Kito de Pavant Wins

The ideal NW breeze reached 15 knots, providing ideal sailing conditions for the fleet of boats entered in this years La Solitaire Afflelou Le Figaro.

Kito de PAVANT from Montpellier in France, sailing on Navy Lest headed the fleet from an early start, maintaining his lead and eventually taking line honours, after 90 minutes of close racing. Kito was the 2002 Solitaire winner.

Yann ELIES, last years Prologue race winner crossed the finish line 57 seconds later on Groupe Generali Assurances and in third place Jeremy Beyou on Delta Dore.

Many of the skippers are superstitious of winning the Afflelou Prologue, as they believe that winning it means they will not go on to win La Solitaire Afflelou Le Figaro.

The skippers left Ouistreham to sail up the Orne Canal at 6 pm . Hundreds of people have been gathering along the canal edge throughout the day to see these solo sailors bring their boats back to the Saint Pierre Basin in Caen in time for this evenings prize giving.

Local musicians, live commentary and cheering crowds followed the skippers progress and welcomed them into the basin.

The fleet will remain in Caen until Monday when they will depart once more for Ouistreham in preparation for the start of leg one to Portsmouth on Tuesday 27 of July.