Artemis Ocean Racing ‘young gun’ Mini Transat starter

by Artemis Ocean Racing Team on 12 Sep 2009 Artemis Ocean Racing ‘young gun’, Ollie Bond, takes to the water on Sunday (13th September) for the start of the Mini Transat race. The event which begins from the French port, La Rochelle takes the skippers across the Atlantic for a single handed dash on tiny 6.50 meter one design sports boats. Single handed skipper Sam Davies, also part of the Artemis Ocean Racing team, will be ‘godmother’ to the race as well as the official starter.

Bond, 29, from Bristol is among race favourites so British hopes are high for this year's event but with 84 entries it will be a tough field. He is the latest recruit of the Artemis Ocean Racing Team and is a serious contender for victory in the Production Boats category. Racing in the 6.50 meter monohulls across the Atlantic is not for the faint-hearted, but Ollie has been on the podium of every last major race in this amazing class. A skilled technician as well as a talented competitor, he has worked, amongst other things in Dee Caffari's Aviva campaign shore team preparing her boat for the 2008 Vendée Globe.

'Final preparations are underway,' he said, 'and I'm enjoying the atmosphere here in La Rochelle, it's a very friendly class and everyone is always ready to give you a hand or share a toolbox. I'm mainly concentrating on acquiring weather data before the start, since the rules are very restrictive on that front whilst racing. The same applies as far as communications are concerned, and it can get quite lonely but I can cope with that, and with the absolute lack of comfort as well (note: Minis are so small and cramped that standing up inside is not an option!). As a competitor, I'm more worried about making a fatal tactical mistake. I've had some time with my fellow Artemis Ocean Racing Team members, and I feel I'm ready to roll.'

All the greatest names in offshore racing competed in the Mini Class before going on to win major TransAtlantic races or capture victories around the globe, and if the Mini has always been dominated by the French, the most prominent British racers have taken part with convincing results: Ellen MacArthur, Brian Thompson, Sam Davies - skipper of the Artemis Ocean Racing IMOCA 60 for the Transat Jacques Vabre - but also Phil Sharp and Artemis Ocean Racing's Nick Bubb, currently competing on the Artemis Figaro in the Tour de Bretagne, to name just a few.

Created by Englishman Bob Salmon in 1977, the Mini Transat originally started from Penzance (Cornwall) and finished in Antigua after a stopover in Tenerife (Canary Islands). It gave birth to one of the most innovative and active class of ocean racers, and quickly became a major stepping-stone for aspiring professional skippers. Salmon's idea was to go back to ocean racing's 'Corinthian' roots, the financial excesses of the OSTAR (Observer Single-handed Trans-Atlantic Race) prevented most amateurs from entering never mind standing a chance of ending up on the podium. Taking a radical approach, Salmon decided to limit the boat length to 6.50 meters (21.3ft), which ensured that budgets would remain reasonable and, at the same time, gave the newborn category the ‘insane’ factor it is still famous for. If, on today's ocean racing scene, a class still embodies the original spirit of pioneering adventures, it has to be the Mini Transat!