Exciting scenario on stage 2 of the Mini-Transat EuroChef: Gains and losses just like on the stock market

The second leg of the Mini-Transat EuroChef is being traded like on the stock exchange: the skippers have interpreted the approximately 2,700 nautical mile course from Les Sables d'Olonne to Guadeloupe in extremely different ways. Some stayed close to the ideal line during the first third of the leg and are therefore - after the first third of the course - the winners for the time being in this race across the Atlantic. These include Melwin Fink ("SignForCom") and Lennart Burke ("Vorpommern"), who have been sailing in the leading group of series boats for days. On Thursday morning, Melwin Fink, who is only 19 years old, even led the field as the youngest participant. Lennart Burke was in a strong fifth place. In the meantime, however, their pace has slowed down because they have come into lighter winds. Meanwhile, some of the competition invested heavily in "southern shares". As a result, they initially lost a lot of ground. The best example of this is the Austrian Christian Kargl, who was severely penalised for this after just under a week at sea with a gap of 122 nautical miles to Fink in 47th place. However, the tide is slowly turning as many experts predicted: while the leading group is only travelling at speeds of four and a half to six and a half knots, the pressure is now being exerted in the south with boat speeds of seven or eight knots.

The 250 (!) nautical miles that separated leader Melwin Fink from Christian Kargl on Thursday morning meant a considerable difference in the sailing conditions. Fink sailed in 4.8 knots of wind, Kargl in more than ten knots. The mini-transat tracker clearly shows how much the front runners in the north are now also endeavouring to push their bows to the south in order to escape the flat zone along the ideal line. Their reaction may have come too late, but the outcome of the race, which in principle has to lead all the mini riders westwards towards the finish line off Guadeloupe, remains exciting. The most important questions: Will the southern stragglers have enough time to overtake the leading boats? How big will the dividend be that Kargl and Co. can collect? How big will the losses that Fink, Burke and Co. have to take?

A similar scenario prevails in the Proto fleet: Frenchman François Champion ("Porsche Taycan") leads his fleet in a similar position to Melwin Fink. However, it remains to be seen whether Champion will remain a lucky man at a boat speed of just five and a half knots, as competitors such as Fabio Muzzolini, Tanguy Bouroullec, Pierre Le Roy and the courageous Irina Gracheva on "Path" in the far south are benefiting from winds twice as strong and are racing ahead at boat speeds of more than eight knots, as if they were on the motorway. The north and south boats are not expected to sail bow to bow in comparable winds again until around the middle of the Atlantic if they maintain their current courses. Proto leader Champion still had just under 1700 nautical miles to go to the finish on Thursday morning, while series leader Melwin Fink still had just under 1800 nautical miles to go. Click here for the tracker (please click!).