We made it. After 12 hours of towing the RG650 across France we have arrived at the Atlantic to our new temporary home. Richard Hewson will utilise his time in Lorient to complete final preparations of the boat before the 2013 Mini Transat and do some training with other Mini’s in the area. About 70% of the Mini’s in the world live in Lorient so it is a fantastic place to be based to get the work done, including polishing the hull and overhauling the rig.

Put your truckers caps on, because the RG650 816 is packed up and ready to hit the road to Lorient. RG650 816 is now highway bound to the Atlantic coastline. The drive should take us about 10 hours or so and then we will be based in AOS yard in Lorient for final preparations before the Mini Transat.

It has been a busy day in Le Grande Motte today, but the RG650 is now almost fully packed up and ready to get on the road. All we need now is a trailer

There was time for a catch up and a few celebratory beers between Zhik Figero sailor Xavier Macaire and Zhik Mini Sailor Richard Hewson taken at the end of Le Grande 8 regatta after Richards race in Le Grande Motte.

The Zhik mini 816 is in the background all packed up and almost ready to be put on a trailer to drive to Lorinet

I arrived in Paris on the 16th of August and caught a plane directly to La Grande Motte. After 26 hours of traveling from Australia I was exhausted, but the reception at Le Grande Motte Yacht Club was worth it. I found out that the boat had been measured and the safety checks had been carried out in my absence and the boat was almost ready to race.

Bret perry from Katabatic Sailing had done a fantastic job in my absence working on the boat and replacing a lot of the running rigging and changing around the cockpit layout. Many of the spares that I had ordered, and parts that I had in for service had also arrived to La Grande Motte so I found the time to fit them into the boat, including the fully reconditioned Efoy methanol fuel cell that will be providing the power required to run the boats electronics and hydraulic pilot.

It was a busy day on Saturday of final preparations, including lifting the boat for a hull inspection and cleaning the bottom. Five weeks of not being sailed resulted is some marine growth on the bottom, but it was easy to clean off, and as I had a few hours to spare while the boat sat in the cradle and the French yard workers had their afternoon break, I was able to wet sand the bottom, and make the hull as smooth as possible. We also took the opportunity to re-brand the boat with the some new Zhik stickers which complimented the RG650 branding that Bret had placed on the boat while it was in Valencia.

A new Mainsail and Jib had also arrived, thanks to Dad and Peter for the donation of the Jib. We lay the new sails out on the yacht club floor for close inspection, and decided that given the light forecast for the race we would use them for the first time this race.

By the end of Saturday I was exhausted, and after a quick BBQ at the yacht club I returned to the boat and fell asleep in no time at all. I awoke at 0700 on the morning of race start, and re-charged myself with a strong coffee before rigging the boat for the race prior to the breeding. The briefing was at 0930, and involved a detailed description of the course, and also a weather breeding. The weather had changed significantly over the past 24 hours, and the bureau were now forecasting stronger winds.

The course would be from Le Grande Motte around the following marks along the coast of South of France

1 – Parc conchylicole Narbonne Plage
2 – Iles Mèdes (Ile El Medallot)
3 – Bouée La Grande Motte
4 Marque Spéciale Carro (Cap Couronne) 5 – Ile du Grand Ribaud
6 – Ile de Porquerolles
7 Marque Spéciale Carro (Cap Couronne) 8 – Parc conchylicoles Narbonne Plage Arrivée La Grande Motte

As the Start gun sounded RG650 Min 816 was in pole position on the start line right next to the start boat, and I led the fleet away from the line. I was soon able to tack and make a windward course to the south east towards Narbonne and had fantastic speed, even managing to keep up with the two prototype mini’s to windward of me. In the evening the sea breeze dropped off and I was close racing against two other mini’s including the other RG650 sailed by Russian sailor Yuri as we rounded the Narbonne cardinal marks. Beam reaching gave perfect conditions to try out the brand new Code 0 design that I was trailing for Katabatic Sailing and our sail designer. I was extremely impressed wight he performance of the RG650 with this sail, and our speed was superior to the other boats around us. We reached the most southerly mark of the course by early morning, and turned north to the next mark in La Grande Motte.

Wind increased throughout the second day, and by late morning we had 15-20 kts and I was sailing with two reefs in the mainsail and my solent jib. The wind was very gusty, and while there were times I was tempted to re-hoist the Code 0 but the occasional gust of over 20kts prevented this move.

As I approached the windward mark at La grande Motte that evening there was a conversation on the VHF radio amongst other competitors and the organisation committee. The updated weather forecast had predicted the wind to increase to over 30kts that night, and it was considered that due to navigational hazards and shallow water for the next two legs of the race it would be a good idea to postpone the second half of the race. This was good news as I had a good lead over the other series boats, and this would give me a first place on the sore board.

Racing resumed the next morning, and the second start was also good and I led the rest of the fleet towards the windward mark. I was first around the windward mark and hoisted the my big medium weight spinnaker, fully powering up the boat to its limit. Sadly the sail proved too powerful for the new rigging and the cover of my guys stripped from the spectra allowing my pole to swing forward. I managed to quickly drop the spinnaker and replace the rope, but not before a number of other boats were able to overtake me. The boat was racing along under full sail, but the gusty conditions as we rounded the corner were too overpowering, and I replaced the medium sail with the Code 5. As I hoisted the code 5 it had only just set when we were hit by a 25-30kt gust. The RG650 took off, and I belted down wind at maximum speed, with the boat planing over 16kts. Unfortunatly the wind was too strong for me to make the desired course, so I did not hold the fast racing sail for long before returning to two sail reaching where I edged my way to the north of the rest of the fleet to put me in a good tactical position of the rest of the race.

By the time I reached Carro I was the first series boat, and second in proto’s. One proto had cut dangerously close to the coast and had collided with a reef while surfing at 14kts. Unfortunatly for the spanish sailor the collision proved disastrous for his boat and he damaged the boat to an extent that he would not be able to finish the race, and also putting him out of contention for the mini transit in October.

I rounded Carro in a good position and once again hoisted the medium weight spinnaker, and made good speed along the beautiful french coastline towards the Porquerolles. It was tempting to take a short cut through some islands, but with the darkness of night time, and not being familiar with the coastline I decided it was prudent to remain outside the islands. By morning the wind had dropped off, and after sleeping for a couple of hours I woke near the Porquerolles to find the wind had completely dropped off and two another series boat (in the double handed division) had overtaken me. It was a good fight around the Porquerolles islands between the three boats, with us all in sight of each other, and the winning boat not far ahead. It was defiantly a perfect day for sailing with 10kts of wind, and the French were making the most of their world favourite cruising grounds, with flotilla’s of cruising yachts sailing the bay.

I rounded the Porquerolles and hoisted the medium spinnaker again, for a very tight reach back towards La Grande Motte. Through the day the wind veered as expected and by the end of the day I was forced to drop the spinnaker to round the next headland. Some of the cruising boats in this area have no idea of racing, and one decided to have a good look at my funny little over-canvassed race boat and sat directly to windward of me as they took photo’s and discussed my boat. I attempted to ask them to move out of the way, but they did not understand my french or english. A number of internationally recognised hand signals gave them the idea, and after an half an hour of taking my wind, they moved to leeward of me.

Some good tactical sailing up the coastline enabled me to lift high along the cliffs and overtake one of the other boats before Riou islands. We fought our way along the coastline, and on dusk sailed through the Riou passage. If it had been any later it would have been too risky to take this passage, so one could say that we timed it perfect ally

A mixture of light winds from every direction plagued us most of the way for the next few marks. Wind was changing every hour, so it was impossible to get more than 40 minutes of sleep at a time without missing the shift or change in wind. On one occasion I was so exhausted from the constant tacking, gybing and sail changes I slept through my alarm, and I awoke two hours later to find that I had been overtaken by one of the mini’s while I slept, and as the morning went on I worked hard to regain my second position.

It was a close race between me and tow other boats back towards Narbonne, and by the time we reached the cardinals I was back in third place in the proto division.
The final leg towards the finish from Narbonne to La Grande Motte was an excellent sail. light winds were forecasted, so I hugged the coastline, hoping to get some good shifts and lifts from the land. My plan worked and I sailed a near perfect leg, laying the points and avoiding the numerous fish farms at an expert level. By midday the wind began to veer, and I was soon able to hoist my Code 0. As a result I was fully powered and sailing the optimal course for the RG650 for the final part of the race. The sun was shining and we were experiencing perfect winds. I took the time to enjoy being back on the mini, and with the autopilot on, the boat was doing an easy 6.5 kts and I was able to relax, play some music and enjoy the ride.

While I was unable to catch the two proto’s ahead of me I made up some valuable ground, and finished only twenty minutes behind the second boat. My final result for the race with the results of both races included put me in second position overall in series class, and first place in series solo (had the boat been rated as series). This was a fantastic way for the RG650 to make history as we had finally sailed enough miles in the boat to qualify the RG650 as a series boat.

As well as having a podium position for Le Grande 8, we received the good news that it was official , the RG650 816 would now be racing the Mini Transat 2013 as a series boat!

Sailing solo across the Atlantic is in no way a mean feat, and conditions can be tough, this is why race organisers of the 2013 Mini Transat have a thorough qualification and inspection process for all competitors.

Not only must skippers hold the relevant qualification to race across the atlantic, they must also possess radio licences, insurance and have the boat registered with a flag state to enable them to embark on an international voyage.

Compeditors also have to pass a rigorous qualification including a minimum of over 1000nm of races and 1000nm qualifier. The boats also must be verified and I find myself flying into France today after only a brief stop in Australia to continue racing and ensure that the brand new RG650 qualifies as a series boat for the 2013 Mini Transat. This will be the first transit for the RG650 so measurement, stability checks, and safety checks must be completed before the RG is allowed to race.

My body also has to pass a through examination, and yesterday I completed my medical examination in Australia including a Echocardiogram and effort test. I have had a lot of medial tests in my life to ensure I have been fit for deep dives, round the world racing, and long distance passages but I have never required such intense examination as this.

The tests were through and quite fun. Firstly they shaved my chest and placed sensors all over my body and then wired me up to a machine. I then lay on the bed and the nurse took a ultrasound of my heart. It was amazing to see the blood flowing through my heart, the valves opening and closing and the heart beating on the screen. It reminded me.

Once the ultrasound was done, I was placed on a running machine that gradually increased in speed and inclination to test my fitness under the observation of the sensors. I was impressed that even after five weeks at sea on a ship I managed to maintain a high level of fitness, and after 15 minutes or so of walking and running the doctor took me from the machine back to the bed where further ultrasound ensured that my heart was still beating.

While the final tests are yet to be written up and processed, the doctor was pleased to inform me that I was fit healthy and had a heart that worked and that I would have no problems with my heart if things were to become a little extreme. These documents will be sent to France for examination by the race doctors, and in a few days my entry to the Mini Transat will be 100%.

After over 24 hours of flying, I am now sitting in the Charles De Gall airport about to board my plane to Montpellier where I will then make my way to the famous La Grande Motte Yacht Club – the yacht club where just over a year ago I first picked up the RG650 for my first 400nm Mini passage to Valencia. I look forward to seeing the boat again, and making final preps for my last big race before the Mini Transat.

Transgascogne is the latest Mini race to have been held this season. For many it was the last opportunity for some competitors to qualify for the Mini Transat. Like Stan Maslard (Sefico Group), they had to finish everything before the race to justify the number of miles needed to have the right to start on 13 October in Douarnenez. It has also helped to strengthen the ambitions of many competitors along well ask leg of the competition before the big crossing.

The strong wind, no wind, tactical game, go back through the Bay of Biscay, which marks the route of the Transgascogne has offered a wide variety of circumstances where all talents have had the opportunity to express themselves. More importantly, the last race before the great confrontation will show here how the fleet this 2013 edition appears homogeneous.

Prototype: a favorite under threat
Difficult today not consider Gwénolé Gahinet as the favorite of the 2013 edition of the Mini Transat. The Trinidadian browser has dominated the pre-season head and shoulders since only Marie Agnes Peron Trophy eluded him in favor of Giancarlo Pedote. When more, there has been several editions as the winner of the Transgascogne wins behind the Mini-Transat, we say that the skipper Logways Watever is in an ideal position: a moral at the zenith, a perfect knowledge of his ship and competition must wonder how to stop his rise.
But the game is far from over. The opposition is getting stronger. We had already seen the potential Giancarlo Pedote (Prysmian), absent from the Transgascogne, but other candidates point the tip of the bow. Bertrand Delesne (Teamwork) has lost none of its bite while Julien sprayer (Bounty Hunter)manages to get on the podium Transgascogne for his second race of the season. These four guys will also count on Stan Maslard and some serious outsiders as Louis Segre and Marie Benoit, never far from the forefront.

Series: hierarchy shaken
The dominance of Justine Mettraux (Teamwork) in the first races of the season it would be undermined? Swiss sailor knows all cases, it will be hard to cope with competition increasingly sharpened where candidates win jostle. His compatriot Simon Koster (Go for It), winner of the Transgascogne, is also a candidate entirely credible. Clement Bouyssou (No War) points regularly outposts for two years, and Aymeric Belloir (All the World Sing against Cancer), Champion of France in 2012 or even Renaud Mary ( www.Runo.fr ). It will now add some serious outsiders as Ian Lipinski (No Future without Digital) or even Damien Cloarec (Lomig) more confident. After a few months break, Jean-Marie Oger (Acebi) won a second place showing that the browser has regained his motivation and it will also count on him.

Update on Registration for the Mini Transat 2013
To date, 82 have been awarded places on the 84 places available. The two remaining seats are allocated to those normally prototypes built in the year. No prototype is currently under construction, August 25, the deadline for qualifying for the Mini Transat 2013, these two places should be reallocated to the first two competitors on the waiting list. There are currently 12 skippers on the waiting list of the 94 enrolled.
List of August 9 is downloadable here.

Douarnenez is about
For browsers, the nearly two months will be an opportunity to take a break, to recharge the batteries, make a few yards before finishing the Mini Transat. Meanwhile, Douarnenez continues to actively prepare the festivities that surround the start. The Port Museum will dedicate a souvenir exhibition will trace the history of the Mini-Transat, with some unpublished documents and a few surprises. The Douarnenez traders have invested in partnerships with local riders and associations rallies. What do the party to be as beautiful as possible in the early days of October.

***

The route 2013: return to origins
Step Douarnenez – Arrecife (Lanzarote): 1200000.
Step Arrecife – Pointe a Pitre: 2800000.

Dates to remember
La Grande Huit August 18, 2013
Prologue October 6, 2013.
Departure from Douarnenez October 13, 2013 at 13h. Check the Canaries between 23 and 26 October 2013.
Start Canary November 9, 2013. Arrival in Guadeloupe between 23 and 30 November 2013.

Douarnenez Races: organizer of the Mini Transat in 2013 and 2015
All associations of Douarnenez mobilized with the support of local and regional authorities under the auspices of Douarnenez Racing yacht clubs, and Douarnenez Sails Regatta Society of Douarnenez, the winches club organizes many years racing mini with Mini Fastnet and Peron Trophée Marie-Agnes torchbearers, but the association Holiday Maritimes, Atlantic Yacht Club, the Shipping Federation, and others who are preparing to fifteen days before departure, a festival of the sea and sailors. The competitors will be welcomed into the Port Rhu gem in the heart of the city.

To follow the news of the Mini Transat 2013
www.minitransat.fr

Press Contact
Enelos Communication – Solene Rennuit
+33 (0) 6 69 97 62 88 – solene@enelos.com – skype: srennuit

Thank you Boat Books for being the official supplier of charts and publications for Richard Hewson 2013 Mini Transat Race.
The Mini Transat is unique in that it is probably the only offshore race left in the world where no computer aids, graphical gps or sat comms are not allowed, so its back to the Almanac, Paper Charts, Compass, Barometer and even Sextant to navigate and win the ultimate in offshore racing – the Mini Transat
Boat Books support is greatly appreciated as official supplier of the very tools required to use precision navigation to win this amazing race.

I was going through some old articles last night and I found one for Leatherman that I could not resist re-publishing:

WHEN THINGS DONT GO TO PLAN!

“We were sailing downwind with the spinnaker up in the southern ocean at 52 degrees south latitude. It was cold and wet but we were going like a freight train and loving it. A change was coming and we decided to drop the spinnaker, but just as we prepared for the drop, the boat was hit by a wave and rounded up, wrapping the spinnaker. We tried to unwrap it from the deck, but it was no use, somebody had to go up there and unwrap it from the top. Given the urgency of the job and the degree of danger I decided to go up. While I was up there the boat gybed again and the spinnaker wrapped again.. this time with me inside it. Silence, the roar of the ocean and howl of the wind had vanished, even the shaking of the rig from the 58kt gusts seemed to disappear. I was wrapped inside a massive spinnaker half way up the forestay and there was only one way out. I grabbed my Leatherman Wave, and began to saw. I soon found the hook knife feature on the new model was excellent and a safe way to cut the spinnaker without injuring myself. It took me a while but I cut myself free.

Meanwhile my halyards holding me up the mast were now wrapped in the spinnaker, so I instructed my crew to winch me down. I got about 3m from the deck and the halyards jammed; there was no choice but to cut myself down. Out came the leatherman wave, and I cut away my halyards. As I cut away the last strand and fell the remaining 3m towards my crew and the deck my leatherman slipped out of my hand and was caught by a flying bit of sail cloth and disappeared over the side.

By the time I reached the deck I had been up the mast for 8 hours. The knife that had just saved my life at least twice during that period, and countless times over the previous months was now falling 4000m towards the sea floor never to be seen again. I was alive!

NOTE TO PEOPLE HEADING TO THE SOUTHERN OCEAN – DONT FLY YOUR KITE IN OVER 40kts OF WIND!

The poster of the Mini Transat 2013 has arrived!
From September, it will be visible on 200 bus shelters in the Finistère.

Sailing is the fun part of every campaign, and obviously why so many of us are love this sport.  If you like sailing a “normal” boat, then you should try a Mini.. they become addictive like a drug and before you know it your hooked!

Most people view a mini campaign and see only the sailing part of Mini life, but there is far more to a mini campaign than staying awake for ridiculous hours at a time, putting up with being constantly wet, and figuring out how to fix stuff when it breaks while surfing down a wave at 18kts in the open ocean. Infact, if you look at the amount of time on the water the average mini sailor spends compared to the other part of a mini program, my guess is that it would be less than 5%, and for a prototype campaign, probably only 1%.

What else is involved in a mini campaign, and what takes up the other 95% of our time?  

Given Mini sailors are renowned for being on tight budgeted, skin of your teeth sailing addicts, it will be no surprise to find that about 2-4 hours of every day is taken up with trying to find more money.  Weather this be writing letters to people you know, writing magazine articles, or writing the hundreds of sponsorship proposals we send out to companies asking for monetary support or sponsored goods such as wet weather gear, equipment, and even food. Most of these requests generate no reply or the standard “thank you for asking but no thanks” response.  Do Mini sailors accept theses consent knock backs.. no way, because statistically speaking its only a matter of time before you find the right person or company to support you awesome campaign!

Well at least that’s what we hope, but in the mean time I have returned back to sea to work for a five week swing just to ensure I have enough money to make it to the start of the transit an

d I can be on the line fully cocked with all the gear (I bet that makes a few readers in the office happy on a Monday morning)!  Time at sea working unfortunately means time not sailing my boat, training and working on the boat, but without money, the Transat wont happen, so rather than sit back and wait for sponsorship, we put every cent we earn into the project and hope we have enough money to eat when we arrive in Guadlaupe and we don’t arrive on the other side of the Atlantic to find the house re-possessed!  Either way the Mini Transat is worth the sacrifice of the material possessions! I have not seen the house since Christmas anyway! 😉

Logistics are another time waster in a mini sailors day.  Hours of time go into trying to find the best prices to get the mini from A to B.  In hindsight it would have been a lot cheaper to send the RG650 straight to Lorient last year and completed all my qualifying races in the Atlantic, however, this would have also meant less time being spend on the boat, and less time on the water training, as having AUS 816 in Palma for the last few months has enabled me to train and work on the boat while still being able to work and save.  Over half the campaign costs so far have been spent on moving the boat, which gives you a fair idea of the expense.

Food takes a lot of organisation to ensure that the skipper gets good nutrition from food that he or she enjoys.  Sailing solo is hard work, and when you’re having a crappy nigh on the water, your cold and wet and its 3am in the morning, a hot meal or sweet drink can do wonders to moral!  It takes a lot of time to research the best brands of freeze-dried and what you can afford.

Researching gear and analysing cost takes hours of every day.  We all know what we would like to have on our boats, but without a sponsor giving the campaign hundreds of thousands of euro’s a year, we must budget to what we can afford.  For example, last month I found a spare auto pilot computer on ebay for only $500.. a bargain considering they are normally $2000, so I snapped that one up, win win for me.  If only all the other gear required for a Transat could be found on ebay at brilliant prices.. it pays to keep looking though!

Maintenance and boat preparation is another massive time killer.  Im very lucky to have Nico to have designed and built the boat, and extremely lucky to have Brett Perry from Katabatic on my side who as we speak is “pimping” up the RG650 with new paint, new stickers, new blocks, sheets and halyards, and basically re-building the boat to make it look and perform even sweeter than when I left it two weeks ago.  Bret has also done a great job designing the new color scheme for the boat, and now all I need is a big Sponsor name to finish it off!

Anyway, enough rambling on, my allocated time for websites is nearly up, its off to the ships gym for a couple of hours fitness training before heading back on watch.  2 weeks to go and Ill be back in France sailing a fully pimped 816 and a wallet full of cash… Well.. the boat and sailing parts are real, the money is already as good as spent!!