"To get involved once again and show what the next generation can do." That is the goal of Melwin Fink and Lennart Burke in the Globe40 circumnavigation. With Boomerang damage After being thrown out of the race on leg three from La Réunion to Sydney and forced to turn back, the Next Generation Boating Around the World team has now thoroughly checked the mast, successfully repaired it and heralded the return to the race for the sixth and final leg from Recife to the start and finish harbour of Lorient.
Globe40 comeback for the German Class40: "optimal" condition
After an absence of more than six weeks, Melwin Fink and his companions found their Class 40 in the Globe40 harbour on La Réunion in a "more than satisfactory condition" when they returned last week. The skipper, Daniel Schaade (Carbon Globe) and technical sponsor Oliver Schultheis immediately set about the challenging work.
The mast was laid the day after arrival. The repair work on the mast and spreaders could begin quickly. In sweltering temperatures, sometimes approaching 40 degrees, the team worked under high pressure and, where possible, under the self-built awning. The mast was scanned, the spare parts were fitted and the damage that had occurred during the third Globe40 leg from La Réunion to Sydney was repaired.
The Next Generation Boating Around the World team described the condition after the work was completed as "optimal". Safety and performance for the challenges ahead were "guaranteed". Melwin Fink therefore expressed special thanks not only to his repair team, but also to the helpful people on La Réunion. If there was something to organise, help was always found quickly and effectively. The German team received additional support from local resident Maxime Bourcier, who works for the Globe40 project "Free Dom" and thus the home team of La Réunion.
Fink crew on course for Recife via Cape Town
As soon as the boat was complete again, the transfer crew set off for the first stopover in Cape Town on 4 February. 2200 nautical miles lay ahead of them after casting off on Wednesday. At the side of the 23-year-old Globe40 skipper Melwin Fink are the experienced 46-year-old offshore sailor Sebastian Dziwisch, who has already crossed the Atlantic twice solo, and 56-year-old Oliver Schultheis.
A stay of several days is planned in Cape Town before the crew continues their transfer to Recife. There will be a crew change for this second leg: Arno Böhnert will come on board in place of Oliver Schultheis. The Hamburg native has already mastered eight Atlantic crossings, was last in action with Jost Stollmann's "Alithia" in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race. Arno Böhnert is now tackling another challenging South Atlantic passage from east to west, covering around 3330 nautical miles.
The rest of the Globe40 fleet is currently recovering in Valparaiso from the exertions of the fourth leg. All the boats have long since arrived there, apart from the stragglers from the "Free Dom". Thibaut Lefévère and Nicolas Guibal still had around 2400 nautical miles to go to Valparaiso on the afternoon of 4 February after their Sydney repair loop at the 50th parallel in the South Pacific. They are doing everything they can to reach the Chilean harbour in time for the start of the fifth leg. The starting signal for the penultimate Globe40 leg to Recife will be given on 18 February. Click here for the Globe40 results overview after the prologue and four of the six stages.
Globe40 final spurt from 29 March with Burke and Fink
Starting on 18 February, seven Globe40 challengers will sail down the South Pacific, around Cape Horn and up the South Atlantic to the Brazilian port of Recife, which Melwin Fink and his crew will head for from the other direction, from Cape Town.
They will leave the southern tip of South Africa a little earlier than the Globe40 fleet departs from Valparaiso. The rough plan is for the Fink crew to reach Recife in the first week of March. Lennart Burke will then also rejoin the team there. Burke and Fink will then set off together on the final 4290 nautical mile leg to Lorient on 29 March.
We hope to have a great end to the regatta and want to cause trouble again at the front." Lennart Burke
Lennart Burke still has a month to go before he returns to Globe40. But time is his greatest scarcity right now, as Next Generation has expanded. At home in the north of Germany, Burke not only looks after Next Generation Boating's Hamburg headquarters in Hamburg-Fuhlsbüttel, but also the young company's new location in Kiel, where the next generation of boaters will be based. Next Generation Yachting "Boatbuilding on a grand scale" is to be pursued.
The new hall that has just been completed enables "a wide range of work for new builds and conversions, refits, repairs, care and maintenance". To this end, Next Generation Yachting is now actively and intensively seeking boatbuilding reinforcements at all levels.
