Mini-Transat 2021 - the blog: Full-time job: How to get a new Mini 6.50 ready to sail?

More German sailors are currently preparing for the next Mini-Transat than ever before: They want to compete in the legendary single-handed regatta from France to the Caribbean in autumn 2021. Then 80 soloists will once again attempt to conquer the Atlantic in 6.50 metre short ocean-going boats.

Cologne-based Lina Rixgens, 25, who was the first German sailor ever to finish the race in 2017, is also taking part (Portrait in YACHT 21/2016). Four years after her ocean premiere in the Mini, the medical student now wants to take off again in 2021, this time in a Scow, a Wevo 6.50.

On YACHT online, Lina Rixgens reports on the preparation for the offshore adventure and the challenges of a mini-transat campaign in which the skippers are far more than just sailors: They organise and finance their project themselves and train to take part in the Mini-Transat, in which many professional sailors have already collected their first offshore miles.

In the first part, Rixgens reports on the takeover of her bare, new boat and the mammoth task of getting it into sailing condition.

Equipping a new series mini - by Lina Rixgens

It itches everywhere. The glass fibre splinters prick my arms, legs and back. My eyes are watering. It's hot. I'm lying twisted on my side in the 80-centimetre diameter "aft berth" of my new mini, screwdriver and nuts for the sheet clamp in my hand, fingers full of Sika.

It's mid-June 2019, the weather outside is perfect for sailing: the sun is shining brightly, it's 30 degrees at midday, the water on the Elbe is rippling and the trees around the shipyard are swaying in the wind. I finally want to sail!

But I'm still a long way from that. Ten days ago, my Wevo 6.5 arrived in Hamburg from the Italian shipyard Cima Boats. A bare boat, deck fittings and everything else I wanted to fit myself. For months, I had been meticulously planning in the evenings which blocks should be fitted and how, where the clamps would be best positioned in the cockpit, which lines I wanted to use as spinnakers and which as sheets.

Test sailing and purchase

Six months before delivery, I travelled to Italy for the first time to see the shipyard in Grosseto and the first finished Wevo 6.5 as part of the boat's christening on the Adriatic. The shipyard is housed in a small hall and only three employees are working on the second Wevo. But between spaghetti ai frutti di mare and the obligatory espresso, it is clear that the duo of shipyard boss Iris Cima and designer Oris D'Obaldo have put a lot of thought into every detail over the years.

The test sailing was postponed for a few weeks, but it was worth the wait: I was absolutely delighted with the sailing characteristics of this new series mini! Polars and facts speak for themselves, but the feeling must also be right when you have to choose between several Minis. On the wind we reached a speed of 6.5 knots, which is incredible for these boats, and in the reach we barely managed to get below 10 knots, even under-rigged. What was particularly impressive, however, was the stability of the boat and the fact that, compared to other minis, there was very little water. My decision was made and the contract was signed two weeks later.

Deck layout and fittings

Parallel to my medical studies in Belgium, I spent hours on the phone with Sverre Reinke - my friend, co-skipper and preparer of the Mini 982 - after long working days in hospital. I pored over tables from manufacturers, communicated repeatedly with the shipyard, weighed up costs, ordered equipment.

The position and choice of deck fittings play a decisive role in the deck layout. Of course, due to the design, there were some positions that were already predefined by reinforcements, but I was able to determine most of them myself. Thanks to the many nautical miles I sailed on a Pogo 2 in 2016/2017 as part of my first mini-transat campaign, I now knew exactly where my optimum seating position was when steering, where I wanted which clamp for a particular line or which gear reductions I needed for which lines.

For example, it was important to me that both the traveller line and the line for fine trimming the backstay in the steering position could be reached quickly and easily with the front hand, as you need the back hand for steering. On almost all courses, the mainsail is mainly trimmed using the traveller position and hardly ever using the mainsheet.

This consideration meant that two more horizontal blocks had to be fitted, especially for the traveller, so that the line can be easily deflected. The backstay fine trim consists of a tackle with two triple blocks that start at the very front of the cockpit on the deck superstructure and run along the bench seat to the backstay coarse trim at the rear. Compared to my Pogo 2, I now have more distance to pull, one more reduction and less risk of the tackle getting caught in the footrests.

For the deck fittings, I opted for a mix of tried and tested blocks and halyard stoppers as well as new, lighter GRP padeyes and thimbles. Of course, weight is the most important factor in ocean racing, but functionality and high reliability are also important. The traveller track was specially pre-bent to the exact curvature at the factory in the USA, but for the trim of the jib, I chose a 3D hoist point system, as is usual on many new regatta boats.

On a second visit to the shipyard, I had already positioned and fitted winches, clamps and halyard stoppers for the pit together with the shipyard workers. I was also able to watch the infusion process for the tiller and companionway hatch, which was an interesting insight for me as an engineering layman.

But even now, after the delivery of the little racer in Wedel near Hamburg, the boxes are still full of Padeyes, other clamps and blocks, all of which still need to be screwed on. In total there will be 27 Curry or PXR power clamps, 8 halyard stoppers, 2 constrictor clamps, 20 blocks, 16 padeyes, 35 thimbles and 3 winches that I will be fitting.

The lines

After finishing work in the hall, there are still a few hours left in the evening to splice the lines. Anyone who has ever seen the cockpit of a mini will know that there are a lot of lines for a boat that is only 6.50 metres long. The 3D trim of the jib, the backstays and the adjustable gennaker pole all contribute to this. In total, I have 450 metres of ropes on deck. With a combination of my own experience and great expert advice, I chose the best rope for my purposes from the many possible dyneema cores and sheathings. For single-handed ocean racing, it is particularly important to select ropes that can withstand the continuously high demands over a long period of time.

For halyards, backstays and backstays - which brace the gennaker pole, shrouds and mast to leeward and windward - you need a core with very little stretch. I chose halyards with a thickness of only 6 mm, primarily to save weight in the upper part of the mast. At 8 and 10 mm in diameter, the backstays and backstays are the thickest lines on board. Above all, they have to withstand a static load, only a few metres run through the clamps, and only for a short time - for example when jibing or setting the gennaker.

The sheets and the traveller line, on the other hand, are most frequently used actively. Even though you are more likely to steer out the waves on a solo Atlantic crossing than actively trim the gennaker for days on end, gennaker, jib and mainsheets need to have a soft cover and a thicker core to be easy to handle. All other lines are kept as thin and therefore as light as possible. For example, there are three reefing lines for the mainsail, one for the jib, three lines per side for trimming the 3D system of the jib, a baby stay to prevent the mast from pumping, a water stay for the gennaker pole, which can be used to adjust its height, a line for folding it out of the cockpit and a few more.

Everything that can be spliced is spliced. Knots are avoided. Further weight is saved in the mast area by stripping a large part of the halyards. An additional sheathing made of Technora is added in the halyard stopper area to achieve better holding power. But there are still a few busy evenings to go before the jib sheet is put around the winch and the gennaker is hoisted up the halyard for the first time.

The fuselage

Meanwhile, a lot of work is being done in the shipyard halls and after the construction waterline has been lasered out and the antifouling has been applied, the time has come for foiling.

The entire boat was to be branded in the colours of my main sponsor. I spent a long time working on this with the sponsor and designer until the perfect grey-green mix on the hull and sails was achieved. The fact that my biggest sponsor from 2017 joined as the main sponsor of my 2021 campaign is great and gave me planning security right from the start, the opportunity to choose a new Mini this time and more time to sail overall.

The hull is wrapped in foil directly in the shipyard, and the sails are sent from the sailmaker for printing and sticking. The foiled 982 is proudly driven from the Elbe to Travemünde on the Baltic Sea, and I continue to prepare her in the evenings after my current internship at Lübeck University Hospital.

In the next blog post:Reinkranen, Riggen, Regattafieber - The first strokes with the Wevo 6.50 "Whomper"

Alone across the Atlantic: a look back at Lina's 2017 mini-transit

The skipper

Lina Rixgens, 25, learnt to sail in the Opti and later successfully completed European regattas. As a schoolgirl, she crossed the Atlantic twice on a two-masted schooner. This sparked her desire to combine ocean sailing with regatta sailing, which she later began on the "Haspa Hamburg". Rixgens took up mini-sailing in 2015. To prepare for the Transat, she moved to La Rochelle and took two semesters off.

The medical student from Cologne was honoured by Trans-Ocean for her participation in the 2017 Mini-Transat (49th place). She was the first German woman to finish the solo Atlantic race. In 2021, she wants to take part again and attack on a new Wevo 6.5 from Italy, a new mini design with a scow bow.