Mini en Mai: Lenz fast - first eighth at the finish, then early start penalty

In offshore sailing, the penalties for early starts are often severe. Organisers want to avoid too much - possibly dangerous - chaos at the start of large fleets. For example, every early starter at the 10th Vendée Globe was threatened with a five-hour stop. The "Bureau Vallée" skipper Louis Burton, who later retired, was actually caught out. Early starters in the Mini en Mai now had to pay an extra two hours.

Mini en Mai: Sailing like in Bannalec's Brittany thrillers

The twelfth edition of the French 500 nautical mile classic took almost 100 proto and series soloists in the Mini class from La Trinité-sur-Mer off the French west coast up to almost the island of Ouessant and back down around the Île de Ré. They passed La Rochelle before heading north again, past Les Sables-d'Olonne in the Vendée. On the way back to the start and finish harbour, the west coast of the Guérande, the Île de Hœdic and the Île d'Houat were passed before the finish line approached.

The route is peppered with holiday dreams. Like other French mini regattas, the race and its waypoints are reminiscent of the Brittany crime novels by Jörg Bong, alias Jean-Luc Bannalec. Many of the islands and Breton locations in the stories about Inspector Dupin characterise mini-races such as the Mini en Mai. Georges Dupin's 14th case will be published on 25 June. The title "Breton Temptations" fits well with the challenges and experiences of the miniists.

Düsseldorf mini-sailor Hendrik Lenz says: "I'm not a huge thriller fan, but I really enjoy listening to this Breton series, especially on the ten-hour trips to Brittany." According to Lenz, the Celtic element is everywhere on site. There are street, hotel and campsite names with druids. "And there are the islands and the places that you recognise from the audio books and now see and experience while sailing. I like this coast and especially its rocky coastline," says Lenz.

Two-hour penalty knocks Lenz out of the top ten

Hendrik Lenz has mastered his course in the Mini en Mai over 478.5 nautical miles in 3 days, 8 hours and 16 minutes. After tenth place in the La Pornichet Select, Lenz has already achieved his second top ten result in the Mini series ranking within three weeks this year as an eighth on the water. Unofficially. This is because in the official final standings, he was handed an additional two-hour penalty on top of his adjusted five-second early start. It hit the German soloist hard, throwing him back to 25th place.

"I also watched the video again with the jury. The early start was clear to see. I'll still mentally take eighth place with me," said Hendrik Lenz. His early start was preceded by a general recall. In the second start attempt, the mini-soloist from the Düsseldorfer Yacht-Club - like two other top ten competitors - made the five-second mistake that cost him 17 places.

The series classification was won by Amaury Guerin on "Groupe Satov". The Frenchman crossed the finish line after 3 days, 6 hours, 17 minutes and 20 seconds. Around 40 minutes later, "Paul Cousin" on "Afp - Groupe Biocombustibles" secured second place. Seven minutes after him, Deniz Bagci on "Jules - Sponsor wanted" crossed the finish line in third place. However, Bagci was unable to savour the joy of his excellent performance.

Maxis dominate the Minis series field

The top three result of the likeable soloist from Istanbul was also severely curtailed: Although Deniz Bagci crossed the start line after Hendrik Lenz, he was also three seconds too early. Bagci was also given a two-hour penalty and dropped back to 17th place in the final classification, although the other podium sailors stood up for him. All three of the podium finishers in the large field of 64 series boats were sailing Maxi minis.

Hendrik Lenz takes many positive insights from the Mini en Mai with him despite the early start setback. "I sailed back after the early start and was half an hour behind the field in last place. I fought back and caught up well." In the area of the cardinal buoys off La Rochelle, Lenz even briefly touched down on a rock while taking a clever shortcut, but his "Monoka" was not even scratched, as a first quick dive by Lenz in the finish harbour revealed.

Hendrik Lenz was in action with a new all-purpose mainsail, which gave him even more wings. His choice of sailmaker is based on a simple philosophy, as Lenz explains: "If you want to be in the game, you also have to play with other people's cards." The welcome contract extension with his project partner Kruppenbacher has enabled Lenz to purchase the new sailing wardrobe on the Mini-Transat course.

Birthday party on the beach in Quiberon

Monoka" will also be getting a new spinnaker before the start of the big highlight of the season. Hendrik Lenz has already established a strong starting position as a potential top ten player in the extremely French-influenced scene of the mini series. He recovered from the exertions of the regatta, which was contested with extremely little sleep, on the beach in Quiberon on Saturday, where he celebrated his 31st birthday.

The 25th Mini-Transat starts on 21 September in Les Sables-d'Olonne and takes the Atlantic challengers in their fast "nutshells" via a stopover in the Canary Islands to Saint-François on Guadeloupe. In addition to Hendrik Lenz, the German-Frenchman Victor David on "Ich bin ein Solitaire" (30th in the Mini en Mai) and Thiemo Huuk on "Europe" (55th in the Mini en Mai) are also preparing for the leap across the Atlantic.

Up-and-coming talent Tom Wehde from Lennart Burke and Melwin Fink's Next Generation Sailing racing team sailed to 38th place in the Mini en Mai on his series Mini "Osterrath". The new member of the team of budding Class 40 round the world sailors is already working towards his Mini Transat premiere, which he has just set his sights on for the 2027 edition after next. Here it goes to the results for the Mini en Mai.

Mini en Mai: Manuard design wins prototype competition

In the prototype category of the Mini en Mai, a Manuard design prevailed over designs by Raison and Lombard: Benoît Marie was the winner with "Nicomatic - Petit Bateau" after just 3 days, 21 minutes and 47 seconds. He was able to keep Alexandre Demange on "DMG Mori Sailing Academy 2" at bay after a thrilling finish with a lead of just ten minutes, relegating him to second place. Basile Gautier brought his "Nass & Wind / Les EDG" to the finish line in third proto. The Swiss Felix Oberle came sixth in the field of 30 Protos with his Raison-Mini "Big Bounce".

Replay! The live broadcast from the start of the Mini en Mai: