Melwin Fink still has 184 nautical miles to go to the finish on Wednesday morning at 10 o'clock. With a boat speed of between 7 and 11 knots and winds that are expected to drop slightly, the 19-year-old could be the first to reach the finish line off Santa Cruz de La Palma on Thursday. As a waypoint, he only has to pass the virtual gate 80 nautical miles north of the Canary Islands. Madeira is already astern.
The "Signforcom" skipper already knows the area. Fink sailed his solo qualifying trip of 1000 nautical miles non-stop between the Canary Islands and Madeira in December 2019, immediately after taking over his Pogo 3 from Hendrik Witzmann in Gran Canaria.
He is still followed by Christian Kargl ("All Hands On Deck"). Fink was able to extend his lead over the 44-year-old Austrian to around 140 nautical miles.
Race to catch up
Top favourite Hugo Dhallenne has placed himself at the head of the large chasing pack. He still has a good 400 nautical miles to go. The boats in the fleet are sailing close together in a fresh north-easterly trade wind and could reach the finish line at the weekend, with the fastest ones already on Friday. Lennart Burke is currently well ahead of the field in 10th position, with 475 nautical miles to the finish.
Enormous head start
Meanwhile, proto-skipper Irina Gracheva ("Path") has reached the finish line. The 37-year-old Russian crossed the finish line on Tuesday night after 7 days, 52 hours and 44 seconds. She already started in 2019, but had to give up after her mast broke in the Atlantic. Now she is sailing a Lombard proto from 2011, on which mini aces such as Erwan le Mené and Gwenolet Gahinet have already been successful.
You and the Three proto-skippers on the podium in this nerve-wracking first stage have such a big lead over the rest of the fleet that it is highly likely that the top places in the overall standings will be decided between them - provided none of them break up or crash their boat on the second leg. This is because the times of the two legs are added together at the end.
The two Germans in the Proto classification, Lina Rixgens and Marc Siewert, are currently sailing in 20th and 24th place. Rixgens has almost left the Portuguese coast behind her with the recent weaker wind and dense shipping traffic and has reached more constant trade winds. She still has 590 nautical miles to go - and on Thursday, as with her first mini-transat, a birthday at sea.
