Sailing southwards or heading for a harbour of refuge as quickly as possible? This was and is the decision the mini-sailors had to make today in view of the frightening wind forecasts for the area around Cape Finisterre. Many soloists have already made this decision. More and more participants are calling at emergency harbours such as A Corunã, Baiona or Camariña. It was not without reason that the organisers gave their own daily summary on Friday this title: "Seek shelter!" On Friday evening, the leading quartet that had previously escaped the doldrums - Pierre Le Roy on "Teamwork", Tanguy Bouroullec on "Tollec MP / Pogo", Fabio Muzzolini on "Tartine sans Beurre" and Irina Gracheva on "Path" - continued to sail south with a large lead over the chasing pack.
The reason for the intensive warnings to the Mini-Transat fleet is fast approaching: a brutal low-pressure system is threatening the fleet, will cause increasingly inhospitable conditions at Cape Finisterre on Saturday morning and could reach its hellish peak by early Sunday morning with winds of more than 50 knots. In principle, sailors have one night to save themselves - either by calling at a port of refuge or by fleeing as far south as possible, away from the eye of the storm. "It's a monster low that brings a south-westerly storm," explains former Mini-Transat participant and concerned observer Jan Heinze. The Hamburg entrepreneur and Mini-Transat book author explains: "Because this storm is also running against the current, which is pushing from north to south, we can expect horrendous conditions. Anyone who sails on is taking great risks. This storm from the south against the current from the north - and the whole thing directly over the continental shelf - can turn the Atlantic swell into a steep, breaking wave, which can cause chop and more. Then you can no longer be at Cape Finisterre, because it is known that the wind there is often ten knots stronger than forecast..."
"Anyone who sails on is taking great risks"
Heinze assumes that the race organisers have long since warned all participants via short wave. However, these short-wave messages are often difficult to understand; the closer the boats get to land, the more difficult they are to receive. The skippers will also communicate via their only possible means of communication (VHF). This explains the clearly recognisable "mass movement" of the Minis to the nearby harbours in the live tracker. "The scenario reminds me of the 2013 Mini-Transat, which was cancelled and restarted in a heavy storm. But there was a lot of trouble back then because an Italian was leading before the cancellation. He finished second in the end."
Marc Eric Siewert ("Absolute Sailing Team"), who had fallen back to 24th and penultimate place in the proto ranking after helping a competitor, still had around 55 nautical miles to go to the coast on Friday evening at a good five knots of speed. "Marc had been called out in the middle of the Bay of Biscay to support a sailor whose mast had broken and had fallen far behind as a result," says Heinze about the mini sailor from the Hamburg Sailing Club. Which is why Siewert is now in a less than comfortable position, but one from which he will hopefully be able to free himself by Saturday morning by calling at a harbour. Proto helmswoman Lina Rixgens on "Avanade" was already very close to the rescuing coast at 7 pm. Series skipper Melwin Fink on "Signforcom", on the other hand, initially seemed to be continuing his southerly course in 14th place overall in the front field of series boats, as did the Austrian Christian Kargl on "All Hands on Deck" in 16th place. Whether it stays that way remains to be seen on Saturday night.
How Lennart Burke, who dropped back from a promising position to 36th place after technical problems with his series Mini "Vorpommern", will decide, was not yet foreseeable on Friday evening almost across the Cape. There is still a lot of guesswork surrounding the technical damage that Burke suffered soon after the start. Although the organisers mentioned damage to the pulpit, this alone cannot explain the enormous loss of speed suffered by the top German competitor. Heinze's hypothesis: "With a possibly badly bent pulpit sticking out where the jib is, he could have been forced to sail without a jib and therefore so slowly. In other words, he had to recover it so that it wouldn't break."
Jan Heinze considers the storm to be "really very dangerous". Anyone still at sea will have to sail south as quickly as possible. "Besides, there are still harbours behind Cape Finisterre," says Heinze, encouraging worried observers who are now trembling with those who have not yet "turned off" towards the coast. It remains this night to make the right decision. Click here for the live tracker (please click!).
