Shortly after his arrival on Thursday afternoon, a happy but equally surprised Melwin Fink told those waiting on site how he experienced the first stage:
"I don't know exactly how I feel yet! I would never have dared to expect something like this here! There was a lot of luck involved and I made some good decisions. In any case, it was tough and I was hesitant to drive into the front. In the end, everything went well because everything turned out exactly as expected. The conditions were in line with the weather forecast: 30 knots of medium wind and 40 knots in gusts. The front on the Bay of Biscay was tougher."
When asked whether he had noticed what was happening in the rest of the fleet, Fink replied:
"After receiving the weather warning, I heard that there was a lot of radio traffic, but I didn't understand that some skippers were talking about taking shelter 36 hours before the front moved through. I thought it was still very early to decide to stop the race. I spoke to Christian Kargl and together we decided to head as far south as possible and then decide whether or not to call at a harbour. The conditions south of Porto were fine, so there was no reason to stop."
Asked whether he could have imagined an outcome to the race like this, the 19-year-old said:
"No way! It will be a great advantage for the second stage. I made a difficult decision, but I weighed it up carefully. I never had the impression that I was taking big risks. Before the second front arrived, my boat was in perfect condition, there wasn't a single damage - not even after the first strong wind on the Bay of Biscay. 30 knots, with gusts of 40, that's a lot, but we have solid boats and various ways to reduce the sail area."
Fink was also surprised by the lead of more than a hundred miles over Christian Kargl:
"I didn't expect that! I sailed my own race and just did what I thought was right. I still can't believe what has happened! Before the start I was dreaming of the top ten, and now I'm the first boat to arrive on La Palma with a huge lead over second place, which is crazy. That puts me under a bit of pressure for the second leg. Let's see what happens!"
Before the start, the likeable young man said in an interview with YACHT that it was a dream come true for him to be able to start the mini-transat with a competitive boat and well prepared. After all, a good placing would be his personal jackpot. Melwin Fink hit the jackpot, at least on the first leg.
Christian Kargl finishes in second place
Fink's fellow competitor Christian Kargl reached the finish line at 11:18 on Friday morning. After 10 days, 19 hours, 48 minutes and 30 seconds, the Austrian crossed the finish line on his Maxi 650 "All Hands On Deck".
Kargl's goal before the start of the race was also to finish in the top ten. With a large lead over the rest of the field, he has put himself in a good starting position for the actual Atlantic crossing on the first stage. This is Kargl's second mini-transat. He took part in 2005 and went overboard while trying to help another sailor. The latter was able to save him again.
Burke, Rixgens and Siewert on course
Lennart Burke is also currently sailing in the top ten; the tracker showed tenth place at the last update at 10am. The man from Stralsund still had 147.4 nautical miles to go. He can therefore reach the finish on Saturday.
Lina Rixgens is currently sailing her Wevo 6.5 at Madeira. She is in 20th position in the proto ranking, in which she is listed because, contrary to expectations, no ten minis of her boat type had been built by the start of the race.
Marc Siewert is currently sailing in 24th place at 5.8 knots and still has 538 miles to go to the finish line, which he is not expected to reach until after the weekend.
