Lennart Burke and Melwin Fink already realised on Friday after the first leg of the Globe40: "We won't be able to catch them." The realisation was for Ian Lipinski and Antoine Carpentier, who had sailed away on leg one and were the first to cross the finish line on Saturday morning. After winning the prologue, the French have now also won the first of six stages around the world. They gave an insight into their fast and smart run the day before here.
Globe40: Lipinski/Carpentier win again
Lennart Burke took a bow: "That's a real statement from the two of them. We are totally gobsmacked. We know that they are both weapons, extremely good sailors and also extremely good navigators. But we really thought we could have kept them a little more in check." Lipinski and Carpentier "certainly had a bit of luck", but, according to Burke: "They did one or two things right at the right time in the right place or made the right decisions. They deserve credit for that now, it's totally awesome!"
Burke and Finke themselves sailed towards the finish line on Saturday morning in lighter winds at speeds of between ten and twelve knots. The Belgian Jonas Gerckens and his co-skipper Djemila Tassin are expected to cross the line just ahead of them. The young German sailors from Hamburg were still thinking about the spinnaker they lost in the Canary Islands during the battle on the home straight.
"If we hadn't lost our A4, the situation might have been different," said Burke. But the different Canary Island passages - Burke/Fink and Gerckens/Tassin to the west between Tenerife and Gran Canaria, Lipinski/Carpentier to the east of Gran Canaria - and the French team's course closer to the coast afterwards also spurred on the winners of the first leg in Globe40.
Burke/Fink without A4 as with a blunt sword
Lennart Burke says: "Not a single weather model predicted that it would be as good as these two were in the Canary Islands. However, we assume that the situation would have been somewhat different if we had still had our A4. Because we now sailed almost three quarters of the way from the Canary Islands to the restricted area with J1 and Code Zero. Where the A2, the big kite, was simply too big and we couldn't set it. That was really a bit annoying."
According to Burke, his team had lost many, many miles. "I didn't quite understand why Gerckens hadn't overtaken us by then. Maybe he had problems too, but didn't tell us," surmised Burke on the way to the finish. And added: "We were definitely far too slow for many, many hours. That cost us quite a bit." As the race progressed, Lipinski was able to position himself well. "He had a different wind to us. I assume that it has stayed that way until now, that he always had better wind, always better angles to the finish. Unbelievable, but that's how life works in sailing," Burke mused on Friday evening.
We shouldn't have been so stupid and lost our spi." Lennart Burke
The lost spinnaker in harsh conditions was preceded by "a tiny mistake in a fraction of a second". Burke explains: "It was milliseconds when the thing went off the board. I turned round once and it was gone. That was incredible." The issue has now been dealt with. Burke's realisation: "It's not entirely without risk what we do here. That's the risk we take."
Thanks to loyal Globe40 partners: new A4 coming
What followed the setback on land was balm for the soul. One of the sponsors made an appeal for donations within the partner group, says Lennart Burke. "We have really great supporters behind us. It suddenly spread like wildfire. Then everyone got in touch. There are around 20 sponsors. They all said they were going to finance a new sail for us, even if it wasn't as planned. That gave us goose bumps."
However, the youngest crew in the field realised until the final stages that the A4 was missing. Burke said: "We had many, many hours of up to 30 knots of wind, which we had to sail with the big kite. You can tell that the boat is under a lot of pressure. How we dive into the waves a lot more, stop a lot more." As a result, the Belgians were always able to keep up with Burke and Fink, despite the "chocolate conditions" for the German Pogo 40 S4.
With a view to the Belgians, who are now ahead, another Globe40 insight in the Next Generation Boating Around The World team, which Burke expressed, proved to be true: "The Belgians are fast in light winds. It also gave us a headache how to keep them in check. They are fast in light winds and also faster than us when reaching."
What the Globe40 teaches
Burke and Fink responded to the constellation by attempting to break away from Gerckens/Tassin and neck southwards. That went well, but the Belgians soon followed suit, not allowing the Germans to go it alone. On Friday evening they overtook Burke and Fink. Since then, Gerckens/Tassin have been able to extend their lead.
In light winds, both Globe40 two-handed crews headed for the finish, which Ian Lipinski and Antoine Carptenier on "Crédit Mutuel" reached on Saturday morning at 10.37 a.m. after 5 days, 21 hours, 37 minutes and 49 seconds. Their average speed over ground: 12.14 knots.
Lennart Burke puts what Burke and Fink have already learnt at this Globe40 as follows: "You have to find your own way a bit, be very self-confident and trust your own instincts." The mood on board the German Class40 was good on Saturday. "We slept well, Melwin cooked pasta yesterday, we're happy and we're really looking forward to Cape Verde," said Lennart Burke. The youngest crew in the field also wants to use the stopover "to clear their heads". Here are some impressions of the work on board.
Globe40 stage stop: first the work, then...
They estimate that the work list they will bring with them to the harbour in Mindelo will be completed within three days. Lennart Burke says: "In Cádiz, it didn't work out so well to relax. We each had maybe two hours to ourselves, when we didn't have many appointments and people around us and could relax. It will be better now."
Not much has changed in the assessment of their own strengths and weaknesses after the first stage. Burke says: "I think it's our stamina and our fighting spirit. That we simply fight our way through everything. That's also a bit in keeping with our young age, our rookie status. You can tell that the others have a lot more experience, make up a lot more miles through tactical or navigational decisions, where we then have to fight our way back again and again through power, power, power. And full throttle."
We still have a lot to learn. But we're young and keen."
The German sailors also have a positive initial outlook for the second leg of the Globe40, which will take their challengers to La Réunion in the Indian Ocean for around a month from 2 October. Burke says: "We feel totally at ease on board and are looking forward to four weeks at sea."
Big race, two small problem areas
However, there is one small issue that the 26-year-old native of Stralsund is constantly struggling with. Burke says: "The only problem for me personally is that the salt doesn't really dry anything out. Everything is always so clammy. It feels like everything is always wet, even though it's actually dry."
Melwin Fink, on the other hand, has to leave his comfort zone when it comes to nutrition. "For him, it's the freeze-dried food," says Burke, "he's struggling with it, he can't get the freeze-dried down so well. He hopes that he can get used to it better in the four weeks." Before that, there are almost two weeks in Mindelo, where the Cape Verdean national dish cachupa and many other delights will provide variety.
