After an exhausting second leg of the Transgascogne mini regatta from Les Sables d'Olonne to Avilés and back, all the boats arrived back in the harbour on the French Atlantic coast this morning.
German skipper Chris Lükermann and co-pilot Nicolas D'Estais also won this second leg in the double-handed classification. D'Estais said at the finish: "The leg was really tough, just upwind except for the last few hours. The noise in the boat is crazy, it beats and beats and beats."
The overall victory in the single-handed classification of the series boats goes to Clarisse Crémer, 2017 Seamaster of boot Düsseldorf and Delius Klasing Verlag. Although the winner of the first leg finished behind her training partner and rival Erwann le Draoulec this time - together with him she had won the mini Fastnet in June - the overall victory still goes to the 27-year-old newcomer in the field: it is her first solo victory in a mini regatta.
"It's hard to realise because the last three days have been really tough. Fortunately, I had an hour's head start (on Erwann Le Draoulec, the ed.) from the first stage, so that was enough for this overall victory."
Ian Lipinski crossed the finish line first in the single-handed prototype classification after two days and around three and a half hours, around three hours ahead of his pursuers Kéni Piperol and Simon Koster.
"In the meantime, when I had pulled away from the field and the wind shifted to the left, contrary to the forecast, I thought that was it for this stage win. But then I finished first after all - that was great," said Lipinski, who will start as the favourite in the prototype at the Minitransat in October. "The Transgascogne course is great. Although it's quite short, you get the impression that you're getting into a bit of an ocean rhythm. It was a great preparation - the last one before the Mini-Transat," says the 36-year-old Frenchman.
Oliver Tessloff from Hamburg finished sixth out of 33 solo starters and is seventh overall after finishing eighth in the first stage. It took him two days, eight hours and 20 minutes to cover the 247 nautical miles of the second leg from Avilés in northern Spain to Les Sables.
The German duo Lina Rixgens and Sverre Reinke finished fourth out of ten starters in the overall standings, taking two days and 13 hours to complete the second stage.
