Amy Williams joined the crew onboard the IMOCA 60 Artemis Ocean Racing and their combined competitive instincts, and efforts on the grinder, helped secure third place behind France’s Veolia Environnement. Today will hopefully see two of Cowes Week’s most loved spectactles – the Red Arrows stunning aerial show which is weather dependent and the end of Cowes Week firework display – also both supported by Artemis.

Click HERE to watch the daily highlights vodcasts from Cowes Week.

Also, click HERE to watch BBC2’s Coast programme which featured the IMOCA 60 Artemis Ocean Racing and skipper Samantha Davies as they prepared for last November’s Transat Jacques Vabre on the Brittany coast.




Photo Credits:
Photo 1 & 2: Courcoux-Marmara/Le Figaro
Photo 3 & 4: Lloyd Images