Superb win for Isabelle Joschke

Female Mini sailor victorious in singlehanded Mini Pavois

The fourth edition of Mini Pavois, the first single-handed race this season for the French Classe Mini has been won by Isabelle Joschke sailing her new Finot-Conq designed Mini Desgremont Synergie, in a time of 3 days 23 hours and 19 minutes ahead of another Finot-Conq design, Peter Laureyssens, Ecover.

The race started from La Rochelle last Wednesday on a 550 mile long route taking the 64 starters to Gijon in north Spain, Ile de Yeu and back to La Rochelle.

"This is my first real victory," said Joschke on her arrival. "I was up with Sam (Manuard) off Gijon, that spurred me on and then...nothing more! I was really astonished to be the first off Ile de Yeu. I really did not sleep much, not more than 5 to 10 minutes at a stretch. It was really necessary to be on deck.

"There was breeze on the first part of race - it was really brilliant, but very testing at the same time! When I arrived at Gijon, I had not slept. We had up to 35 knots of wind on the way there and one time I was under mainsail alone for two hours through fear of breaking something. And Gijon, when I saw Sam with me, I wondered what was going on… After that I said to myself: I'm qualifying, I shouldn't push too hard, but I found that hard when racing. My boat is excellent, I did not break anything significant, apart from a few small things."

Synergie Degrémont is sistership to Ecover, built with by top Mini builders AMCO, the third boat to come from these moulds. She was launched on 24 February 24 , third boat left the same mould.

Over the course of the race 11 competitors retired:

- Fabrice Lucas on Hakuna Matata
- Sébastien Stephan on Desphemerides
- Marie Christine de Brugière on Lady Jim
- Yann Riou on Caméléon
- Arezki Boudaoud on Domaine des Thomeaux
- Oliver Bond on Base Camp
- Erwan Dubois on Guyader Esprit de la mer
- Sébastien Marsset on Marée Haute
- Thomas Valentin on Samba
- Yves Le Blevec on Actual Interim
- Lucas Schroder on T-Mobile One

Joschke had already pulled out a considerable lead by the time the boats rounded Ile de Yeux last night.

Rounding times at Ile d’Yeu

1. 667 – Isabelle Joschke on Degremont Synergie (proto) / 18h03 le samedi 28 avril
2. 618 – Peter Laureyssens on Ecover / 21h32
3. 679 - Samuel Manuard on Sitting Bull (proto) / 21h45
4. 454 – François Salabert on Areas Assurances / 21h59
5. 621 – Erwan Le Roux on Dephemerid Trois / 00h40 le dimanche 29 avril
6. 551 - Raoul Cospen on Dalet Digital Media System / 1h23
7. 614 – Franck Colin on Quiétude Promotion - Super U de Magne / 1h37
8. 552 – Sébastien Rogues on Kaïros (1er Série) / 1h39
9. 488 – Nicolas Bunoust on Je relève le défi pour la terre / 2h15
10. 543 – Pierre-Yves Lautrou on Altaïde Moovement / 3h20
11. 247 – Thomas Ruyant on Région Nord Pas de Calais – Faber France / 3h25
12. 607 – Francisco Lobato on BPI / 3h30
13. 575 – Clayton Burkhalter on Acadia / 3h59
14. 485 – Thomas Bonnier on Architectures Elémentaires / 6h40

Arrivals in La Rochelle:

1. 667 – Isabelle Joschke on Degremont Synergie (proto) / 11h47 Sunday 29 April
2. 618 – Peter Laureyssens on Ecover (proto) / 16h33
3. 454 – François Salabert on Areas Assurances (proto) / 16h38
4. 679 - Samuel Manuard on Sitting Bull (proto) / 16h58
5. 621 – Erwan Le Roux on Dephemerid Trois (proto) / 17h09