Ocean Racing Magazine - #5 - October & November 2007 - (Page 78)

OPINION The Mini at a crossroads One picture summed up for me what the Mini-Transat meant thirty years ago. During the week of preparations before the start, one of the British competitors was driven by Rolls-Royce onto the quayside in Penzance and told his skipper to come and pick him up in the evening at the same spot. The competitor spent the whole day on his boat. She was one of the smallest in the fleet –hardly much bigger than the 5.17m of a Rolls. At dusk the car returned, fully polished, a clear sign of wealth, and the competitor with regrets left Penzance behind. Whispers went around that he was only in the Mini-Transat to get away from his wife… What a heroic age! It was the time, when amateurs could take up the challenge of an Atlantic adventure for a few months, before returning to a « normal » life afterwards. The Mini today no longer has that role. They are no longer accessible to ordinary amateurs, whatever people may say (and I don’t just mean those that are driven around in a Rolls). Let us be clear: I’m not being critical. I’m just pointing out what the following story shows. Véronique Loisel was four years old when the first Mini-Transat took place. She is a professional, not of boats, but of rockets. She discovered the joys of offshore sailing during a long cruise on Pen Duick VI: leaving Ushuaia, she arrived in Saint-Malo and decided to take part in the Mini. At the end of 2005, she bought a secondhand Pogo,"Oyapock". Between the end of 2005 and the end of 2006 –in just one year- she had covered 3100 miles in her Mini, of which 2100 were in races. That means 1000 miles more than required by the rules. Nevertheless: when registrations closed on 18th December 2006, she was only fifteenth on the waiting list (fortunately there were more than forty defections, which means she will be able to be at the start). Work it out: 3100 miles at around an average speed of four and a half knots, means 690 hours of sailing. Plus any maintenance, the preparation, the training at AOS in Lorient, plus delivery and transport. The equivalent of two thirds of a full time job at least. It is difficult to see how Véronique Loisel could have combined that with her work, if she did not have the backing of Arianespace, her employer. That route, which is already out of the question for an ordinary amateur is the one they want to do, hoping to be reasonably placed in the series rankings –if you are aiming for a win in a prototype, it’s another story! This race to be in a race was not something the Mini class wanted: simply, the number of entrants is limited, and those that have raced the most are the first to be accepted. It is all very logical, but it does mean the race limits its accessibility, losing its variety and its specific nature. What is its specific nature? Racing aboard 6.50 metre yachts? Indeed, the Mini is the only single-handed race, which in thirty years has not changed in size. The Transat, the Rhum went from "unlimited" to 18.28m, the Figaro has been through fewer changes, but they have been important (going from a prototype to a onedesign boat), the Vendée Globe has not been around so long… Crewed races have shifted to other boats / or formulae: look at the Volvo ex-Whitbread, the Tour de France… Only the Mini is still there –although this specific character may be an illusion, as if the boats have kept the same length in spite of everything, they have doubled in volume and power in thirty years –as for the price, it is better not to talk about it So it is really the Mini class rules? Let’s have a look. They are a little like all the other class rules, a little bit difficult to swallow, rather like sardines in chocolate, a mixture of opposites that do not really gel together in spite of some good intentions (the number of sails is limited to keep costs down, and the freedom to choose parameters except for the length) and some huge ambitions (carbon fibre increasing costs, as only the length is fixed, there is an unbridled race for power)… ©V. Rigler/Grand Pavois …So the specific nature of the Mini may be the fact that the class is run by its racers? Yes, or maybe no! The Imoca class is too, and it works marvellously well –as long as one of the 60-foot monohulls is not superior to another. On the other hand, the Orma class sank, because the racers were getting too greedy wanting a bit of everything (ocean racing + coastal races) and of course they got a lot of rubbish… In fact the specific characteristic of the Mini, is that it is in the hands of both amateurs and professionals. The idealism of one group and the ambition of the other creates a balance and helps the class advance. It is this balance that makes the Mini class what is probably the most wonderful ocean race class of the moment. This balance is under threat from compulsory professionalism resulting from limiting race entries. At the end of what is the longest, the most varied and probably the finest transatlantic race –however "mini" it might be! - this drift towards professionalism will be one of the biggest challenges, which the class faces. Daniel Charles Ocean Racing - october 2007

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Ocean Racing Magazine - #5 - October & November 2007

Edito
Contents
What they said
News
Portfolio
America's Cup - One Cup or two?
Jules Verne Trophy - Cammas, down to 48 days ?
Personality - Missing Fosset
Mini - Thirty years of innovations
Transat Jacques Vabre
Portrait - Lemonchois, quietly and discreetly
Barcelona World Race - Duos around the world
TP 52 - Where the stars shine
Figaro - Desjoyeaux not so alone
Trial - Sun Fast 3200
Tactics - Why the New Zealanders lost the America’s Cup
Fasnet Race
Lab
Portrait - Andrew Pindar
Fifty years ago - The Admiral’s Cup - offshore racing
Equipment
New products
Opinion

Ocean Racing Magazine - #5 - October & November 2007

https://www.nxtbook.com/newpress/courseaularge/oceanracing0712_06
https://www.nxtbook.com/newpress/courseaularge/oceanracing0710_05
https://www.nxtbook.com/newpress/courseaularge/oceanracing0708_04
https://www.nxtbook.com/newpress/courseaularge/oceanracing0706_03
https://www.nxtbook.com/newpress/courseaularge/oceanracing0704_02
https://www.nxtbook.com/newpress/courseaularge/oceanracing_demo
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com