Normandy Channel Race: Burke and Fink in 8th place with a strong debut performance
Andreas Fritsch
· 09.06.2023
What a start for the two Class 40 rookies in their first competition against the crème de la crème of the class! This morning, the two crossed the finish line off Ouistreham a full four minutes behind the eighth-placed "Crosscall", who was only able to overtake them shortly before the finish.
"We had problems with the J1 yesterday, its lashing tore at the top, the sail slipped down and we had to salvage it. Then 'Crosscall' sailed through with the larger sail," Lennart Burke told YACHT after crossing the finish line.
But then shortly after the finish the surprise: The crew of "Crosscall" is given a 15-minute time penalty because they accidentally damaged a seal in the ship, Burke and Fink finish eighth after all!
It's the little things that can cost a lot of places in the high-performance Class 40 league
Nevertheless, the race was a strong performance right from the start, with Lennart Burke and Melwin Fink rounding Lands End in fourth place, and for a long time it looked as if they could challenge for the podium. But then the field parked up in the doldrums of England's land cover.
"We parked badly and everyone drove into us from behind and then drove off around us earlier. That hurt!" says Melwin Fink. Everything else went perfectly: "We actually wanted to see where we stood in the race, so to finish in the top ten straight away is mega! We battled with legends like Vincent Riou! He won the Vendée, I thought at one point, how cool is that!" added a still audibly impressed Lennart Burke.
"The boat is a rocket downwind!"
The boat was perfect, there were no problems apart from the lashing, and downwind the Pogo S4 was a real rocket. "We were travelling at almost 30 knots with a full main and large spinnaker for ages at over 20 knots," enthuses Burke. Until the spinnaker blew first for them, then a little later for "Edenred" right next to them.
When the wind picked up again after rounding England, they had to settle back into eleventh place. When rounding the northernmost waymark, Tuskar Rock off Ireland, a halyard lock jammed during the recovery, which cost them another place. However, they were later able to make up places on the long leg from Fastnet Rock back into the English Channel. When the leading group initially remained close to land, they sailed further out into the channel, a tactical variation that did not bring any advantages.
The race was won by the Italian Ambrogio Beccaria with his co-skipper Kevin Bloch on "Allagrande Pirelli" in an impressive performance. He was in the lead for almost the entire race, showed enormous boat speed and made no technical mistakes. A well-deserved victory ahead of Class 40 icon Ian Lipinsiki with Antoine Carpentier, who steered their "Credit Mutuel" across the line in second place.
YACHT caught the two Germans on the phone during the lock into the starting harbour of Caen. "We're celebrating there first! We've now arrived in the class, the French have noticed us for the first time, it's amazing!"
In view of the very successful start to the Class 40, it will be interesting to see how the two Germans continue to perform throughout the season. In any case, German sailing now has two very hot irons in the fire in one of the most exciting offshore boat classes. The highlight of the season for both of them will be the start of the Transat Jacques Vabre in October, the second great racing legend after the Mini-Transat.
