Simon Curwen

James Boyd profiles an unusual Mini-Transat competitor

Instead he bought Lemonchois’ boat for FF450,000 (roughly £42,000) and expects to sell her for somewhere in the region of £35,000. In total taking into account the money recouped from selling the boat Curwen believes he’s into the race for £50,000 including everything from refitting the boat, to buying new sails, having a trailer built, insurance, shipping, berthing, travelling to the qualification events in the Med and France to getting his family out to La Rochelle for the start, to the Lanzarote stopover and the finish in Brazil.

Following the spate of rescues during the first leg of the race two years ago, the French authorities came close to banning the Mini this year and so the qualification requirements have been made all the more stringent. Competitors had to complete a qualification passage of 1,000 miles, followed by 1,000 miles of class-sanctioned racing. Only once qualified could you get one of the 55 places available to do the Mini Transat itself, available on a first come first served basis. With more than 100 competitors registering their interest in wanting to take part in the event, qualifying for the Mini Transat became a race in itself.

Curwen took part in the Challenge Mini in La Rochelle in September last year finishing 14th. Then just prior to the start of The Race he came fifth in the Mini Barcelona (from Barcelona around Minorca and back). But most impressive was his performance in the Select 6.50 in May, running on a convoluted course from La Baule to the Ile de Yeu, around Belle Ile, then Iles de Groix before returning to La Baule. In this Curwen finished second in a fleet of 48 with only class favourite Ronan Guerin ahead of him.As a result he was one of the first to qualify and due to work constraints could not take additional time off to take part in the major Mini events this year such as Trans-Gascoigne (which his boat won two years ago) or the Mini Fastnet.

However this doesn’t seem to have mattered. After getting off to a blinding start, Curwen got up from sixth to fourth place. At the time of writing he looked like holding on to that position all the way to the finish of the race’s first leg into Porto Calero, Lanzarote