50 Minis towards the Azores

Another strong line-up for the first major Class 6.50 event of the season

Ten days remain before the start of the second edition of the Mini race Les Sables-Azores-Les Sables. In this race for the Mini, 50 solo sailors will set sail from the well known Vendee port towards the island of Faial in the Azores. The race will be the first outing for three new prototypes who will among the 20 strong Proto class and racing against the 30 Series Minis.

The course is 1,270 miles long to Faial, and the same again back. First competitors must brave the Bay of Biscay before they cross the continental shelf and head out into the Atlantic proper. Tactically the tricky part of the course is the approach to the Azores where typically the sailors may find themselves having to sail straight into the centre of the Azores high and the potential for prolonged calms. So there is the potential for heinous conditions at the start and zero wind at the finish, as proved to be the case when this race was first run two years ago. Typically it is a race where fliers, big detours to the north or south, can reap big dividends over the more direct route.

Among the Protos sees the return of Seb Magnen's famous 1997 and 1999 Mini Transat winner Karen Liquid, now called Kickers. In comparison the new generation Groupe Finot design that Isabelle Joschke raced in the last Mini Transat, winning leg one, is now called Faber France.

But all eyes in this race will be on the three new boats all being sailed by their own designers: Henry Paul Shipman works for Marc Lombard, designers of Actual, winner of the last Mini Transat; Etienne Bertrand returns to the ocean after a break of 15 years with a boat similar to that which Jean-Marie Vidal sailed in 2006 and finally, Pierre Rolland is sailing a prototype that he hopes in the future will become a Series boat to replace the Dingo.

In the Series class there will be the normal line-ups between the production Minis such as the Finot-designed Pogo 2, the Pierre Rolland-designed Dingo, the Lombard-designed Zero and the Manuard designed Tip Top. It should be remembered it is a series boat, a Pogo 2, which still holds the Mini 24 hour record, set on the return from the Azores - 259.4 miles at an average of 10.80 knots. Not bad for a 6.5m sail boat.

Among the 50 boats are competitors from eight nations, impressively with non-French sailors comprising a quarter of the fleet.

On the Wednesday prior to the start on Saturday 26 July, there will be a prologue race.
See the line-up here, including the sole Brit competitor Oliver Bond.