Globe40: Dream start to circumnavigation - Prologue silver for Burke and Fink

There's a magic in every beginning. For Lennart Burke and Melwin Fink, this magic is their second place in the Globe40 prologue at the start of their first round-the-world race. As hoped, the Next Generation Boating - Around the World team was able to position itself in the leading group right from the start. The fact that this would turn into a furiously fought second place is a remarkable success with a high profile for the race around the world.

Globe40: in second place with Turbo

In the first half of the prologue, she was still involved in a duel with Aina Bauza Roig and Axelle Pillain on "Engie", Burke and Fink first regained third place, overtook the co-favoured Belgian team around Jonas Gerckens and ignited the downwind turbo one day before the finish.

The starting signal for the Globe40 prologue, the results of which are taken into account with a factor of 0.5 in the ranking of the circumnavigation, was given on 4 September in fresh winds. On the way, they had to master flat and stormy passages. Lennart Burke and Melwin Fink played to the strengths of their Pogo 40 S4 in the last 24 hours.

On the last morning of the Globe40 prologue, the leading top favourites Ian Lipinski and Antoine Carpentier were also the first to pass Cape Vincent on their victory ride. Lipinski reported at the time: "Good morning, the night on board the Crédit Mutuel began with the spectacle of a lunar eclipse! It is always moving to be able to observe these geometric sequences of constellations. And above all, it's very beautiful to see the moon in silhouette like this."

The prologue winners: not sure, but confident

On the sporting status in the Globe40 prologue, Lipinski said during the race: "To complete the picture: the night went well with some nice glides downwind. This was an opportunity for us to realise the decisions of our sailing plan for this circumnavigation a little more concretely. We have just passed the gate between Cape St Vincent and the corner of the DST, in the lead, more than 15 nautical miles ahead of the chasers."

Melwin Fink had said before the start of the race: "Whoever leads here will probably bring it home." And that's exactly what happened: the French team confidently lived up to their role as favourites, even if Burke and Fink were able to make up ground at the end and at times get as close as six nautical miles to the stern of the prologue dominators.

One reason for this was given by top favourite Lipinski at Cape St. Vincent, when he remained cautious with his predictions of victory: "The race is not over yet, because the wind is fading, which gives the others the opportunity to make up a large part of the gap. There are also two options for reaching the finish off Cadiz: a southerly course to take advantage of as much offshore wind as possible, and the coastal option predicted by the European model."

Globe40: the Belgians breathing down our necks

According to Lipinski, his team decided in favour of the southern option. However, this had opened the door a little behind his crew for the others to catch up. Lipinski knew: "That could mean a bit of tension and stress for us. We'll see! See you soon!"

Melwin Fink reported back from the prologue final in the afternoon before the finish from the Bay of Cádiz and said: "It's very exciting and very exhausting here because we have the Belgians breathing down our necks the whole time. You have to be on your guard all the time. We've also got closer to Lipinski at the front, but he can sail nice and relaxed because he doesn't have the Belgians breathing down his neck. They're pretty sure to drive the thing home."

Melwin Fink described the positive realisation from the perspective of the youngest crew in the Globe40 shortly before crossing the finish line: "We all got very, very close together. We had real winds of up to 30 knots again this morning, very flat water, and we sailed along here at up to 22 knots under spinnaker. Now we have 15 knots of wind and have to go quite high because the Belgians are pushing so hard. We'll probably make two more gybes and should be at the finish around 8 or 9 pm."

French victory in the Globe40 prologue

Then things went even faster for the Next Generation Boating - Around the World team on this Monday evening. At 7.16 pm, Lennart Burke and Melwin Fink - also in action in the Globe40 prologue with owner Joachim Wünning and sailing friend Sebastian Dziwisch - crossed the finish line a good 51 minutes behind Ian Lipinski and Antoine Carpentier in second place. The French had won the 900 nautical mile start to the circumnavigation after 4 days, 2 hours, 25 minutes and 1 second.

Jonas Gerckens and Renaud Dehareng's Team Belgium Ocean Racing - Curium finished third. Later in the evening, Aina Bauza Roig and Axelle Pillain were expected on "Engie". Click here for tracking, finish times and the other intermediate results. The top three were already showered with champagne at the finish and had a beer together.

There were some beautiful and meaningful scenes. For example, when Ian Lipinski and Antoine Carptenier, who are well versed in all things sailing, congratulated the youngest crew in the race and, in view of the brutal night before the final day, asked almost in horror: "There weren't really four of you sailing, were there?"

Burke and Fink in "downwind madness"

The French thought it was almost impossible that Burke and Fink had achieved a boat speed of up to 23 knots with a crew quartet in the "downwind madness". The French preparateur could hardly believe it either. However, boat owner Joachim Wünning wants to think carefully about whether he wants to take part in such a rough race again in the future.

Prologue silver sailors Lennart Burke and Melwin Fink are pretty proud of their Globe40 prologue victory over the Gerckens team. "They had four professionals on board at the start. We have more respect for Lipinski, but Jonas has a very strong boat. They have been preparing for ages, have a good budget and more experience," said Melwin Fink, comparing the three prologue podium teams.

Melwin Fink also delivered a clear message from this Globe40 prologue with a view to the race around the world, the first leg of which starts on 14 September from Cádiz to Mindelo in Cape Verde: "It will be about these three boats. That was already quite a distance from the others. Although it has to be said that last night was very brutal. It got down to business, there was a lot of banging." However, there was no major damage to the German Class40, just a few minor injuries.

Globe40: Eight months of "fighting" ahead

Jonas Gerckens announced the programme for the next eight months of the circumnavigation in Cádiz in the evening. The highly experienced 45-year-old Class 40 skipper said to his 23- and 26-year-old German co-sailors: "I'm looking forward to eight months of fighting with you!"