Big conditions take their victims

Blustery start to second leg of Mini Transat

After a quiet initial leg from La Rochelle to Lanzarote, the Mini fleet have been screaming along in brisk northeasterly trades since leaving Puerto Calero on Saturday. The leaders had covered around 400 miles in the first 42 hours of racing - an average of 10 knots is not bad for a 21footer...

With winds gusting up to 35 knots, conditions have been taking their toll on the fleet which has seen dismastings and a variety of torn sails and hardware since the restart. The dismastings included two of the race favourites - the Freds Duthil and Duval. Duval has retired or 'thrown in the sponge' as the French put it. He was making for Lanzarote. "I can't race any more on an equal footing, so I'm not going to set out again," he said. The other dismastings were of the boats of Ghislain Gendron and Francis Hueber, while Alessandro Zamagna and Barnabe Chivot also have rig problems and Jacques Valente has also turned back for reaons that are as yet unclear.

Irish competitor Cian McCarthy who came sixth on the first leg on The Tom Crean has suffered a broken stay. McCarthy plans to make a pit stop in Sao Vicente in the Cape Verde to get a replacement.

More foolish is Bertrand Lecharpentier who forgot to load on his food prior to the restart. Whether Lecharpentier puts in to pick up supplies or continues, surviving through fishing or picking up seaweed (like Yves Parlier in the Vendee Globe) remains to be seen.

David Raison on the leading Pogo managed to break his boom and has ripped his small spi. He has since been overtaken by the series class leader on leg one - Erwan Tymen. Raison of course will affect repairs at sea (it was he who's keel fell off in a previous Mini Transat and he successfully managed to get the rig down in time and get the boat back to port successfully under jury rig. Respect).

Rogue Kiwi Mini sailor Chris Sayer who is again racing alongside the fleet also had to put back into port when the gooseneck attachment for his bowsprit failed. He set off again after a delay of eight hours.

Even race leader Armel Tripon has not come away unscathed and suffered a collision with an unidentified object in the water this morning, although there is no apparent damage to the hull or appendages.

Having only been at sea for 48 hours there is a massive divide across the course. This has been influenced by competitors individual approaches to how best to 'get out of Dodge' as the Canaries which is an area rife with accelerations zones or calms.

Currently in the lead is one of the race favourites, Armel Tripon on Moulin Roty, who is close to the rhumb line, but an interesting option is that of Spanish entry, Alex Pella in second who is considerably to the northwest. Pella is sailing the Lombard-designed Mini in which British sailor Simon Curwen did so well two years ago.

Between these two extremes lies Jonathan McKee, yacht designer Pierre Roland and Francois Cuinet, who aged 23 is sailing the prototype Pogo in which he came 4th in the Odyssey of Ulysses race from France to Tunisia and back at the beginning of the summer.

The trade winds look set to carry the Mini fleet all the way south to the waypoint at the Cape Verdes although they are set to lighten over the course of tomorrow.

Positions at 0700

Pos	Sail	Skipper	Boat	Class	Lat	Long	DTF
1	151	Armel Tripon	MOULIN ROTY	proto	N231211	W0174578	2499
2	240	Alex Pella	AQUATEC - SANTIVERI - TEXKNIT	proto	N235940	W0190608	2503
3	347	Pierre Rolland	EXTRADO	proto	N234753	W0183433	2507
4	139	François Cuinet	REGLISSE	proto	N234021	W0181343	2510
5	247	Jonathan Mc Kee	TEAM MC LUBE	proto	N233923	W0180610	2512
6	354	Bruno Garcia	SALADINO	proto	N233908	W0173648	2526
7	353	Willy Garcia	CEYLAN DIAMANTES	proto	N234148	W0173778	2528
8	426	Erwan Tymen	POGO 2 NAVY LEST	serie	N234573	W0174113	2530
9	346	Sébastien Roubinet	ADRENALINE	proto	N241758	W0184043	2530
10	109	Gaspard Franeau	AVOCATS SANS FRONTIERES	proto	N232818	W0170656	2531
11	440	David Raison	RAYON LIQUIDE	serie	N232658	W0170236	2532
12	431	Samuel Manuard	TIP TOP TOO - LE GRAU DU ROI PORT CAMARGUE	proto	N235555	W0175143	2533
13	250	Brieuc Maisoneuve	PAYS GRANVILLAIS	serie	N234548	W0172988	2535
14	385	Jaume Mumbru	PORT DE BARCELONA	proto	N234940	W0173423	2536
15	167	Manuel Castilla	VISION ORIGINALE	serie	N234703	W0172340	2539
16	245	Patrick Bot	FINIST'MER ECOLE NAVALE	serie	N240051	W0174261	2542
17	269	Lionel Rubio de Teran	GROUPE CIBF	serie	N234641	W0171078	2545
18	393	Cian Mc Carthy	THE TOM CREAN	proto	N235540	W0172443	2546
19	428	David Sineau	FRANCE FERMETURES	serie	N234798	W0170693	2548
20	312	Pascal Doin	ASNQ	proto	N241973	W0180396	2548
21	303	Enrico Podesta	DIABOLO-SLAM	proto	N233748	W0164238	2551
22	282	Erwan Abalain	MARION NOEL CONSEILS	serie	N234461	W0165403	2551
23	322	Gilles Guillerm	BLUE BOSSA	serie	N232788	W0161861	2555
24	421	Michel Mirabel	GWALARN IV	serie	N235345	W0165803	2557
25	227	Donald Wright	RUSSE NOIR	proto	N240248	W0171275	2557
25	352	Luis Irisarri	DEVIAJE.COM	proto	N241411	W0173395	2557
27	209	Bertrand Lecharpentier	NEC HONFLEUR	serie	N234563	W0164215	2558
27	260	Richard Mérigeaux	BON PIED BON OEIL	proto	N244085	W0182308	2558
29	316	Pia L'Obry	EXPATRIA.FR	proto	N241660	W0173410	2559
30	381	Gonzalo Botin	DON VITO	serie	N235900	W0165878	2561
31	318	Yann Riou	THRANE & THRANE	serie	N235755	W0164898	2565
32	444	Isabelle Magois	EDEN PARK	proto	N235576	W0164398	2566
33	138	Eric Defert	AMIRAL DE BRETAGNE	proto	N243346	W0174598	2568
34	371	Juan Carlos Sanchis Mari	SPASMOS	serie	N241241	W0170728	2569
35	135	Stéphane Ayrault	WYETH	proto	N243363	W0174030	2571
36	36	Peter de Smedt	HUYSMAN	proto	N241321	W0170130	2572
37	258	Marc Gascons	TIP-TOP	proto	N244773	W0180425	2572
38	416	Daniel Schaffer	SENSIL	proto	N241688	W0170566	2573
39	326	Ian Munslow	ISHTAR	proto	N242040	W0171121	2574
40	330	Jean-Pierre Balmes	CECIM	serie	N242878	W0172548	2574
41	168	Fabrice Guillerm	RAULT LE SERVICE ALIMENTAIRE	serie	N235006	W0161536	2575
42	321	Jean-Baptiste Dejeanty	ARTECH - CAEN LA MER	proto	N242366	W0164108	2591
43	388	Yves Niort	DEMI-CLE SHIPCHANDLER	serie	N241900	W0162843	2593
44	373	Christophe Dary	SAGA MERCEDES BENZ	serie	N243600	W0165246	2596
45	345	Cécile Poujol	INFORMATIQUE ET STATISTIQUES	serie	N242993	W0162756	2603
46	175	Adam Seamans	SPIRIT OF AMERICA	serie	N245600	W0171413	2603
47	185	Thomas Valentin	THOMAS HAWK	proto	N250105	W0171073	2609
48	295	David Sautret	MIKALOU SAILING	serie	N250468	W0171448	2610
49	342	Alessandro Zamagna	ARKE	proto	N243918	W0162753	2610
50	29	Arthur Barret	UBAYE	proto	N250296	W0165716	2617
51	329	Laurent Jaunin	TERRE-ET-FAUNE.ORG	serie	N245568	W0164066	2618
52	262	Eric Schmitt	LA LIMULE	serie	N250281	W0164533	2622
53	56	James Bird	ATOMIC	proto	N251701	W0170911	2623
54	333	Arsène Ledertheil	LA CIGOGNE DE L'OCEAN	proto	N253508	W0173481	2627
55	360	Henri Gourmelon	TOBABOOTS	serie	N252553	W0164736	2640
56	34	Gustavo Pacheco	EPSILON	proto	N253640	W0170291	2642
57	89	Rémy Malburet	SOEUR MARIE THERESE DES BATIGNOLLES	serie	N253621	W0165538	2646
58	47	Bernard Morin	JOGGING INTERNATIONAL	serie	N253376	W0163371	2654
59	277	François-Jacques Jauffrineau	VENDEE PRISMA	proto	N251646	W0155136	2659
60	335	Barnabé Chivot	FTH THIRARD	proto	N254845	W0155490	2685
61	265	Frédéric Duthil	ALL MER	proto	N274688	W0154261	2791
61	340	Rémi Beauvais	SPI CALL CENTER	serie	N274686	W0154261	2791
63	273	Vincent Volk Leonovitch	GOUDURIX 2	serie	N273078	W0150286	2796
64	404	Francis Hueber	SHAITAN ENSIETA ECOLE D'INGENIEURS BRESTOISE	serie	N275665	W0151946	2810
65	102	Ghislain Gendron	VILLE DE BANDOL	proto	N280761	W0152548	2817
65	355	Jacques Valente	ACTION INNOCENCE	serie	N280761	W0152548	2817
67	304	Frédéric Duval	SOJASUN	proto	N285498	W0134226	2905
NC	121	David Lancry	MENSURA FROST	proto	-	-