The previous record was not much more than half a year "old". On the second leg of the Mini Transat last November, Hugues de Prémare clocked up 317.25 nautical miles on a series Mini. Now Caro Boule is leading the record chasers. Although her figure of 322.7 nautical miles has not yet been ratified, the Polish-born daughter of a Frenchman has certainly set an exclamation mark. And it's not the first.
The record-breaking hunter achieves her second best score with "Nicomatic"
Although she has only been able to hint at the potential of her carbon proto, designed by Sam Manuard and built by Multiplast, in solo races so far, she has hardly ever been able to back it up with results. The engineer simply lacks ocean and long-distance experience. However, with her partner Benoit Marie, herself a designer and mini-skipper, she has already stood on the podium several times in double-handed regattas.
The duo also set the first, albeit unofficial, record for "Nicomatic": They have already propelled the boat with the bow number 1067 to a top speed of 28 knots. And it is foreseeable that the Mini has even more to offer.
Caro is firmly convinced of this. The engineer, who discovered her passion for flying in the Moth class and has currently put her ongoing doctorate at the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris on hold in order to find enough time for her current project, told the YACHT already at the end of 2022shortly after the first test shots, this:
We have not yet seen what foiling boats are really capable of"
For her, the Mini is a culmination point where she can combine her two greatest passions: solving complex development tasks - and sailing faster than the wind. And she is already thinking bigger: an Imoca campaign with the aim of participating in the Vendée Globe in 2028 is on her agenda, even if she doesn't have the funds for it at the moment.
When everything fits, Caroline Boule is unstoppable
Two aspects of her most recent record run are particularly impressive: Caro achieved it on a beam reach, around 120 degrees TWA, which is not the most favourable wind angle, which is around 1oo degrees TWA. So there is definitely more to be gained. And she is limited in terms of the performance of the course computer, which, according to the class rules, must not be the latest state of the art on Imocas. Nevertheless, she consistently took three to five miles per hour off the proto-class minis sailing in her immediate vicinity.
It was precisely the scenario that the cool, calculating technician foresaw when she decided against C-foils and in favour of full-flight mode: being able to pull away or catch up decisively when she encounters conditions that are good for "Nicomatic".
During the Mini Transat, she didn't find them or couldn't realise them. But yesterday she delivered. Perhaps, after a few less convincing attempts, we are experiencing something like the dawn of foil in the Mini prototype classification after all. It has always been a kind of experimental laboratory for applied offshore technology.
In the SAS, the leading boats are still around 200 nautical miles from the finish in Horta. A high wind is creating very light conditions. In the Protos, the Swiss Felix Oberle is in 5th place, around 50 nautical miles behind, but in a tactically promising position in the north-east of the leading group. In the series minis, Joshua Schopfer on Oberle's former "Mingulay" is in P4. Jan-Hendrik Lenz on "Monoka" is the best German in P11.
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