Mast breakage on the German Mini with hull number 1003! The accident befell 38-year-old Thiemo Huuk around 400 nautical miles west of Cape Verde. He was fine, according to his first report to the race organisers. According to the "Europe" skipper, part of his mast was still intact. He was also able to save his sails.
Mini-Transat: with Notrigg to Guadeloupe
Thiemo Huuk had already started to build an emergency rig on Monday evening and announced his intention to attempt to reach the destination harbour of Saint-François on Guadeloupe under his own power. According to information from one of the escort boats, which was close to Huuk's "Europe", the conditions at the time of the mast failure were rough with a largely constant trade wind of 25 to 30 knots.
Thiemo Huuk had been in 47th place in the series boats when the mast breakage stopped him for the time being. On Tuesday night, the training partner of Hendrik Lenz and the German-Frenchman Victor David initially dropped further back, but in the very early hours of the morning he was still travelling at 4.3 knots in his 2020 Mini. As communication with the outside world is prohibited in the Mini Transat - apart from contact with the race organisers or helpers in emergencies - Thiemo Huuk did not initially provide any more detailed descriptions of the mast break and the causes.
In the series boats, favourite Paul Cousin continued to lead the field on his Raison-Maxi "AFP - Biocombustibles" ahead of the Swiss Joshua Schopfer with "Mingulay" and the strong Quentin Mocudet on "Saveurs et Delices". Some feathers have Hendrik Lenz in the past few days.
Mini-Transat premiere: Lenz leaves his mark
In week one of this second leg of the La Boulangère Minit-Transat he was usually to be found in the top five or even the top three, but the man from Düsseldorf had recently lost miles in the north of the field sailing to the west and was around 100 nautical miles behind Paul Cousin in twelfth place late on Monday evening. Click here to go to the tracker for the Mini-Transat.
With the Protos remains "Super-Foiler" Benoît Marie on "Nicomatic - Petit Bateau", but is still under fierce attack from the Swiss Mathis Bourgnon. The "Assomast" soloist was only 16 nautical miles behind Benoît Marie in the early morning of 4 November. Alexandre Demange from Team DMG Mori Sailing Academy 2 followed the two top players in the proto field of the mini-transat with a gap of around 190 nautical miles. "Big Bounce - Beltrona" skipper Felix Oberle from Switzerland fought his way back to seventh place.
The fastest sailors in the 25th edition of the Mini-Transat are expected to arrive in the finish port of Saint-François on Guadeloupe on 7 November. After the start of stage two on 25 October from La Palma, the fleet dynamically continued its Atlantic crossing on course for Guadeloupe at the beginning of the week.
Final days for Mini-Transat and Transat Café L'Or
The organisers and hosts in the marina of Saint-François are preparing for the arrival of the participants and the welcome celebrations in the Eastern Caribbean, while the organisers of the Transat Café L'Or in Fort-de-France on Martinique, just over 200 kilometres away, are expecting their fleets at almost the same time. Click here for the Tracker for the Transat Café L'Or.
