Cool or crazy, daring or too dangerous? While almost the entire Mini-Transat fleet has taken shelter in harbours ahead of the Cape Fisterre storm, serial boat sailors Melwin Fink and Christian Kargl are defying the forecasts and seeking their fortune by sailing southwards. The young German and the experienced Austrian could even get away with it, as a look at the following two wind scenarios reveals. The first view shows the situation on Saturday morning, the second the assumed conditions twelve hours later, i.e. for Saturday evening. If the outliers get south fast enough, they could actually escape the storm and its worst effects near the coast.
On social media, the comments on Fink and Kargl's decision to ignore all the warnings from the race organisers and trust in their own ability and the options offered by the wind development are overwhelming. Fink observer Frank Eckardt has his fingers crossed for Melwin Fink: "I don't know if it will be a cool move, but if you jump off the deep end, you've almost won the Transat. If not, you'll probably experience the wildest six hours of your life. I wish you the best of luck, even if I'd rather see you in the harbour." On Christian Kargl's Facebook page, Sebastian Senftleben writes: "All mini-sailors are now on their way to a safe harbour. All of them? No. There are two lonely German-speaking sailors who either don't understand French at all or simply skilfully ignore the storm warning and the recommendation to head for the next harbour and continue on their way. Balls of steel or madness? In any case, I'm going to print out the screenshot. A German and an Austrian lead the field in the mini series ranking!" Experts assume that the two mini racers, who know each other well and understand each other very well, will also communicate with each other via VHF radio if possible. On Saturday morning, Fink and Kargl initially seemed to be rewarded for their perseverance and their decision to work their way south as quickly as possible with clever tacks close to shore.
While further south, the proto-leading quartet that lost the lead days ago in the doldrums - Pierre Le Roy on "Teamwork", Tanguy Bouroullec on "Tollec MP / Pogo", Fabio Muzzolini on "Tartine sans Beurre" and the irresistible Irina Gracheva on "Path" continue on their course and Fink and Kargl now lead the series boat field, it remains to be seen when the Cape Ministerre storm will release the chasers from its clutches again. This means that after a week at sea, the cards have been completely redistributed in this mini-Transat edition: There is the leading foursome, who will decide the proto-victory on leg one among themselves. Behind them are the two serial boat breakaways Melwin Fink on "Signforcom" and Christian Kargl on "All Hands on Deck", who have given themselves a real chance of victory on this first leg with their decision to continue the stormy leg. And finally, the large field of those who weathered the storm in the harbour and only continued their race afterwards. As always, the race is settled at the finish.
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
