From Mini to IMOCA 60 via the Class 40

One of the favourites in the race, German Jorg Riechers tells us of his solo offshore campaigns

17 nations taking part in the Charente Maritime Bahia Transat 6.50 (Mini Transat) is a great indicator of the take-up of singlehanded offshore racing around the world, with competitors from as far afield as China, Australia, Canada and USA.

Leading the charge for Germany is Jörg Riechers, sailing his second Mini Transat after his 2009 race was unfortunately cut short. As the 43 year old from Hamburg explains: “I had to pull out at La Coruna after three days when I broke the keelbox and my boat was full of water. The electronics were underwater. I think I hit something soft which angled the keel and because there were no safety strops on the keel, the keel broke the side of the keelbox...” Riechers' 2011 attempt on the Transat nearly came acropper when he was T-boned any another competitor shortly before the start. However he carried on regardless and last week Riechers was leading the Proto fleet and this morning is back into second place, although in reality he is probably third (as the transponder on one of the boats has stopped working).

Thank heaven for duct tape

Riechers comes from a sailing family. His father campaigned Half Tonners and after sailing this, aged 18, Jörg moved into the Laser which he campaigned for many years, particularly at Kieler Woche, on the Eurocup circuit and at Travemunde Week, which he won in 1991. In 1993 he crewed for David Bedford at the J/24 Europeans, where they finished second. In 1998 he sailed with Terry Hutchinson in the J/24, the same year that the Artemis Racing skipper won the World Championship.

Riechers’ move into solo offshore racing came in 2005 when he competed in the Figaro class’ Generali Solo in the Mediterranean. His campaign was helped in 2007 when he met Nikolaus Gelpke, founder of the German nautical publishing empire, mare – Die Zeitschrift der Meere (journal of the seas). Gelpke studied marine biology and international maritime law and remains a committed marine conservationist as President of the Ocean Science and Research Foundation and Vice President of the International Ocean Institute. Mare is the equivalent of Thalassa in France, as in addition to their website (mare.de) they produce a bi-weekly television program about the sea as well as books, the aim being that their output appeals to the broadest audience.

“For Nicolas Gelpke, my sponsor, it is a personal thing because he is a very dedicated sailor and at one time he wanted to do the BOC Challenge, but then the rules were changed and he couldn’t do it,” says Riechers. “Now he has decided to sponsor me to realise his dream.”

Riechers persuaded Gelpke to fund the building of a new Classe 6.50 (the first Proto Mini ever built for a German competitor) and so the mare.de Proto (no. 753) was born to a design by Etienne Bertrand. Bertrand follows a long tradition of designers in the Classe 6.50 such as Seb Magnen and Sam Manuard in being a designer/sailor. Bertrand has been designing Minis since 1999 and he is competing in the present race aboard a 2011 iteration of his latest Proto design called Chasseur de Primes (lying in fourth place this morning).

So is there much difference between the 2011 Bertrand design and Riechers' mare.de Mini launched in 2009? “Compared to mine, the new Bertrand design has more volume in the front and it is straighter than the newer Manuard design of Thomas Normand, but I think there is not much different between this boat and the new boat, because I think it [Proto design] has been pretty stable for four years,” Riechers told us.

The design challenge with the new mare.de was to improve dynamic stability, thus she has the now ubiquitous chine in the hull, so she is strong power reaching. Like all modern Protos she has a canting keel that can be cranked up to weather by 40°. Weight during the build was kept to a minimum to improve light weather performance, the boat coming out at 730-740kg. She features a minimalist two spreader fixed mast, that, with rigging, weighs just 26kg.

Like the other Bertrand designs, mare.de features a curved vang track and a fixed point mainsheet (ie without a traveller). The reason for this, Riechers explains, is: “I get more control over the leech of the mainsail so I think that is the major system for trimming the mainsail. It is better than having the traveller at the back and downwind you have put more tension on the mainsail and you don’t have to rig a purchase to get the boom down. So I think it is better.

“I think the secret of the boat is that is a good all-round boat. It is nothing special, but it doesn’t have any weak points. The only point where the Manuard designs are superior is heavy air downwind and that is the point where I have to fear Bertrand Delesne the most.” Not much worry about that on this predominantly upwind first leg... “The first leg is about making no mistakes and don’t take too many risks,” advised Riechers us before the start. “It is a leg where you can easily lose the Transat and maybe also win it, because there will be some big differences in the times.”

Mare.de was built by Bertrand and Riechers and the German skipper describes it as a ‘garage build’ ie she was built in carbon with a foam core, using a wet lay-up. As a result the cost worked out at around 100,000 Euros, whereas a professional boat yard would charge around 150,000 Euro for a new Proto. Riechers reckons that on top of this there are running costs of around 60,000-70,000 Euros per year including one shore crew and a suit of new sails each year.

Riechers entered this Mini Transat as one of the favourites. Immediately prior to his unsuccessful 2009 race he won the breezy Transgascogne. The following year he won the Mini-Pavois from La Rochelle to Gijón and back and also won the 2,500 mile first leg of the Les Sables Azores d'Olonne to Horta and back race in which he finished second overall. In 2010 he ended up first overall in the annual standings in the Proto class. His aim with the Mini Transat is to break the French domination of the Mini class and become the first non-French winner of the event since 1977.

Riechers’ mare.de campaign is not limited to the Mini. The team also runs a Class 40, the Owen-Clarke designed former Cinnamon Girl originally built in the UK for Irish ex-Mini sailor Cian McCarthy. Last year Riechers sailed this to sixth place in the Route du Rhum, the best ever result for a German in the classic French solo transatlantic race.

“I think in my eyes in the world of singlehanded offshore sailing there are three big races: the Mini Transat, the Route du Rhum and the Vendee Globe,” he says. “And usually the Transat Anglais but, that is over unfortunately for the moment... It is a bit of a shame isn’t it?” Yes, indeed it is (the Transat has been cancelled for next year).

This year Riechers competed in the Class 40's Les Sables-Horta-Les Sables race with Team Work skipper Etienne David, finishing fourth overall.

After the Mini, Riechers says that he plans to compete in the Route du Rhum once again in 2014 in the Class 40, but long term he hopes to be on the start line for the Vendee Globe in 2016. Obviously an IMOCA 60 campaign is substantially higher cost than a Mini or a Class 40 and Riechers says that for this to go ahead they are currently looking for a partner. So in fact if Boris Herrmann’s plans come together there could be two German IMOCA 60s on the start line of that race.