They are finishers of the Mini-Transat: their broad smiles and the disbelief in their eyes at what they have achieved over the past two weeks tell you what that means.
Last weekend, the three German participants in the Mini-Transat series boat ranking arrived in Martinique: Oliver Tessloff as the best German in the class in 14th place, Andreas Deubel in 35th place and just under seven hours later Lina Rixgens as the first German woman to successfully complete the single-handed regatta. She docked on the Caribbean island after 18 days and just under 5 hours at sea, beaming accordingly:
"Compared to the first stage, that was just brilliant, really good. It was tough, but nothing bad broke. I'm fine, the boat is fine. I can't really believe it yet." Simply arriving was the student's goal, and now she has also achieved a decent result at her Transat premiere with a 38th place on her Pogo 2 "Minidoc".
Oliver Tessloff had set his sights on a place in the top ten - he finished 14th after 16 days and 13 hours, narrowly missing his self-imposed target, but after a remarkable final spurt: in the final days of the race, Tessloff had overtaken six competitors.
"I'm a little disappointed with my performance, I had hoped for more, but it's also just great to arrive at the end of this long journey," said the Hamburg native after his arrival. "I've learnt a lot. And even though I said at the beginning that I wouldn't do it again, I can now say that I would love to be back in two years' time."
Four years of preparation came to an end for Andreas Deubel from Hamburg when he crossed the finish line. He had had to make a repair stop in Mindelo with his "Nacira" Mini, which cost him at least ten places, but he was able to make up some of these after the restart from Cape Verde. In the end, he crossed the finish line in 35th place in the series boat classification. "The race was particularly difficult at the start, I didn't really get into it, I was thinking a lot about my wife and son. I only found my rhythm after Mindelo. It's crazy that this is now the end of four years of preparation."
Professional sailor Jörg Riechers finished second in the prototype in Martinique behind Ian Lipinski - the best result ever achieved by a German sailor in the ocean race.
A report and interviews with the German participants were broadcast on ZDF yesterday, Sunday, and can be viewed in the media centre under the following links:
ZDF sports report: Big station for the lone sailors
ZDF sports report: Interview with Jörg Riechers
ZDF sports report: Interview with Oliver Tessloff
You can also read a detailed follow-up report on the Mini-Transat in YACHT 1/2017, which will be available in stores from 13 December.
