CONGRATULATIONS TO TOM!
NYC Country Member Tom Dolan finished a truly remarkable 5th Overall in France’s 51th Solitaire offshore championship on his Figaro £ boat ‘Smurfit Kappa’.
Tom received the VIVI Trophy for the best racer from outside of France.
It is the best international overall placing in the historic French multi stage offshore race series since 1997 when Switzerland’s Dominique Wavre placed second, and a remarkable result considering it is just Dolan’s third challenge and last year he was 33rd.
“ I am delighted to see Tom win and delighted to see that in just the second year since the trophy was donated it really has become established as something that the sailors want to fight for and at the same time they are now getting some well-deserved recognition. ” Said Marcus Hutchinson, who with his wife Megan, donated the trophy last year.
“ And I am pleased to see it go to a fellow Irishman in Tom and he wins if not for being tenth or twelfth but for a great fifth place. He has been consistent this year and that is what La Solitaire is all about. This race so challenging and so complicated and he has worked hard. And it is nice, in a way, that he does not come from Dublin or Cork or one of the Irish sailing centres, his success says anyone can come and do this if they have the will and the determination, anything is possible. Tom has shown that. ”
Read more about La Solitaire 2020 on Afloat.ie
