From start to finish, the mini-transat has so far gone very differently to plan for the only German woman among the 90 participants. Instead of holding her own at the front of the field, breakages and bad weather have thrown her far back. In an interview with YACHT online, she is nevertheless confident about the second leg. Motto: Now more than ever!
Last Sunday, Lina Rixgens reached the first stage finish in 21st place among the 24 proto-minis. In a phone call two days after her arrival on La Palma, she says that she had an extremely demanding journey behind her. The stresses and strains of the 13-day solo ride are still having an effect. She is still "well knocked out", she says.
However, this exhaustion is not reflected in the pictures of her arrival. Her voice also sounds firm and determined. It may be due to the relief she feels at this moment, as she later explains. And because she is already focussed on the future.
You can tell that she has ticked off, analysed and processed stage one. "The start went well," says the 27-year-old, who sailed her first mini-transat in 2017. She started in an almost sensational 6th place, but her anemometer failed on the very first night of the race. The autopilot, now no longer fed with the highly relevant wind data, only steers by compass course and position sensor. This alone causes her to lose speed.
Shortly afterwards, the autopilot stopped working altogether, meaning that Lina Rixgens had to steer her Mini by hand all the time - an enormous effort. Towards the end of the first week, she doesn't have to think twice about the stopover in a harbour near Cape Finisterre recommended by the race organisers. She is almost grateful - firstly because she escapes a cold front with up to 50 knots of wind, and secondly because she gains time for repairs - "the break came in very handy for me". Rixgens was able to repair all the damage during the short stay in Camarinas.
Accordingly, she starts the race from there with renewed motivation. After a period of disillusionment due to the lack of wind, the best days so far followed. The wind is blowing diagonally from behind at 17-21 knots and accelerates the Wevo 6.5 upwards to 10 knots throughout. Champagne sailing!
"I try to remember these days very fondly," says Rixgens about her stage highlight to date. But on the morning of her birthday, she was in for a rude awakening: the bracket of her port rudder blade broke. A repair is not possible in the swell. Lina continues sailing with just one oar for the time being. To make matters worse, the second bracket also breaks when the "Avanade" is about 200 nautical miles off La Palma. The experienced solo skipper manages to fix one of the rudder blades to the hull. But the worry of not making it to the harbour on her own remains to the end.
Rixgens arrives on the island all the more relieved. Over the next few days, she will "catch up on a lot of sleep and eat well, maybe go and see the volcano," she says. In addition to recovering, she will also be repairing the steering gear. Rixgens is confident that she will have her Mini 6.50 back to 100 per cent by the start of the second leg on 29 October.
In general, she is very satisfied with the sailing characteristics of her new boat compared to the Pogo 2, with which she completed her first mini-transat. "It sails much more stiffly and can carry more sail area in half and downwind courses." However, the Mini also moves more jerkily: "The boat doesn't offer more comfort and quality of life."
And how does the doctor deal with her bumpy start? How does she motivate herself for the much longer stage that follows? "The goal was completely different. I wanted to be among the first boats," she admits frankly. However, Lina Rixgens is not letting it get her down. "I hope to be able to show on the second leg that my boat and I can sail not only in survival mode, but also in competition mode." Rixgens certainly doesn't seem to be lacking in fighting spirit.
