Mighty scow into the lead

As the Mini Transat fleet heads upwind across the Bay of Biscay

Following their 16 day delay leaving Douarnanez, the 79 remaining boats competing in the Mini Transat have been now told that in fact they are going to be stopping in northern Spain, in the port of Sada, next door to La Coruna. Read more about this here.

The 0700 sched is here

At present the boats are on the wind, on starboard tack crossing the Bay of Biscay with Giancarlo Pedote's Prysmian (formerly David Raison's 2011 race winning scow) having pulled into the lead of the Proto class, overhaulling pre-race favourite Gwénolé Gahinet on Watever/logways. He currently has 175 miles to go to reach Sito. According to the official race data Gahinet is now holding second place some 5.8 miles astern of the race leader, but we believe Nicolas Boidevezi on Nature Addicts is actually second in terms of distance to go to Sito, being furthest south of the race leaders.

Over the course of today the wind is forecast to build and back slightly and the boats will use this header to tack west (as at present they aren't laying Sada).

In the Series class, Ian Lipinski on Pas de futur sans numerique is leading, 1.3 miles ahead of Renaud Mary on www.runo.fr with Aymeric Belloir on Tout le monde chante contre le cancer holding third (having just tacked shortly before the latest sched). The lead Protos are about 18 miles further up the race course than the lead Series boats. 

Lone British competitor Pip Hare on The Potting Shed had a strong start but has since suffered and is currently in 38th place among the 49 boats still competing in the Series class.