The first leg of the 2019 Mini Transat La Boulangère ended this Monday, October 21, with the last arrivals in both the prototype and series races. Of the 87 starters at the start in La Rochelle, only 4 skippers have abandoned. So, 83 Ministes have reached the Canaries and will take the start of the 2nd leg on November 2nd.
In the Proto category, the stage offered a lot of suspense and twists. " The proto has never been as interesting as it is today. There was a real game that brings back interest in this medium. This is a good thing for the future. We can think that the proto will continue to be dynamic." explains François Jambou, 2nd in the first stage.
As a result, only 26 minutes separated the first Axel Tréhin euros from the third Tanguy Bouroullec euros. In other words, a pinhead on the scale of an Atlantic Ocean to cross for this 2nd stage.
Not an easy start for everyone
september 22, departure postponed due to bad weather conditions. Appointment is made on Saturday, October 5, 10:38 am for 1,350 miles from La Rochelle, in the direction of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
A single start was enough and the fleet progressed at a slow pace - 5 knots of wind - towards the clearing buoy . "On the way out of the harbor, I had a big air problem. The values were inconsistent. I had a big scare and I was more focused on fixing it than on starting. As a result, I didn't see the clearing buoy right away and I got stuck in the calm from the start françois remembers.
A "not easy" ballooning
Before reaching the Spanish coast, the fleet had to manage several weather transitions in the Bay of Biscay. If Raphaël Lutard (900) on Arkema 3 led the fleet for a while, he was quickly overtaken by the trio Axel Tréhin (945), François Jambou (865) and Tanguy Bouroullec (969).
On the third day of racing, Axel Tréhin (945) is a solid leader, but François Jambou (895) is hanging on, as is Tanguy Bouroullec (969), who is waiting for more favourable conditions for his foiler.
"The disgorging was not easy, with two successive fronts in the Bay of Biscay. It was quite a warm-up, even if it wasn't a storm. It was still quite sporty for the start of the race. I had some little problems from the second afternoon. I broke my bowsprit exit system in a manoeuvre. Even if it's a detail, it was penalizing for the headsail changes for the rest of the race confides Tanguy.
72 hours after the start, Axel Tréhin is still in the lead, with François Jambou less than 5 miles behind him, as he explains.
"I had a great exit from the Bay of Biscay. I took a starboard tack upwind to look for the second front with about ten miles on François and Tanguy. But I arrived there too early compared to the forecasted models. I then had to deal with the passage of the front and the passage inside or outside the DST. I found myself having to do a lot of gybes downwind. Behind them, they had a better angle and along the DST, François Jambou came back, until he passed me. Morally, we expected it, it was a predictable pattern."
A sea "break boat and a non-aggression pact"
The trio remains as tightly knit as ever as they round Cape Finisterre. " It was good, I was in the right pack. We were leaving with wind in the direction of the Portuguese trade winds" explains Tanguy. A configuration also expected by Axel: "Behind, we were expecting a driving edge and pure speed, but we had significantly less wind than we could have imagined."
However, nothing goes as planned. the sea was horrible, a "boat breaking" sea. It was hard on the equipment and quite violent. We had to try not to break" says Tanguy. "The sea was disgusting, but there was no wind" adds Axel.
The skipper of the Pogo Foiler sailed in contact with his two opponents until he "make a big mess". As a result, a small spinnaker was torn and the two leaders were so late that they could no longer be seen on the AIS.
François Jambou euros in the lead after taking over the leadership at Cape Finisterre euros and Axel are fighting to stay ahead. "The wind wasn't strong, but I didn't expect to see such short waves with such steep slopes. I spent a lot of time under gennaker, which made the boat healthier, with less risk of running aground, more comfort and safety."
But the sea is so bad that a truce is quickly decided. "We defined a non-aggression pact" explains François.
"We tried to keep up the speed to stay ahead without breaking the boats. Nobody wanted to slow down. But to continue like that was to take the risk of breaking and stopping there. I made the biggest crash of my Mini career while I have been sailing on this support for a while. I will remember it. We agreed to calm down during the night and to attack again the next day" explains Axel in turn.
Pure glide!
Finally, the conditions are calming down as the fleet is moving south. "It was a treat, with conditions that our boats are cut out for, in 15 to 20 knots of wind. It was pure happiness, pure glide" says Axel, who was 10 miles behind François at the time.
Tanguy was 40 miles behind the fleet leader. For 36 hours, he recorded a good speed deficit and while the other two were racing under a small spinnaker, he no longer had it. "Once the conditions eased off, with a more settled sea, I got back into the swing of things. I spent the last 4 days melting down and closing the gap. My goal was not to lose the victory in the Canaries. I fought to reduce that gap as much as possible."
Axel relegated to 40 miles
The first information on the arrival of a cold front in the south and a possible passage of light winds started to arrive. Axel decided to go west to take advantage of the new wind, after the long calm phase.
If this choice to go west drops him in the rankings, he also knows that he will be the first to benefit. "At the last rankings, I was told that I was 40 miles behind François, but with my gap to the west, I knew it was more like 10 or 30 miles. I have forbidden myself to be emotional on board so that I can always believe. You can't be negative, because you're alone with yourself. You must never give up
And indeed Axel "restarts" first thanks to "to the wind that was picking up on my side of the water." There is still one unknown: where are these two competitors?
A zone of softness at the arrival of the Canaries
Upon arriving in Madeira, François decided to shift to the west to wait for the northeast wind. When he was 20 miles from the Canaries, he did not see anyone on the AIS and thought he had won. "I was listening to the rankings and I was ahead of the game."
But he won't be alone for long. " Arriving in Gran Canaria, I see François at the AIS. I was not far away. For me, he was going to win and I was going to finish in second place. But finally, everything changed. We found ourselves in the calm and Alex, who was between 30 and 40 miles from us in the morning, came back on us. The three of us were stopped a few miles from the finish." explains Tanguy.
Alex comes back strongly on his competitors.
"It all depended on how far apart we were. If they were pretty close, then everything could be decided. If they were 30 miles away, they could have hit the new wind before me, and therefore crossed the finish line before me."
Finally, he came back so strong that he heard his two competitors on the VHF again. "François was surprised that Tanguy was so close to him and wondered where I was. I let them finish their conversation before telling them 'I'm here too. I didn't have their location at AIS yet, but it made me feel better."
euros a few miles from the Canaries, the three competitors are stuck in a zone of calm. Each one is waiting for the wind to pick up before crossing the line first. "We arrived with beautiful conditions at night euros a beautiful moon and a clear sky euros that allowed us to keep an eye on the water to read the areas of softness and wind" explains Axel.
An anthology finale
The latter was finally able to pick up the AIS signal and realized that it was positioned to the west, which was not necessarily favorable for him to return to the charge. However, he sees the wind coming back on his side and decides to stay in the area. Axel hit the new wind before his two predecessors and traced at 7/8 knots while François and Tanguy only advanced at 0.3 knots.
"When I saw that I was moving forward and they were not, and that there was not much of a gap, I told myself that finally I could go for the 2 e place and even first place. In concrete terms, I was successful, even if I had the right edges. The fact that I didn't stay in the soft conditions as long also allowed me to stay fresher and more lucid. That played a role".
Axel Tréhin crossed the line first, gaining miles on François Jambou, who arrived 6 minutes behind him. "François did what he had to do, I would have done the same. He tacked the right way, he sailed well. He put the pressure on me until the end. At the last mark, he was 300 meters behind me
"It was a string of bad luck. Axel got windy and passed me and when it was my turn, I had to change my sails, which took me a while. For sure I am disappointed not to have won the race. They were good and sailed cleanly." explains François Jambou.
Tanguy Bouroullec euros who was rather an outsider on this Mini Transat euros completes the podium. "It was a bit of an anthology finish. It didn't happen for me because I was on the wrong side for the new wind. In total, I'm 26 minutes behind. That's not much. We're back on an even keel on this second stage."
While he didn't break anything major on his new foiler, he couldn't really fly. "We didn't do much reaching and that's when the foils are most useful. On the reaching leg where I could have foiled, I was rather busy repairing. But when I got back to François, I was well fixed on the foil. The boat goes fast, even in the medium, with 10 knots. That's what allowed me to come back."
Ready for the 2nd stage!
It took 8 days 17 h 58 min 28 s for Axel to win the stage. "It's been a big week. A lot has happened. The routing predicted it would be faster. We had a cold front that put the high pressure down and reopened the game. This was not the situation announced at the start. It was an interesting stage, because there was some play and strategy in the medium and long term summarizes Axel.
If he left knowing that we would not win the race on the first stage, he was just as aware that we could lose it. " In absolute terms, in terms of ranking, I won, but in terms of time, 6 minutes with François and 26 min with Tanguy, it is negligible."
Before concluding "We are three boats on equal terms. We're going to have to make as few mistakes as possible and mobilize as much as possible. The idea is to arrive in Le Marin and collapse from fatigue on the pontoon. I'm going to give it my all so I don't have any remorse or regrets."
François Jambou arrived only 6 minutes behind, in 8 d 18 h 4 min 50 s
"I came to win and it is still possible. I have the energy and I remain motivated. The victory I can have it" concluded François. Before adding: " In any case on this first leg I felt good at sea and I enjoyed myself. Finally, it's one less pressure to not have won. I'm back in the position of a hunter and not a hunted. It's mentally easier" explains François.
"On this first stage, in terms of weather, it was very complete and complicated, but interesting. I'm up for this 2nd leg! We're going to go all out and get to Martinique!" concludes Tanguy, who came 3rd in 8 d 18 h 24 min 35 s.
