Les Sables - Les Açores - Les Sables, D-10 preview

by Classe Mini on 23 Jul 2010 Les Sables - Les Açores - Les Sables, D-10 event preview.

Saturday, July 24: from this date, all competitors must be moored at the dock in Les Sables d'Olonne. This is an opportunity for the family of Mini Sailors to meet together once again, to measure the competition, to find the warm welcome of the city of Les Sables d'Olonne and the CLub of Les Sports Nautiques Sablais.

Wednesday, July 28: prologue in the bay of Les Sables d'Olonne. The prologue is an opportunity to refine the settings, to calibrate his boat compared to others. It is also the opportunity to board a few guests, children sport schools, those who gave a helping hand in preparing the boat.

Sunday 1st August will be the big start to the island of Faial in the Azores. Ahead of the bow of solo sailors, more than 1 200 nm. As it is often the case in early August, the Azores anticyclone is recovered off the Bay of Biscay, the fleet may have to deal with moderate downwind. In this case, an arrival of the first boats in less than ten days is quite imaginable. But beware of calm that can delay maturity.

The measurement controls: navigating a sailboat alone on 6.50 m is not an easy task. And the development of the Classe Mini owes much to the special attention paid to the safety of skippers. Course qualification requirements, draconian list of safety equipment, control of the good functioning of equipment imposed, each boat is subject to a check-list validated by the measurers of the organization.

The preparation of the course: once gone, the competitors will not receive further information as provided by the race director via radio or VHF. It is therefore important to carefully prepare their navigation based on weather models in the few days before to departure. The laptops will run at full speed.

The appointment with the public: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., competitors have an appointment with the public before the City Council of Les Sables d'Olonne. Roundtables, championship carreers, meetings with architects, major sailors, it will be an opportunity to approach a little better the world of the Mini sailors. And to understand what makes the success of this class for now over thirty years.

Boissières Arnaud, who ran twice the Mini-Transat in 1999 and 2001 will be on his sixty feet boat Akena Verandas at the start of the race. Similarly Alessandro di Benedetto should cross the finish line in Les Sables d'Olonne Thursday, July 22 at 7:30, after the first round the world solo non-stop on a Mini 6.50, will sponsor the start of the race.

Finally, at the Azores, competitors will be welcomed by Yves Le Blévec, winner of the Mini-Transat in 2007, recent winner of the Vendee - St. Petersburg event reserved for 50-foot multihulls.

Race website in French click here