Lisa Berger completed her first mini-crash course in 2019 at the Baltic 500 double-handed regatta in the Baltic Sea. Even then, she demonstrated her willingness and readiness to learn from others and fearlessly break new ground in pursuit of her own dream. Three years ago, Danish sailor Claus Pedersen had cancelled his Baltic 500 premiere and was looking for a spontaneous replacement via Facebook. Lisa Berger, in turn, had discovered the advert at home on Lake Attersee and contacted Pedersen - without a nautical mile of mini-experience. He was impressed and said yes. Together with the then 56-year-old Scandinavian mini sailor, Lisa Berger sailed to fourth place in her mini premiere over 500 nautical miles. Pedersen praised her: "Thank you, Lisa, for being such an inspiring and hard-boiled co-sailor."
The Innsbruck native, who got to know and love sailing through a friend on Lake Atterrsee and especially alongside her mother and skipper Ursula Berger, was now hooked on mini sailing. Together with her well-known compatriot Christian Kargl, she sailed to victory in the first European Championship in the new mixed offshore discipline in the same year. Three years later, at the beginning of the year, it is impressive to see how far the now 31-year-old has pushed her dream of participating in the Mini Transat. The goal is clear: "I am a passionate offshore sailor and will be the first Austrian woman to take part in the Mini-Transat solo transatlantic regatta in 2023."
The Mini-Transat takes its daring participants over a total of around 4,000 nautical miles on boats just 6.50 metres long from Les Sables-d'Olonne via La Palma to Guadeloupe in the Caribbean. The young German Melwin Fink fought his way to third place in the series classification in the last edition with a courageous storm decision on "SignForCom" and aroused great interest in the race on the small boats not only in his home country. Lisa Berger's sporting companion Christian Kargl came a strong sixth in the mini-transat with "Candidate Sailing Team". Fink, Kargl, Lennart Burke and many other mini-soloists inspired the Austrian to take on this brutal challenge herself, in which all contact with the outside world is forbidden for around 35 days of solitude. Comfort is also in short supply, as Lisa Berger describes well: "The kitchen is a jetboil for boiling water, the toilet is a bucket, the bed is a couple of sails or whatever there is room to sleep on."
Anyone who wants to take part in the Mini-Transat has to qualify and prepare over two to three years. Around 15 qualifying regattas take place every year from March to September on the French Atlantic coast and in the Mediterranean. Lisa Berger knows: "Even though my project is about solo sailing, it is anything but a solo project. None of this would be possible without outside support." That's why the sea sailor, who has been part of the Musto team since 2020, has now decided to launch a crowdfunding campaign.
"I believe in you!"
Lisa Berger addresses potential sponsors directly on the "I believe in you!" platform and writes: "The start of the season is getting closer and closer, and to be perfectly prepared for the qualifying regattas, I need your support! You can help me finance equipment such as sails, new fittings and clamps on deck, servicing of various emergency equipment and the life raft, purchase of an outboard motor, new antifouling for the underwater hull. You help me to pay the registration fees for the qualifying regattas for the 2022 season. You will also help me to finance membership of the Pôle Mini 650 La Rochelle training group and the harbour mooring fees for 2022. With your support, you are helping me to get to the starting line of my qualifying regattas fully prepared to sail across the Atlantic for Austria alone and in race mode in 2023!" If you would like to inspire Lisa Berger, click here to the crowdfunding page (please click!).
