View online version Mini Transat 2013 Press Release Douarnenez, 11 October 2013 Mini-Transat 2013 Start postponed Armed with patience The Mini Transat is waiting for a weather window A complex situation on the Atlantic The fleet parades on Sunday There is a complex weather situation in the near Atlantic. Fall has arrived suddenly and seems to be taking up residence in the Bay of Biscay. For sailors and organisers alike the catch phrase is the same: “Hurry up and wait.” However, the village continues to live to the rhythm of the race and events planned in case of a stand-by will be put into action next week. On Saturday Guadeloupe will be the guest of honor in the village. Highlights will include: a visit to the village by a delegation from Guadeloupe, the baptism of François Lamy’s boat (566), the only skipper to sail under the colors of the island, in the presence of Laura Flessel double Olympic fencing champion and a native of Pointe-à-Pitre, a media briefing by Jacques Bangou, Mayor of Pointe-à-Pitre, and a welcome to the destination for Mini Transat competitors past and present. The day will bring the spicy colors of Guadeloupe to the race village of Port Rhu. First difficult days On board, the competitors go about the final preparations. The pressure has dropped and now many of them are wondering when the next weather window will open. Most, however, are not under any illusions about the conditions they may encounter between Douarnenez and Cape Finisterre. Regardless, even if the wind conditions are manageable, the residual sea will be rough and crossing the Bay of Biscay will certainly not be a walk in the park. In the short term, there does not seem to be any real weather window. However, the organisation will provide a daily news briefing to the competitors. If an opportunity presents itself, we must be responsive enough to seize it. Killing time For the sailors, the biggest challenge is now to adapt to this new situation. They have been mentally prepared for months to be ready for the October 13 and these few days of delay can quickly turn into an obsession pending a good start. It’s about finding the right balance between a necessary detachment from the race and the need to stay mentally positive and in competition mode. Until Sunday, the sailors will spend most of their time with their partners, friends and family. On Sunday, competitors may choose to participate in a parade of sail on the course of the prologue. After that it will become tenser. Some have already planned physical activities, substituting jogging, windsurfing or surfing for yachting. Others who live close to Douarnenez are taking advantage of the opportunity to spend some time at home. But there is no ideal solution. The art of compromise is also needed ashore. What they said: Renaud Mary (www.runo.fr) : “This is a bizarre situation. At the time, the decision of the Race Director is completely legitimate and I think nobody wanted to be in 35-40 knots of wind at Cape Finisterre. But at the same time, it is a bit frustrating to sit here and wait. Maybe I’ll go home for a bit during the week … I am fortunate to live not too far from Douarnenez.” Aymeric Belloir (Tout le Monde chante contre le Cancer) : “It is not necessarily an easy situation, but it was the only sensible decision. We’re just waiting to find out when we can leave. Nothing is obvious.” Julien sprayer (MEXT – ICA ): “It is better to stay here than go risking any breakages at Cape Finisterre . I was a little behind in my preparation, so it will allow me to continue to tinker on my boat. I could have gone if I’d had to, but I’ll use this time to improve some things and implement a communication plan with my new partners who only joined me the day before yesterday.” Saturday, October 12 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. : Village open to the public 10:00 to 11:00 : Visit to the village by the Delegation of Guadeloupe – Village / Partners , journalists 11:00 to 11:30 : Baptism of the Mini 6.50 of François Lamy (No. 566 – Guadeloupe ) in the presence of godmother Laura Flessel – Pontoons / Partners journalists 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. : Culinary Workshop – Espace CCI / General public 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. : Brittany Games – Tente Conseil Général / General Public 11:30 a.m. to 12:00 : Baptism of the Mini 650 of Raphaëlla Le Gouvello (No. 473 – Respectocean.com ) in the presence of Gilles Boeuf, president of the National Museum of Natural History – Pontoons / Partners, journalists 12:00 to 12:30 : Press briefing Jacques Bangou, Mayor of Point -a-Pitre – Yacht Club Longueteau / journalists 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. : Free Introduction to paddle – Cale de l’enfer/ General Public 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. : Presentation of 10 skippers – Espace CCI / General Public 5:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. : Baptism of the Mini 650 of Gwénolé Gahinet (No. 800 – Delcroix Logways ) in the presence of godfather Marc Guillemot – Pontoons / Partners journalists 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. : Maritime Film “L’extraordinaire tournée du facteur Maignan” by Patrick Soulabaille – Auditorium / General Public 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. : Skippers briefing – Auditorium / Skippers , journalists 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. : Live broadcast France Bleu Breizh Izel – Espace CCI / General public 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. : Reception hosted by Guadeloupe and the Mini Class – Espace coureurs / Skippers , partners, journalists Sunday, October 13 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. : Village open to the public 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. : Culinary Workshop – Espace CCI / General public 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 : Introduction to Seamanship – Tente du Conseil Général / General public 10:30 to 12:00 : Exit of boats from Port- Rhu – Port- Rhu / General Public 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. : Mini 6.50 Parade of Sail off Douarnenez – Visible from the port of Rosmeur . 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. : Free Introduction to paddle – Cale de l’enfer/ General Public

View online version Mini Transat 2013 Press Release Douarnenez, 10 October 2013 Mini-Transat 2013 Leaving Douarnenez On Octobre 13, 2013 The start of the Mini Transat is postponed The Mini Transat will not start on Sunday The sailors’ safety is paramount Waiting for a weather window A deep depression that sits off the Bay of Biscay could, if the start went ahead on Sunday, hit the fleet in the worst place, to the north of Cape Finisterre. To allow the soloists to reach Lanzarote in acceptable conditions, the Race Director has consulted the competitors and made ​​his decision : the start is delayed waiting for a favorable weather window . Some decisions are not easy to take. While Douarnenez is still in glorious sunshine, the threat is very real as a depression is currently centered in the Atlantic, level with the Azores, which is expected to generate strong winds and seas of more than 4 meters height during the day on Tuesday, ie precisely when the fleet will prepare to round Cape Finisterre . Monday or Thursday The challenge will now be to find a favorable weather window to send 84 singlehanders into the Bay of Biscay. Because, from the moment the decision to postpone is taken, there must be guaranteed safe conditions. An opening could come during the day on Monday, but the situation remains highly uncertain. Otherwise, there is a good chance that the fleet will have to be patient until at least until next Thursday. Given this situation, the Race Director made a proposal to start tomorrow, Friday, at 18:00. Such a decision would only be made with the unanimous agreement of all the competitors. But some did not feel ready and the proposal was immediately abandoned. They said : Denis Hughes, Race Director : “We have 84 solo sailors that we will send out on the water. There is no question of sending them in weather conditions that would not be acceptable. We had planned to bring forward the start, but in view of the preparation of some, this was not reasonable. ” Bertrand Nardin , President of Douarnenez Races : “We are working to try to provide a regatta course in Douarnenez Bay on Sunday. The idea is to offer an alternative to the partners and families of the competitors who had planned to be present on the day of the start … ” Program Friday, October 11, 2013 in Mini Transat Race Village, Douarnenez 10.00 to 19.00 : Village open to the public 10:30 : Conference Eurolarge ” Mini Class : An Offshore Laboratory ” – Auditorium / General Public 11.00 to 12.00 : Culinary Workshop – Espace CCI / General Public 11.00 to 12.00 : Meeting with Katrina Ham – partner stand of Katrina Ham / Partners , journalists 14.30 to 15.30 : Presentation of 10 skippers – Espace CCI / General Public 15.00 to 17.30 : Workshop, demonstration and tasting around ” seaweeds ” – Espace CCI / General Public 18.00 to 19.00 : Maritime Film “L’homme de la route du Rhum” by Karel Prokop – Auditorium / General Public 18.00 to 18.30 : Live broadcast by France Bleu Breizh Izel – Espace CCI / General Public 18.30 to 21.30 : An evening reception hosted by CCI Quimper Cornouaille et CCI Guadeloupe – Race Village / Skippers , partners, journalists 21.00 : Party – Bar à Tribord/ General Public The 84 boats of the Mini Transat 2013 in Douarnenez The Mini 650 in Port-Rhu.

With only 3 days left there is not much time to make final preparations to the RG650 Mini number 816 before the start of the 2013 Mini Transat Race. Almost all the gear is now off the boat, and for the past few days the living room in our house has looked like a preppers rats nest, with sails, clothes, bags, rope, charts, water jerry cans, flash lights, batteries, safety equipment, food bags and tools stacked in neat piles. As the waterproof bags get packed, and every item gets checked off the list, and the bags labled we begin to see the carpet again and I know I am getting close to being 100% prepared.

All measurement and checkoffs are nearly complete, bar the near disaster of not having an AIS system onboard. The AIS was found to have a fault where it would only operate in low power mode, which means no transmission of my position to other vessels. Unfortunatly there is no time to get a new PCB card for the unit so I have no option but to buy a new one. Even the new unit was hard to source, and I was lucky to manage to organise to receive it before the start of the race (fingers crossed).

Brett Perry has done a fantastic job re-rigging the boat and we have done a close inspection of all possible chafe areas and covered them with some high quality cover supplied by Brett, Alpha Ropes, and Todd from Doyle Rigging Palma. Thanks to all who have contributed to the endless supply of rope and rigging for the boat over the past few months, and a special thanks to Harken who have replaced all the deck hardware on the boat.

Sails have been taken to the loft and on the advice of previous Mini Transat veterans have had reinforcements made to the batten ends, and any signs of possible chafe have been covered to ensure that the rigging does not wear throughout the sail. New stickers have also been put on the boat including a picture that was given to me from a local school. Today we were also applying Glowfast tape to the mainsail and solent, but we were rudely interrupted in our task when our 100 euro roll of tape mysteriously disappeared from the loft floor! Really!!!!

Accurate weather information is the key to this race, and while the race committee do a daily weather sked, most of it is in french and transmitted at low power. My father John Hewson has come up with an excellent solution by placing a good aerial on the back of the boat and amplifying the SSB signal with a box that he has designed. This fantastic piece of brilliance in a box will enable me to get a clear forecast from the UK Met and NOAA in the USA in a format that I understand and which will enable me to map out the weather systems across the pacific multiple times a day. In turn this will enable me to create some accurate weather routing – the old fashion way with slide rulers and maths as we are not allowed any computers or electronic navigation aids during the race. My father has also designed a special “Wake Up!” box that uses a timing system to ensure I do not fall to sleep for more than 90minutes at a time. The timer can be set at increments of 10 minutes so I can set it prior to resting to make sure I don’t sleep for too long and miss a wind shift or the opportunity to keep a regular lookout for shipping and other yachts. The alarm is special because it has three levels of “wake up” noise starting from a low level beep, to a full scale siren. I don’t think I will be sleeping through that one!

Of course prior to the race I will use all the modern technologies available and compare polars from a range of programs. A special thanks to Richard Dobbs who I will be navigating for in the Sydney to Hobart and who has leant me his program to run some very special software that is a vital part of pre race tactical and navigation planning.

As some wise yachtsmen have told me, the key to this race is sleep and nutrition. Sleep deprivation training is going well, as I am currently sitting up typing this blog at 2am trying to tire myself to sleep. Nutrition is a vital part of this race and I am lucky enough to have my sister Amanda Hewson from Palma Health here to fatten me up before the big race and also prepare my daily food bags for the race.

The designer of the boat Nico and the boat builder have also come to the party, and have been helping with a few items on the boat plus installing my new buoyancy to ensure the RG is identical to all other RG650 series boats

One this is for sure, the boat is looking and performing fast and RG650 team are looking flash walking the docks in our team uniform. A good looking boat is always a fast boat, and the RG650 is a rocket ship!

Check out www.hewsonracing.com and click on the RSS feed to receive my blogs and pleas or check and become a friend of my hewsonracing Facebook page

Thankyou to: http://www.profurl.com, http://www.harken.com, http://www.yachtmoving.es, http://www.equipyacht.com, http://www.zhik.com, http://www.rg650europe.com, http://www.boatbooks-aust.com.au All donations and sponsorship greeatly appreciated.

RG650 Mini 816 is in the final stages of preparations. Over the last few days the boat and my equipment has been checked thoroughly by Class Mini to ensure everything is in order prior to the Mini Transat

On Saturday 200 euro worth of pharmacy and medical equipment went into my new medical kit and was inspected by the class doctor. The doctor was fantastic in helping me decipher the french and write on each item what it is to be used for incase of any sickness.

For the Mini Transat you have a choice of seven sails, and each one is measured and stamped. AUS 816 RG650 sails are designed by Nathan Quirk who designed the sail for the Volvo 70 Groupama. The new sails are designed smaller than my previous sails and are quite different in design to most other mini sails. Once again RG650 is in the forefront of technology and the results speak for themselves, with my last race result 12th out of a fleet of 84 boats.

Today we continue with preparations on the boat, and at midday I will undergo my full safety check and the final inspection of the boat by Class Mini to ensure that I conform to the many requirements.

Check out www.hewsonracing.com and click on the RSS feed to receive my blogs and pleas or check and become a friend of my hewsonracing Facebook page

Thankyou to: http://www.profurl.com, http://www.harken.com, http://www.yachtmoving.es, http://www.equipyacht.com, http://www.zhik.com, http://www.rg650europe.com, http://www.boatbooks-aust.com.au All donations and sponsorship greeatly appreciated.

Another big day at the boat getting ready before the Mini Transat. Inspectors are going around each boat to ensure safety standards are met at a high standard, medical kits are in order, and all radio communications correspond with paperwork and transmit at a high level.

This morning we had a big search and rescue briefing. The briefing was in French, so very hard to understand, Annabelle from Class Mini did a great job helping to translate the briefing. The briefing was to a very high military standard, and the birdies did a great job at conveying what we need to know when we get into danger and have to set off our EPIRB or Mayday… lets hope this situation never happens!

The afternoon was spent seeing the doctors to get prescriptions for medical supplies, doing some new wiring on the boat, and sorting out my safety gear.

Not long to go now until the start!!!

Check out www.hewsonracing.com and click on the RSS feed to receive my blogs and pleas or check and become a friend of my hewsonracing Facebook page

Thankyou to: http://www.profurl.com, http://www.harken.com, http://www.yachtmoving.es, http://www.equipyacht.com, http://www.zhik.com, http://www.rg650europe.com, http://www.boatbooks-aust.com.au All donations and sponsorship greeatly appreciated.

Hewsonracing and RG650 have made it to the start of the 2013 Mini Transat Race. The boat “Taz” is now in the loc of Douarenez with 83 other boats making final preparations for the Mini Transat

I was at the boat early today and prepared the boat for sailing. Leaving the dock at 0900 there was not even enough wind to spin the anemometer at the top of the mast, and once out of the harbour the wind was still light allowing me to fine tune the rig and make some calibration tests on the auto pilot.

The wind started out light, but increased to 19kts by late morning giving some fantastic conditions for reaching with the code 5 and checking the modifications mad to the auto pilot.

At 1430 I sailed back into the harbour very happy with the boats speed and performance with the recent modifications and by 1600 I was in the Douarenez lock with the entire mini fleet. It has only just occurred to me that my dream has become reality and I am at the start of the Mini Transat… Yhew!

Check out www.hewsonracing.com and click on the RSS feed to receive my blogs and pleas or check and become a friend of my hewsonracing Facebook page

Thankyou to: http://www.profurl.com, http://www.harken.com, http://www.yachtmoving.es, http://www.equipyacht.com, http://www.zhik.com, http://www.rg650europe.com, http://www.boatbooks-aust.com.au All donations and sponsorship greeatly appreciated.

As I finally set sail for the start of the Mini Transat in Dourarnenez I am realising a dream I have had for many years, and a dream many sailors have but many achieve. I begin to think what a crazy compulsion this race is. I find it extremely entertaining the fact that in my efforts to save money I do not buy a car, nor treat myself to a taxi, instead I will walk 10km to the ship chandlery or electronics shop in the pouring rain only to spend 350 Euro on a piece of equipment, pay 1000Euro off my chandlery bill, or spend 500 Euro on new rigging! I have been doing so much walking intact that my flip flops have attempted to retire, but a bit of sickaflex solves the problem every time to give them new life – After all, why would i spent 20 Euro on a pair of flip flops when I can spend it on the boat!

There are no swanky hotels in this campaign, as in order to spend 12000 Euro on a new set of sails (This is actually an awesome deal, as some campaigns are spending over 25,000 Euro on a new set of sails) I sleep on the boat like a gypsy camping. My luxury accommodation consists of a thin sleeping mat, sleeping bag and whatever food I can cook in my Jet Boil Stove, crammed in with all my gear in a 21 foot boat

In this economic market, while people in the world are starving, and the globe is suffering from environmental pillaging, it is no wonder that corporations can not afford to pay the big bucks we request for sponsorship, and every day I imagine what I could do if we had 1% the budget of the America’s Cup for the entire mini fleet! Sure the racing would be the same, but life would be a great deal easier! No wingers here though, Im stoked to be where I am at this point of time in my life, I am living a life I could only dream of a few years ago. The boat is awesome, fast, and extremely well fitted out. I have no doubt that if I point the RG650 in the right direction, I stand a good chance of winning a Mini Transat!

At this point of time the boat is on a one way ticket to Guadalupe, and nothing can stop us (Me and Taz). Being able to afford to ship the boat back to Valencia is another story, and a questionable one, but at this point of time my focus (and compulsion) is to have the RG650 Mini Transat in the best possible condition to win this race, so when I spend another 300 euro to make the start, it is worth it in every way and I will cross the return bridge when I come to it. ! The return shipment of the boat reminds me of a choose your own adventure book. If you have money turn to page 100, if not, turn to page 8 – you can probably guess the outcome! Yachtmoving has already stepped up and giving me a fantastic discounted rate on the return shipping, but all I need is to squeeze out a bit more cash from somewhere to make it happen.

Fingers Crossed, one of my sponsorship applications is nearing the top of Oracle’s pile of sponsorship requests, but since I’m sure Oracle is now a little hesitant to support another sailing adventure, yet another sponsorship, donation and support plea go’s out to you, the reader of my blogs and all your friends. Please ask around and see if you can help me organise some much needed funds to win this race!

Check out www.hewsonracing.com and click on the RSS feed to receive my blogs and pleas or check and become a friend of my hewsonracing Facebook page

Thankyou to: http://www.profurl.com, http://www.harken.com, http://www.yachtmoving.es, http://www.equipyacht.com, http://www.zhik.com, http://www.rg650europe.com, http://www.boatbooks-aust.com.au All donations and sponsorship greeatly appreciated.

Today was about the finer points in life. The RG650 got the finishing touches of the major overhaul last night and today. Wires internally were finally all together and put in their final positions, I overhauled my climbing harness and self ascending gear, and put some stickers on the boat.

The rig was tuned and I climbed the mast to check all the fittings and ensure there was no wear on the spreaders once they were tightened up and in place. In solo racing there is nobody onboard to sweat you up the rig, so it was a good chance to test out my self ascending gear and ensure that the modifications I made the night before were correct. Some modifications have been made to the tune of the rig for the Transat as the conditions will be much different than the coastal qualification races. It will be interesting to test these modifications and compare my speed with previous data.

Tactical data was entered into my instruments last night and I will head out tomorrow morning for a quick sea trial and to do some calibration before sailing to Dz. I will also need to calibrate my new raymarine auto pilot as the gyro compass is currently about 160 degrees off true!

One quick check before conducting my NKE initialisation today found a major problem. The pilot pin in the tiller that I built only a few days ago was 1mm out. This may not seem much, but it was enough to stop the pin from entering the tiller connecting it to the pilot. I was expecting this to be a hard fix, and since I have already sent my old tiller to Dz, I had no option but to press out the pin attachment, file and re-epoxy it in. Thankfully it all went to plan, and I will make the finishing touches to the pin tomorrow before seatirals.

We are in Transat mode now, so at the end of every day the boat is thoroughly cleaned inside and out, to try to remove every speck of dust and dirt before the transat, after all not only is the boat more hygienic, but dirt and dust = weight, and racing is all about weight in the right spots!

Check out www.hewsonracing.com and click on the RSS feed to receive my blogs and pleas or check and become a friend of my hewsonracing Facebook page

Thankyou to: http://www.profurl.com, http://www.harken.com, http://www.yachtmoving.es, http://www.equipyacht.com, http://www.zhik.com, http://www.rg650europe.com, http://www.boatbooks-aust.com.au All donations and sponsorship greeatly appreciated.

Another massive day in Lorient for the RG650 Hewsonracing campaign. An early start took me straight down to the paint shop to check the hardness of my new antifouling and make an assessment if the boat could be launched. Thankfully it was a warm night last night, and the antifouling had dried and was smooth to a very high quality. Only one small bug decided to inpregnate himself in the paint, but I’m sure he will polish out in the next few weeks prior to the start or will be fossilised for life in the Antifouling.

I decided to use Nautix A4 T speed which is a teflon based two pack antifouling that dries incredibly hard and can be taken down to a perfect smoothness for the race. This is also compatible with the mandatory orange paint on the keel and rudders. Being white it also looks really cool with the white boat!

AOS yard closes at midday, so I had a lot on my plate to take off all the plastic, re-build the cradle under the boat, and lower the boat onto the cradle. Thankfully it all went off without a hitch, and I even had time to put my rudders back on before the yard manager arrived to tow my boat down to the crane. Shortly after midday the boat splashed into the water. This is the first time the boat has sat in Atlantic water since I have had it, and it was a great feeling to be floating again surrounded by all the big trimaran’s, Open 60’s, Class 40’s and about 40 other mini’s.

Next was to complete overhauling the mast, and change some rigging. After close inspection I found my check stay had frayed at the fitting, and thankfully the riggers from Tonnerre Greement were passing buy the rigging ship and were able to make me up two new check stays.

By 1600, Jeff was helping me carry the mast down to the boat, and by 5 the mast was in place. After changing a few fittings the deck, by 2000 the mast was ready to climb to make some final adjustments and position my NKE wind wand.

By 2100 the boat was fully rigged, and almost ready to go sailing! Dinner has been served, and now I’m off back down the boat to wire in my newly modified gyro compass, plug in the electrics and see if it all works. Im too excited to sleep, so may as well carry on working.

At the moment it is planned to leave for Dz sunday night or monday morning

Special thanks to the guys from AOS yard who were a great help today, and the guys from Tonnerre who went out of their way to make me my check stays.. probably so I can get out of their hair! Thanks also to Jeff Macfarlane and Di who were a great help today with the rig.

Check out www.hewsonracing.com and click on the RSS feed to receive my blogs and pleas or check and become a friend of my hewsonracing Facebook page

Thankyou to: http://www.profurl.com, http://www.harken.com, http://www.yachtmoving.es, http://www.equipyacht.com, http://www.zhik.com, http://www.rg650europe.com, http://www.boatbooks-aust.com.au All donations and sponsorship greeatly appreciated.

Phew.. what a hard day in the office! Nothing seemed to work today. New mast arrived completely blank so I have reverted to restoring the old mast and NKE shut for the afternoon without returning my gyro compass. Apart from that, what a ripper! The boat antifouling has now been re-sprayed and is as smooth as a baby’s bottom, the old mast has been re-fitted, some improvements made taking about 300g out of the weight, and my new bow rotator was returned and good to go. Back in the water and mast up tomorrow!

Good news is that because the boat is still hanging and smelling of paint fumes I have given myself a hotel room for the night! Yhew!

Check out www.hewsonracing.com and click on the RSS feed to receive my blogs and pleas or check and become a friend of my hewsonracing Facebook page

Thankyou to: http://www.profurl.com, http://www.harken.com, http://www.yachtmoving.es, http://www.equipyacht.com, http://www.zhik.com, http://www.rg650europe.com, http://www.boatbooks-aust.com.au All donations and sponsorship greeatly appreciated.