Luca Rosetti, 12th, Robin Follin, 13th, Jules Bonnier, 14th, Mikaël Mergui, 15th

Luca Rosetti, Maccaferri Futura, 12th

“The race went very well. I could see that the winter training was really excellent for handling the boat solo. The conditions weren’t too complicated, but I’m happy with my manoeuvres and my boat management. I’m a bit disappointed on the strategic side—I made mistakes I normally wouldn’t make, things I already knew. I think there were moments when I didn’t want to take risks, but it ended up being worse. There was also fatigue, or not enough time spent studying the weather.

On the positive side, I’m happy to be back racing solo, even if Class40 boats are more physical than the Mini 6.50 I come from. So there’s both good and not so good, some work already done, and more work still to do.”

Robin Follin, Solano, 13th

“Not unhappy to have finished—it was intense. I hadn’t done a solo race in four years, and I struggled to sleep! After two days I was completely exhausted! And trying to do too much, too many manoeuvres, I was a bit off the pace on certain points, especially on the downwind leg…

But there’s also a lot of positives. I’m happy to be back, the fleet changed a lot, and we were still playing well at the end on the last day. I’m also happy the boat is in perfect condition.

I’m looking forward to continuing the work because the leaders are going very, very fast and there’s a huge amount to do to catch up. I think it’s great to have such an impressive fleet—we’re going to have to find the right weapons. These boats aren’t easy to make go fast. I knew it was going to be a race where you had to set the right balance, and there are plenty of new things I didn’t see coming, so there’s a lot of work ahead!”

Jules Bonnier, Plastic Odyssey, 14th

“It was really nice—some good and some less good moments, but overall it’s quite positive. There were phases where everything went fast, I made the right choices and was going well, and then other times not so well. Monday was a ‘black Monday’ for me, I did pretty much everything wrong, but I managed to recover a bit today.

I learned a lot about the boat since I haven’t sailed it much yet—I’m still discovering a lot, it’s all a learning process. I’d say the result is secondary; this race is part of the year’s training process. I really enjoyed myself, I loved being back in solo sailing—I hadn’t done it for four years.

On the nutrition side, I was a very good student until today, when I messed everything up. Overall, it’s a positive assessment: the race was great, we had all conditions—downwind, upwind, reaching… really enjoyable! And having so many boats already at the start of the year is really fantastic!”

Michaël Mergui, Centrakor-Hirsch, 15th

“It was great, I’m really happy to have finished—it was a very good experience. I haven’t done much solo sailing in Class40 or in my career in general.

I was really happy with the start, it really boosted me, got me into it, made me want to do well and stick with the main pack—it motivated me for the rest of the race. But I was really exhausted, very tired…

I only really managed to find my rhythm at the waypoint off Cape Finisterre. Before that, I couldn’t manage it properly. I thought I was sleeping 20 minutes, but in reality I was sleeping over an hour with the alarm going off for a long time—this happened two or three times!

On the way back, I started to get into my groove, things improved, I sailed better and managed to catch up with some boats. I’m really happy because the main goal, which was to finish, is achieved. I learned a lot, the boat is great, and I had a lot of fun at the end. With Jules, we were even battling it out right in the bay, 10 meters apart—it was great, there was real racing, always boats around!”