To finish first...

British Mini sailor Phil Sharp recounts his progress in last weekend's Pornichet Select 6.50

There was both satisfaction and frustration in my first singlehanded race this year as I was forced to retire with halyard breakages after completing 250 miles of the 300-mile course - a bit of a blow and incredibly frustrating, since I was officially second at the time out of 70 boats and closing on the leader, Vecteur Plus, the eventual winner of what was definitely one of the most challenging races to date for me.

Race start day saw about 10 knots of wind and 70 boats tussling for the line. I managed to get a really good start and led the fleet the first 10 miles or so out of the bay and around the first mark. This was the prologue race in itself, so I came first in this despite not having a final result in the main race! Once out of the bay the wind then dropped to sub-5 knots and the lighter boats of the fleet started cruising past me.

2003 Transat winner 151 (ex- Moulin Roty) now named Servomap took the lead and waltzed off into the distance with its massive new sail area and low displacement working extremely well in the conditions. Much to my frustration I had about 15 boats in front of me before the breeze filled in and I could eventually get the hammer down again as we tacked up inside Belle Ile to pass around the top. I found a really good set-up and soon could see no masthead lights ahead of me, but had Lapins Bretagne, an identical Magnen design to 419, about 10m astern of me as we rounded the NE Belle Ile mark. I hoisted the running spinnaker towards the second mark, which was not lit and impossible to find in the dark. Lapins Bretagne saw it up to windward at the last minute and diverted around it but I ended up having to get the kite down again and tack back up, going backwards around the course against the current, losing about ten places while I did so!

We then headed south in light airs that night towards our next mark, Ile d’Yeu, and the wind steadily veered from behind until we were going upwind in a southerly that turned very thermal and variable the next day with clear skies and extremely hot weather. By the morning I had worked my back to about sixth, and by midday I had tacked past Bretagne Lapins and Vecteur Plus for an official second place, behind Servomap. I must add that racing unofficially in the race was Andraz Mihelin, one of the Slovinians with the Manuard boats, doing a great job tackling with Servomap for the lead, after coming right up from the back of the fleet that night!

After continuing upwind in sub 10 knots all day, we rounded Isle d’Yeu where promptly the wind died to nothing and the front of the fleet parked up waiting for the slightest of breezes. When it came it was a northwest breeze and I quickly hoisted my large runner but realised I should have been more patient. The wind suddenly increased to 25 knots and the boat planed into a death roll that I knew could only last a matter of seconds. I tried to keep my pants clean as the boat got hit by a 30 knot gust and we were over, masthead in the water. Fortunately I managed to dump halyards and retrieve it before it got shredded. I quickly got back on course, and prepared the boat for the fractional as I entertainingly watched a few good broaches occurring among the rest of the fleet. I went for the hoist, but just as the kite filled a 40 knot gust came through and WHAM! the boat broached instantly and I found myself dangling from guardrails once more. I decided for the time being to go with the rest of the fleet with just a double reefed main, and gybing off towards the coast of France as we headed down towards Bourgenay.

With all my incidents I had lost sight of the leading pack but soon hoisted a reaching spinnaker as the wind dropped a little and started making up ground that night. At 1am I rounded the mark off Port Bourgenay and was pleased to see Servomap just ahead of me. It was a beat back up towards Isle d’Yeu in 15 knots to begin with and I got the boat rocketing upwind once more until no masthead lights were in front of me. I decided to reward myself with my first bit of sleep for the race, and grabbed a much needed 20 minutes. I could have done with 10 hours but knew that would have to wait for the finish.

I woke up with Servomap a few metres from my stern, since the wind had now died to sub-5 knots, and we exchanged places a few times before the wind picked up from the west and I soon hoisted a gennaker and left him behind. I thought I could now be leading, but come morning I could see Vecteur Plus and Andraz on Adria a little way in front, both guys in powerful reaching boats. I steadily managed to gain on them until all the problems started...

First the tack on the gennaker parted and I had to retrieve it and rehoist it from the deck. 10 minutes after doing so I heard another bang and we lost all luff tension in the gennaker. Damn - the cover had ripped in the jammer on the fractional halyard. I took the masthead halyard out to try and reroute the halyard but this still couldn’t give me enough tension, and I was forced to cut the halyard to stop the gennaker flogging itself to death. Meanwhile the insufficient knot on the masthead halyard had worked itself free and was pulled right up through the mast, so I was now left with only a jib halyard! For the time being, sailing with a jib was sufficient since the wind picked up to over 25 knots and was good enough for close reaching up to Belle Ile. I managed to pull away slightly from the third place boat behind me, but after a couple of hours the wind backed and reduced so I realised I had to fly the gennaker from the jib halyard in order to keep position. As I approached the southwest corner of Belle Ile I couldn’t believe my bad fortune as the jib halyard cover ripped in the jammer and I lost all tension once more. I tried rerouting the halyard but the sail started flogging and ripping badly, so I had to cut it down. I realised I had serious problems since I now couldn’t fly any foresails at all, just a mainsail!

I decided my only option was to climb the mast and rethread a halyard through the masthead sheave, which I could fly any sail with. This meant getting to the top of the mast in a very lively sea, without any ropes to pull myself up with since I had no halyards left in the mast to pull from! I ended up having to change into my trainers and put dry socks over my hands to try and get enough grip to start progressing up the rig. I got to the first spreader but a wave promptly threw me off and I fell all the way down to the deck. Fortunately I landed on my feet without injury and not in the water!!! I quickly realised I was not doing that again and the chances of me making it to the top of the rig were remote. There was no shelter on west Belle Ile for me to rethread halyards so retirement was my only option. I could have sailed upwind to Ile to Groix with just a main and lost about 30 positions but there was simply no point, so I headed for home.
Aloys Claquin was the eventual winner in Vecteur Plus, who did not necessarily show ultimate pace, but had kept it tidy and suffered little or no reliability issues during the race. The Pornichet Select 650 again proved itself a real test on boats and skippers, with 18 retirements in the unsettled Biscay weather, including Servomap.

Although very disappointed to retire from the race it was a real proving ground for myself and GBR 419 and it was really satisfying to be right up there at the front the whole race, which was full of hot French competition. I know we have what it takes for a top result, and I look forward to the Mini Pavois race next weekend, a 500 mile single-handed race from La Rochelle, around Biscay and back to La Rochelle, where hopefully I can finish max points!

Results:

Pos	Skipper -sail no - boat - type
1	Aloys CLAQUIN - 265 - VECTEUR PLUS - proto	01:09:00
2	Peter LAUREYSSENS - BEL 438 - BASECAMP - series : pogo 2	01:36:00
3	Tanguy de LAMOTTE - n°424 - SET Environnement - proto	01:37:00
4	Pascal SIMON - 428 - HOUBA HOP - series : pogo 2	01:41:00
5	Isabelle JOSCHKE - n°276 - PAROLE - proto	02:02:00
6	Olivier AVRAM - 480 - CAP MONDE - series : pogo 2	02:50:00
7	David LANCRY - n°454 - AREAS Asssurances - proto	02:53:00
8	David SINEAU - 348 - BRETAGNE LAPINS - proto	02:58:00
9	Stéphane LE DIRAISON - 539 - KALONIG 2 - series : pogo 2	03:00:00
10	Emmanuel NISIN - 525 - BARONG - series : pogo 2	03:19:00
11	Antoine DEBLED - 455 - PETIT AUGUSTE ET CIE - series : pogo 2	03:23:00
12	Yvan NOBLET - n°391 - APPART CITY - proto	03:35:00
13	Sébastien MESURE - 483 - CULTISOL / MARINS SANS FRONTIERES - series : pogo 2	03:36:00
14	Sylvain PONTU - 516 - UNE PLACE POUR TOUS - series : pogo 2	04:32:00
15	Mathieu KESSLER - 442 - TANXAGLISS - series : pogo 2	04:33:00
16	Fabrice SORIN - 518 - JULES - series : pogo 2	04:36:00
17	Sebastien GLADU - n°427 - BIRVIDIK - proto	04:46:00
18	Bruno CROISEL - 488 - PULCO - series	05:28:00
19	Eric BOURRIE - 340 - TAQUET MAX - series : pogo 1	05:48:00
20	Ronan DESHAYES - 368 - PCO TECHNOLOGIE - series : Super Calin	05:58:00
21	Raoul BLIN - n°160 - OZONE - proto	06:03:00
22	Thomas BONNIER - 485 - ARCHITECTURE ELEMENTAIRE - series : pogo 2	06:04:00
23	Jean Claude GUILLONNEAU - 473 - ZERLINE - series	06:27:00
24	Eric VAUTRIN - 505 - NOIX DE POGO - series : pogo 2	06:28:00
25	Davy BEAUDART - 235 - NEW DREAM - series : pogo 1	06:52:00
26	Nicolas GRIMAULT - 186 - KATAPOLA - series	06:53:00
27	Fabien BAETZ - 463 - BLUE GIN - series  : Ginto	08:00:00
28	Mathieu SANNIE - 487 - LIGUE DE PROTECTION DES ANIMAUX - series : pogo 2	08:16:00
29	Louis DUC - n°306  - BILLIE MARINE - series	09:19:00
30	Eric BAUWENS - 486 - RETINA France - series : pogo 2	10:58:00
31	Marine CHOMBART DE LAUWE - 481 - DCF - series : pogo 2	12:02:00
32	Bertrand DUBUCQ - 527 - AIR LINAIR - series : pogo 2	12:23:00
33	David LEFEBVRE - 507 - KNAUF - Vendée Espoir Océans - series : pogo 2	13:08:00
34	Vincent BARNAUD - 472 - MASOCO BAY - series : pogo 2	13:38:00
35	Michel GOYAT - 318 - BLEIZIG - series : pogo 1	14:07:00
36	Patrice FISSEUX - n°75 - BELLOT MULLENBACH & Associés - proto	15:12:00
37	Jean baptiste DARAMY - n°229 - AGENCE REPERES - proto	15:36:00
	Jacques Arnaud SEYRIG - 364 - BOIS CARRE - series : pogo 1	15h à Groix
	Andraz MIHELIN - 510 - ADRIA MOBIL - proto c hors course	01:37
	Abandoned
	Erwan LOHEZIC - n°291 - PRO FERMETURES - proto
	Pierrick LAINE - n°339 - ADOC-SOLUTIONS - proto
	Pierres yves LAUTROU - 543 - NAUTILUS Magazine - series : pogo 2  c  broken mainsail
	-  Ronan TROLEZ - 477 - SPONSOR WANTED - series : pogo 2  c  broken spinnaker furler
	-  Gael BERTRAND - 388 - BAG'AVEL - series : pogo 1
	-  Yann RIOU - n°347 - CAMELEON - proto  c  dismasted
	-  Bertrand IMOBERSTEQ - SUI 329 - RETROUVAILLES - series : Super Calin
	-  Gildas DU CLEUZIOU - 373 - YELLOW SUBMARINE - series : pogo 1
	-  Jean Christophe COURTEL - 495 - ATR communication graphique - series  : mistral 6,50  c  Collision at start
	-  Adrien HARDY - n°198 - KAREN LIQUID - proto  c  broken daggerboard
	-  Corentin DOUGUET - n°433 - E.LECLERC - proto  c
	-  Jean Philippe LEGRAND - 460 - BILLIT 2 - series
	-  Kristian HAJNSEK - 509 - ADRIA MOBIL - proto  c  broken pilot
	-  Damien BOSSEY - 517 - BOSSA NOVA - series : Dingo
	-  Cédric MALENGREAU - 380 - YAPLUKA - series : pogo 1
	-  Didier LE VOURCH n°151 - SERVOMAP - proto   c  broken pilot
	-  Phil SHARP - n°GBR 419 - LE GALLAIS - proto c
	-  Xavier BLUY - n°78 - SMETS - proto  c lost keel