Finish imminent

Manuard approaches Mini Transat finish, while they is a new leader in the series class

Barring a last minute disaster Sam Manuard looks set to cross the Salvador de Bahia finish line of this year's Mini Transat this evening in first place - not just for this leg but the race overall. This morning's position report showed that the Frenchman had just 87 miles left to go with second placed Armel Tripon some 58 miles astern.

Jonathan McKee arrived in Recife yesterday to reveal why he had to abandon the Mini Transat. On Friday night while McKee was asleep his V1 should failed causing the mast to break above the first spreader. He erected a jury rig but was only able to sail on one tack. His plan had been to make for Salvador if the wind direction co-operated but the winds instead heading. Aside from these problems McKee's jury rig would occasionally tumble over forcing him to re-erect it.

While all would seem to be decided in the proto class, this is far from the case in the series fleet. Since yesterday Mini veteran Michel Mirabel on Gwalarn IV has take over the lead from Manuel Castilla on 167 - Vision Originale and David Sineau 428 on France
Fermetures - a remarkable come back by the 53 year old.

Eric Defert on 138 - Amiral de Bretagne has made a stopover in Fernando do Naranho. where he was forced to stop to buy some oil for his generator. This he was able to buy from a Dutch tourist

Positions at 0700GMT

Pos	Sail no	Skipper	Boat	Class	Lat	Long	DTF
1	431	Samuel Manuard	TIP TOP TOO - LE GRAU DU ROI PORT CAMARGUE	proto	S120636	W0372971	87.3
2	151	Armel Tripon	MOULIN ROTY	proto	S112071	W0365261	145.4
3	240	Alex Pella	AQUATEC - SANTIVERI - TEXKNIT	proto	S104021	W0362421	194.2
4	347	Pierre Rolland	EXTRADO	proto	S102676	W0360753	215.1
5	260	Richard Mérigeaux	BON PIED BON OEIL	proto	S095510	W0352900	264
6	354	Bruno Garcia	SALADINO	proto	S092116	W0350840	302.8
7	353	Willy Garcia	CEYLAN DIAMANTES	proto	S091618	W0350756	307.1
8	312	Pascal Doin	ASNQ	proto	S090936	W0345163	322.6
9	303	Enrico Podesta	DIABOLO-SLAM	proto	S091633	W0342391	336.7
10	385	Jaume Mumbru	PORT DE BARCELONA	proto	S084928	W0343061	351.4
11	139	François Cuinet	REGLISSE	proto	S084705	W0343110	352.8
12	258	Marc Gascons	TIP-TOP	proto	S082393	W0344010	364.7
13	421	Michel Mirabel	GWALARN IV	serie	S083330	W0342113	369.6
14	247	Jonathan Mc Kee	TEAM MC LUBE	proto	S080478	W0345343	372.2
15	167	Manuel Castilla	VISION ORIGINALE	serie	S081366	W0343918	373.3
16	426	Erwan Tymen	POGO 2 NAVY LEST	serie	S082841	W0341931	374.5
17	428	David Sineau	FRANCE FERMETURES	serie	S075813	W0344138	384.5
18	318	Yann Riou	THRANE & THRANE	serie	S080643	W0341608	393.3
19	326	Ian Munslow	ISHTAR	proto	S075496	W0342765	395.1
20	440	David Raison	RAYON LIQUIDE	serie	S075641	W0342306	396.8
21	227	Donald Wright	RUSSE NOIR	proto	S074638	W0335143	424.3
22	330	Jean-Pierre Balmes	CECIM	serie	S072833	W0340113	432.3
23	393	Cian Mc Carthy	THE TOM CREAN	proto	S072133	W0340553	435.2
24	185	Thomas Valentin	THOMAS HAWK	proto	S072471	W0334371	445.8
25	352	Luis Irisarri	DEVIAJE.COM	proto	S074311	W0331421	451.4
26	322	Gilles Guillerm	BLUE BOSSA	serie	S071816	W0333621	455.6
27	282	Erwan Abalain	MARION NOEL CONSEILS	serie	S072823	W0332405	455.8
28	316	Pia L'Obry	EXPATRIA.FR	proto	S071213	W0332590	466.8
29	209	Bertrand Lecharpentier	NEC HONFLEUR	serie	S065480	W0334123	470.9
30	269	Lionel Rubio de Teran	GROUPE CIBF	serie	S064646	W0334725	474
31	346	Sébastien Roubinet	ADRENALINE	proto	S064763	W0334333	475.4
32	250	Brieuc Maisoneuve	PAYS GRANVILLAIS	serie	S064606	W0332788	485.9
33	345	Cécile Poujol	INFORMATIQUE ET STATISTIQUES	serie	S061831	W0331336	516.7
34	36	Peter de Smedt	HUYSMAN	proto	S062018	W0330921	517.7
35	245	Patrick Bot	FINIST'MER ECOLE NAVALE	serie	S060288	W0332621	521.7
36	175	Adam Seamans	SPIRIT OF AMERICA	serie	S064733	W0322025	528.7
37	295	David Sautret	MIKALOU SAILING	serie	S054860	W0330730	544.2
38	135	Stéphane Ayrault	WYETH	proto	S055275	W0324816	552.2
39	168	Fabrice Guillerm	RAULT LE SERVICE ALIMENTAIRE	serie	S053186	W0324946	568.2
40	381	Gonzalo Botin	DON VITO	serie	S054270	W0321125	583
41	329	Laurent Jaunin	TERRE-ET-FAUNE.ORG	serie	S055098	W0315976	584.1
42	388	Yves Niort	DEMI-CLE SHIPCHANDLER	serie	S051686	W0324136	585
43	321	Jean-Baptiste Dejeanty	ARTECH - CAEN LA MER	proto	S051498	W0324125	586.6
44	416	Daniel Schaffer	SENSIL	proto	S053173	W0320355	596.3
45	444	Isabelle Magois	EDEN PARK	proto	S051986	W0321791	596.6
46	340	Rémi Beauvais	SPI CALL CENTER	serie	S050353	W0321495	611.4
47	373	Christophe Dary	SAGA MERCEDES BENZ	serie	S045585	W0321206	619.3
48	333	Arsène Ledertheil	LA CIGOGNE DE L'OCEAN	proto	S043653	W0321886	630.9
49	34	Gustavo Pacheco	EPSILON	proto	S042920	W0314830	654.8
50	56	James Bird	ATOMIC	proto	S045713	W0304187	676
51	342	Alessandro Zamagna	ARKE	proto	S033186	W0315841	695.7
52	335	Barnabé Chivot	FTH THIRARD	proto	S033631	W0314193	701.3
53	29	Arthur Barret	UBAYE	proto	S044305	W0321847	719.4
54	89	Rémy Malburet	SOEUR MARIE THERESE DES BATIGNOLLES	serie	S022495	W0313608	764.3
55	371	Juan Carlos Sanchis Mari	SPASMOS	serie	S020493	W0312421	787.6
56	360	Henri Gourmelon	TOBABOOTS	serie	S023911	W0301846	809.3
57	277	François-Jacques Jauffrineau	VENDEE PRISMA	proto	S002231	W0314721	878.6
58	262	Eric Schmitt	LA LIMULE	serie	N000131	W0313983	903.2
59	47	Bernard Morin	JOGGING INTERNATIONAL	serie	N020642	W0292688	1065
60	109	Gaspard Franeau	AVOCATS SANS FRONTIERES	proto	N024073	W0271551	1164
61	355	Jacques Valente	ACTION INNOCENCE	serie	N062276	W0270321	1358
NC	121	David Lancry	MENSURA FROST	proto	-	-
NC	138	Eric Defert	AMIRAL DE BRETAGNE	proto	-	-