Manuard takes leg one

Mini sailors roll into Puerto Calero, Lanzarote at conclusion of first half of Mini Transat

French yacht designer/sailor Sam Manuard the crossed the finish line off Lanzarote's Puerto Calero late last night to win a hard fought first leg of this year's Mini Transat.

Manuard finished last night at 20:38:41GMT in a time of 9d, 5h, 8m and 41s. He was following by Jonathan McKee who finished two hours later at 22:38:22GMT

In the early hours of this morning the two front runners were followed by Armel Tripon at 02:17:30 and Fred Duthil at 03:53:37. Irishman Cian McCarthy pipped Swedish yachtswomn Pia L'Obry to the post, just two minutes ahead of her at 04:54:59.

The conditions on this 1,350 miles leg from La Rochelle have been frustrating over the last few days. However yesterday the wind filled in during the course of the day allowing the boats to start averaging 7-8 knots. Unfortunately just as Manuard was approaching the line as dusk, the wind dropped.

"This victory ahead of McKee and all the other will help me psychologically," commented Manuard on his arrival. "But I'll only count my chickens once we reach Salvador de Bahia." Manuard believes his boat to be faster and more powerful than McKee's Simon Rogers-designed Team McLube.

McKee was disappointed not to have won, but admitted "it's a first for me. I've never sailed for so long on my own." With no information from the boats over the course of the race McKee explained that the reason he had dropped back after having been neck and neck with the Frenchman for so long is simply that he had fallen into a hole where there was no wind.

Chris Sayer, who has been racing alongside the boats is believe to have finished at around 21:00GMT, shortly after Manuard.

Finishers

Pos	Sail no	Skipper	Boat	Time	Av speed
1	431	Samuel Manuard	TIP TOP TOO - LE GRAU DU ROI PORT CAMARGUE	9 j 05:08:41	5.9
2	247	Jonathan Mc Kee	TEAM MC LUBE	+ 0 j 01:59:41	5.8
3	151	Armel Tripon	MOULIN ROTY	+ 0 j 05:38:22	5.7
4	265	Frédéric Duthil	ALL MER	+ 0 j 07:14:56	5.7
5	393	Cian Mc Carthy	THE TOM CREAN	+ 0 j 08:16:18	5.6
6	316	Pia L'Obry	EXPATRIA.FR	+ 0 j 08:18:10	5.6
7	139	François Cuinet	REGLISSE	+ 0 j 09:43:41	5.6
Positions at 0700
				Class	Lat	Long	DTF
8	354	Bruno Garcia	SALADINO	proto	N285376	W0133488	6.3
9	312	Pascal Doin	ASNQ	proto	N285253	W0133231	8.7
10	240	Alex Pella	AQUATEC - SANTIVERI - TEXKNIT	proto	N285513	W0133053	10
11	347	Pierre Rolland	EXTRADO	proto	N285258	W0133018	10.5
12	353	Willy Garcia	CEYLAN DIAMANTES	proto	N285450	W0132885	11.5
13	321	Jean-Baptiste Dejeanty	ARTECH - CAEN LA MER	proto	N285513	W0132765	12.6
14	426	Erwan Tymen	POGO 2 NAVY LEST	serie	N285933	W0132360	16.8
15	303	Enrico Podesta	DIABOLO-SLAM	proto	N290726	W0132245	21.2
16	227	Donald Wright	RUSSE NOIR	proto	N291000	W0132265	22.8
17	428	David Sineau	FRANCE FERMETURES	serie	N291216	W0132301	24.1
18	440	David Raison	RAYON LIQUIDE	serie	N291316	W0132168	25.6
19	135	Stéphane Ayrault	WYETH	proto	N292066	W0131863	37.2
20	346	Sébastien Roubinet	ADRENALINE	proto	N293245	W0131646	49.1
21	109	Gaspard Franeau	AVOCATS SANS FRONTIERES	proto	N294105	W0131213	58.4
21	326	Ian Munslow	ISHTAR	proto	N294061	W0131033	58.4
23	260	Richard Mérigeaux	BON PIED BON OEIL	proto	N293821	W0124896	65.3
24	421	Michel Mirabel	GWALARN IV	serie	N295808	W0131500	74.5
25	168	Fabrice Guillerm	RAULT LE SERVICE ALIMENTAIRE	serie	N295918	W0131863	75.2
26	250	Brieuc Maisoneuve	PAYS GRANVILLAIS	serie	N300070	W0131836	76.8
27	209	Bertrand Lecharpentier	NEC HONFLEUR	serie	N300330	W0131065	80.3
28	36	Peter de Smedt	HUYSMAN	proto	N300668	W0131400	83.2
29	330	Jean-Pierre Balmes	CECIM	serie	N300753	W0131333	84.1
30	258	Marc Gascons	TIP-TOP	proto	N301905	W0131515	95.3
31	269	Lionel Rubio de Teran	GROUPE CIBF	serie	N301971	W0131238	96.3
32	371	Juan Carlos Sanchis Mari	SPASMOS	serie	N302860	W0130753	106
33	352	Luis Irisarri	DEVIAJE.COM	proto	N303261	W0130651	110
34	282	Erwan Abalain	MARION NOEL CONSEILS	serie	N303836	W0133933	115
35	245	Patrick Bot	FINIST'MER ECOLE NAVALE	serie	N304096	W0130981	118
36	333	Arsène Ledertheil	LA CIGOGNE DE L'OCEAN	proto	N304088	W0130726	118
37	318	Yann Riou	THRANE & THRANE	serie	N304196	W0131090	119
38	340	Rémi Beauvais	SPI CALL CENTER	serie	N304198	W0125951	120
39	404	Francis Hueber	SHAITAN ENSIETA ECOLE D'INGENIEURS BRESTOISE	serie	N304573	W0131703	122
40	295	David Sautret	MIKALOU SAILING	serie	N304846	W0131236	125
41	167	Manuel Castilla	VISION ORIGINALE	serie	N305591	W0133756	132
42	138	Eric Defert	AMIRAL DE BRETAGNE	proto	N310930	W0131521	145
43	381	Gonzalo Botin	DON VITO	serie	N311680	W0130003	154
44	416	Daniel Schaffer	SENSIL	proto	N312183	W0131171	158
45	335	Barnabé Chivot	FTH THIRARD	proto	N312553	W0130336	163
46	322	Gilles Guillerm	BLUE BOSSA	serie	N312681	W0125700	165
47	175	Adam Seamans	SPIRIT OF AMERICA	serie	N312876	W0131361	165
48	444	Isabelle Magois	EDEN PARK	proto	N312518	W0124033	166
49	388	Yves Niort	DEMI-CLE SHIPCHANDLER	serie	N313470	W0132001	171
50	56	James Bird	ATOMIC	proto	N314748	W0131078	184
51	345	Cécile Poujol	INFORMATIQUE ET STATISTIQUES	serie	N315181	W0125300	190
52	328	Tiphaine Vrignault	MITSUBISHI POUR MECENAT CHIRURGIE CARDIAQUE	serie	N315701	W0132019	193
53	29	Arthur Barret	UBAYE	proto	N322691	W0130947	223
54	373	Christophe Dary	SAGA LA QUALITE DU SERVICE	serie	N323195	W0131933	228
55	262	Eric Schmitt	LA LIMULE	serie	N330411	W0122236	266
56	355	Jacques Valente	ACTION INNOCENCE	serie	N334587	W0123458	305
57	34	Gustavo Pacheco	EPSILON	proto	N335771	W0120538	321
58	89	Rémy Malburet	SOEUR MARIE THERESE DES BATIGNOLLES	serie	N340490	W0123908	323
59	329	Laurent Jaunin	TERRE-ET-FAUNE.ORG	serie	N340341	W0122001	324
60	273	Vincent Volk Leonovitch	GOUDURIX 2	serie	N342430	W0115613	349
61	304	Frédéric Duval	SOJASUN	proto	N351045	W0115311	394
62	47	Bernard Morin	JOGGING INTERNATIONAL	serie	N354600	W0120900	427
63	102	Ghislain Gendron	VILLE DE BANDOL	proto	N353131	W0105243	428
64	277	François-Jacques Jauffrineau	VENDEE PRISMA	proto	N360975	W0123676	448
65	185	Thomas Valentin	THOMAS HAWK	proto	N362750	W0124063	465
66	360	Henri Gourmelon	TOBABOOTS	serie	N362313	W0114110	468
67	405	Caroline Vieille	TOLERIES ARMORICAINES FONDATION JEROME LEJEUNE	proto	N364660	W0120504	487
68	342	Alessandro Zamagna	ARKE	proto	N364986	W0120821	490
69	385	Jaume Mumbru	PORT DE BARCELONA	proto	N405445	W0095470	751
70	121	David Lancry	MENSURA FROST	proto	N432481	W0083103	912