Minis are Portsmouth bound

Jonathan McKee leads Mini Pavois singlehanded race

Protos

Pos	Skipper	Boat	Lat	Long	DTF
1	McKee Jonathan	Team Mc Lube	N463230	W0015781	434
2	Duval Frédéric	Sojasun	N463088	W0015598	436
3	Mumbru Jaume	Port de Barcelona	N462986	W0015426	438
4	Tripon Armel	Moulin Roty	N463033	W0015358	438
5	Tymen Erwan	Casimir	N462921	W0015376	438
6	Cornic Antoine	Groupe Affiches Parisiennes	N462901	W0015295	439
6	Doin Pascal	Night fever	N462832	W0015363	439
8	Mérigeaux Richard	Bon Pied bon œil	N462881	W0015261	439
9	Coquelet Pascal	Tobedoo	N462856	W0015276	439
10	Huusela Ari	Kysymysmerkki	N462828	W0015283	439
10	Munslow Ian	Ishtar	N462825	W0015295	439
12	Dixneuf Jérôme	Senninha	N462823	W0015275	439
13	Valentin Thomas	Thomas Hawk	N462828	W0015081	440
14	Currier Adam	Sabita	N462746	W0015083	441
15	Sudrie Erwann	Gwen Ha Du	N462761	W0015003	441
16	Mac Carthy Cian	The Tom Crean	N462731	W0014916	442
17	Blin Raoul	Ozone	N462693	W0014946	442
18	Wright Donald	Russe Noire	N462690	W0014926	442
19	Roux Frédéric	Pepito	N462661	W0014888	443
20	Gown David	Square Peg	N462268	W0014510	447
21	Defert Eric	Poch’trot	N460873	W0011006	475

Series

Pos	Skipper	Boat	Lat	Long	DTF
1	Raison David	Rayon Liquide	N463236	W0015761	434.2
2	Mirabel Michel	Gwalarn	N462886	W0015176	439.5
3	Rubio de Teran Lionel	Semelle de Vent	N462798	W0015051	440.8
4	Maisonneuve Brieuc	Manjola / SIM Interim Granville	N462773	W0015041	441
5	Lecharpentier Bertrand	Wake Up	N462755	W0014956	441.5
6	Guillerm Fabrice	Rault le Service Alimentaire	N462741	W0014926	441.8
7	Beauvais Rémi	Taquet Max	N462781	W0014858	441.9
8	Bourbonnais Benoit	Marine Equipement	N462750	W0014796	442.5
9	Guillevic Pierre-Yves	Indigo	N462731	W0014763	442.7
10	Croisel Bruno	Wigwam	N462653	W0014823	442.9
11	Poujol Cécile	Fifrelin	N462596	W0014761	443.6
12	Botin Gonzalo	Don Vito	N462576	W0014751	443.7
13	Lepere Thomas	Creac’h	N462580	W0014723	443.9
14	Rafflegeau Flore	Aleph III	N462561	W0014716	444
15	Vrignault Tiphaine	Mitsubishi pour Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque	N462578	W0014663	444.2
16	Volk-Leonovitch Vincent	Goudurix 2	N462551	W0014551	445
17	Hédont-Hartmann Stéfane	Priceminister.com	N462436	W0014401	446.5
18	Abalain Erwan	Nemrod	N462276	W0014035	449.5
NC	Lavagna Eric	Barracuda Blues	-	-

The Mini Pavois set sail from La Rochelle bound for Portsmouth today - the fleet divided as usual between 'Protos' - one-offs and 'Series' - production boats such as Pogos. After two major double handed races in the Mediterranean this is the first major singlehanded race of the season for the Minis and saw the boats heading out into 20 knot north westerlies to claw their way north towards Ouessant.

At 19.45 the race was being led by American double Olympic medallist Jonathan McKee, although it is likely following his performance in the two Mediterranean races recently that Armel Tripon on Moulin Roty will be moving into contention soon despite problems with his boom. Other notables in the fleet is Ian Munslow on on the Owen-Clarke designed Mini, Ishtar. Munslow siginificantly has qualified and has a spot in this September's Mini Transat. Lying in a rather lacklustre 18th place is Donald Wright aka Jaws, a Kiwi who has sailed many Whitbread miles with the late Sir Peter Blake and was part of the ENZA New Zealand Jules Verne crewin 1994.

The race starts off Fort Boyard and was lead away from the line by Mini veteran Michel Mirabel, who at 55 years old is oldest sailor in the race. At the bridge leading across to Ile de Re the leading trio were Erwan Tymen's Pogo 2, Mirabel's Gwarlarn IV and Antoine Cornic on Groups Parisian Posters. McKee at this stage was lying fifth.

The organisers anticipate the first arrivals into Portsmouth on Tuesday night, but Jonathan McKee told The Daily Sail that it was more likely to be Wednesday night.

Weatherwise the Minis look like they will be in for a lively time with 20 knot westerlies forecast. These look set to increase to more than 30 knots on Tuesday so these ocean going skiffs will be flying along the coast.

The course requires competitors to leave Ile de Re and Ile de'Yeu to port, the Sein buoy to starboard, Ouessant to starboard, before heading across the Channel and leaving the Eddystone to starboard, the Isle of Wight to port, the Nab Tower to and No Mans Land Fort to port and Horse Sand Fort to starboard.