Ocean Racing Magazine - #6 - December 2007 & January 2008 - (Page 43)

Victim of its own success, the Mini class had to turn people away at the start last September in La Rochelle. With 84 skippers qualifying, there was still a waiting list a week before the start. Five sailors were on it to be precise, including Yves Le Blévec, one of the three favourites with Isabelle Joschke and Samuel Manuard. Then, miracle of miracles, just three days before the starting gun, the organisers managed to obtain the right from the maritime authorities to take on five more minis. Consequently with the addition of another accompanying boat, Benoît Parnaudeau’s sixty-footer. 84 + 5 = 89, and therefore just as many single-handed sailors in these 6.50 metre long nutshells. Ahead of them, 4200 miles (7800 kilometres) of sailing. A true gamble, especially two months after a very difficult Bay of Biscay Race, with eight rescues being necessary in 24 hours. The Mini Class knew full well that the stakes were high for this thirtieth anniversary. However, after a delayed start due to a front going over, there were indeed 89 still racing at Funchal, in Madeira, at the end of this first leg, where the conditions were ideal: light airs for the start to get out of the Bay of Biscay, downwind sailing from Cape Finisterre to Funchal. An all-ticket affair! Joschke: the Madeira Express In Funchal, the average speed of the first boats was astonishing: more than 7 knots, with the golden palm going to the Franco-German, Isabelle Joschke, who managed to cover the 1100 miles in 5 days 15 hours and a little more than 30 minutes at an average speed of 8.11 knots. "A BLU that was playing up, a VHF set that wasn’t working: it was only on the eve of finishing that I knew I was leading the fleet. I was really pleased, especially with the huge lead I had." A lead of 4h25' over the designer-racer, Samuel Manuard, trying to gain his revenge after failing to complete the 2003 Mini (editor’s note: he dismasted 80 miles from Bahia, while he appeared to have the race sewn up) and 5h19 over the round the world yachtsman, Yves Le Blévec. "Isabelle was in "sprint mode", while I was in offshore mode. At that point I was disappointed to finish third, more than five hours behind, but I knew deep down that my strategy was the right one," explained the skipper of Actual. While Le Blévec, who was part of the rapid round the world voyage in 2005 on Bruno Peyron’s maxi-catamaran "Orange 2", came off well, the Spaniard, Alex Pella (3rd in the Transat in 2003; 2nd in 2005) and the Belgian sailor, Peter Laureyssens (winner in the series in 2005), the other contenders, suffered badly: 12th and 14th. For them, this 16th edition began badly. For Pella, it meant bringing up the rear end: he went the long way by sailing 35 miles more to reach Madeira, started the second leg, but was forced to return to port to strengthen the base of his cracked mast. He was forced to retire from the race at Mindelo in the Cape Verde Islands. THE TWO LISTS OF WINNERS FOR THE MINI PROTOTYPES : 1. 1. Yves Le Blévec (Actual) in 23 days 3 h 51' 24'' 2. David Sineau (Bretagne Lapins) in 24 days, 0 h 59' 22'' (14 h 35' after the winner) 3. Fabien Desprès (Soitec) in 24 days 4 h 19' 25'' SÉRIE : 1. Hervé Piveteau (Jules - Imprimerie Cartoffset) in 26 days, 4 h 31'17'' 2. Stéphane le Diraison (Cultisol-Institut Curie) in 26 days, 16 h 34'24' 3. David Krizek (Atlantik ft) in 26 days 18 h 15' 37'' The favourites suffered The second leg got off to a lively start, when most of the prototypes were surprised going through the Canaries with winds getting up to 35-40 knots: we gave up counting the boats going over and the mechanical problems. One after another, Isabelle Joschke and Samuel Manuard began to lose ground. What was going wrong? "It was a part of the bowsprit that broke. Moreover, I still don’t know why that happened: it’s a part that has been well tried and tested over time. During a stopover in Mindelo in the Cape Verde Islands, I thought about giving up, but I found it difficult to accept that decision, so continued on my adventure," Isabelle said. Manuard also showed considerable determination by not leaving his "Sitting Bull" moored up in Mindelo: "In a 28-knot gust, the boat began to go off course, quite slowly I eased the spinnaker. Two seconds later, I heard a loud bang and could see the damage." He turned right around and headed back to Mindelo. "450 miles with no spinnaker, with 400 litres of water at the front!" In Cape Verde, the islands that tormented them so much, the yachtsman from the Mediterranean rolled up his sleeves: "50 hours to rebuild the front of the boat. The bow section was torn right off, with the chain plate. The floor had to be redone and the deck rebuilt." Twelve hours after Joschke, Manuard was however back in the race. "And I enjoyed sailing. The boat sailed like a plane!" With his two main rivals out of the game, Le Blévec had a free run. On land, it was thought that he would therefore ease off. Those that said that did not know him very well: "When I knew that Isabelle and Samuel were out, I said to myself: "Yves, if you don’t break anything, you will win the Transat and if you don’t win, you’re really useless." Isabelle Joschke outstrips the first stage. We shall find her in Figaro. ©P. Minier

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Ocean Racing Magazine - #6 - December 2007 & January 2008

Cover
Edito
Contents
What they said
News
Portfolio - The news in the picture
Transat Jacques Vabre - Monohulls in power
In the words of the skipper - Michel Desjoyaux, A little bit more
Barcelona World Race - A couple sailing around the world
Imoca - Growth crisis in the Imoca class
Transat 6.5 - A whole series of records
Mini Class - Anatomy of a winner
Multihulls - What sort of trimarans tomorrow ?
Volvo Ocean Race - Second generation
Trials - Mach 45 : an unusual IRC
Match Racing - King Richard
Tactics - A good start
Portrait - Jacques Caraës
Lab - Tubular or wing mast ?
Forty years ago - Chichester, the lonely sea and the sky
Equipment - Shop window
New products - From the drawing board to the boatyard
Opinion - The mirage of worshipping technology

Ocean Racing Magazine - #6 - December 2007 & January 2008