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after a stir and controversies, back to racing for the Mini-Transat

It was in a still somewhat agitated atmosphere that the Mini-Transat fleet took off, Friday, October 29 in Santa Cruz de La Palma (Canary Islands) at 4 p.m. (Paris time), the start of the second stage, direction Saint-François, in Guadeloupe, final point of arrival. The active front which, off Galicia during the first stage, on 2 October, had swooped down on the competitors in the transatlantic sailing race has certainly dissipated for a while. But this blow of tobacco left traces.

The audacity – his scorners will say the unconsciousness – demonstrated on this occasion by the young German skipper Melwin Fink (19 years old), aboard the sailboat SignForCom, by continuing its race when its competitors made the choice to collectively take shelter and, above all, the decision of the international jury to grant a time bonus to all those who had taken a break sparked controversy.

The episode seems, to read the comments on social networks, to have undermined the “Mini spirit”, which for a long time was the cement of this class considered, for who wished to have a career, as one of the most beautiful springboards for offshore racing.

Read also Article reserved for our subscribers Sailing: Denis Hugues, the “father” and “spirit” of the Mini-Transat

It all started when the bulk of the fleet, which was in the Cape Finisterre area, received a BMS (special weather report) from the race director. “A front was expected with winds of 35-40 knots and a south-westerly sea of ​​3.50 to 4 meters », Will underline the race director, Denis Hugues, who remembers several disappearances of sailors who mourned the race during its history.

The majority of the boats then pulled the bar to take cover and go to sea once the smoke had passed. But Melwin Fink continued on his way and won the first stage nineteen hours ahead, taking the helm in the Series boat category.

Fragile leadership de Fink

He will explain that he understood the message of prevention, seeking to take shelter south of Porto, but, finding the conditions manageable, having decided to continue, ” surprised “ that the fleet take shelter: “I sailed without taking any risks, listening to my boat”, he explained, Thursday, to World. Several competitors filed complaints and seized the international jury, which, on October 20, decided to award a bonus of twenty-four hours to 80 skippers.

The reactions were not lacking. Some consider this decision contrary to “Fundamental” offshore racing. Some see the bonus as undue compensation for ” Copyright “ to actors who would not have written their part of the story by putting themselves away in a sheepish way.

Others strike the seal of incompetence of the jury and race management, in a flood of rather uninviting comments. A minority believe that the law has been said and that the jury is sovereign. Not to mention those who think that “The race no longer makes sense”.

Melwin Fink has retained his victory, but his leadership is fragile. He is only one hour and fifty-two minutes ahead of Hugo Dhallenne (YC-Saint-Lunaire), which in second place is a big favorite.

“I want peace to come back to the race”

Kind of man-child, the young German shows an astonishing maturity which leads him to camouflage these disillusions. It is a kind of Peter Pan, brush cut, without any childishness but which would have the strength of the timid.

He must in any case have a good tuner of nerves to have cashed the publicity around his name in recent days. He is patient, gentle, rather smiling, master of himself and keeps his interlocutors at a distance. And already diplomatic enough: “I want peace to come back to the race. I made my decisions like a good sailor, I think. Then, I did not expect this victory at all. I’ve only been training in Lorient for eighteen months. “

There’s no shortage of humor, perhaps unintentionally, about the Mini Class: “I wouldn’t say that I found a family when I arrived in France, but let’s say a kind of community. I was the foreigner who does not speak French but it was up to me to take the first steps. To introduce myself, to say who I was, what my plans were. I also found mutual help. “ We will not hesitate to speak of a well educated young man.

The “family”, according to some accounts, would have been quite cold at the end of the first stage. “With my parents and my little brother who were there, I preferred to slip away from the atmosphere of the race for a few days by going to Tenerife. And above all, I stopped reading the comments about me which were quite, let’s say, mixed… ”

Law studies

Melwin Fink followed his father as a child, who sailed in the Baltic in the summer. And gradually took off. He would not displease him in the future, he said, to follow in the footsteps of his compatriot Boris Herrmann, great organizer of the last Vendée Globe.

Read also The Vendée Globe a few hours from a breathless finish

Fink comes from a municipality adjacent to Bielefeld in North Rhine-Westphalia. He comes from the intellectual bourgeoisie: father lawyer, mother teacher. He says he is convinced to pursue his rights and to “To be able to combine studies and competition”.

“To sail at a high level, it is not necessary to have studied meteorology or hard sciences”, he said with that seriousness which is the veneer of a Germanic culture which does not flake easily. The apprentice lawyer is in any case not a litigant: “If I find the decision arbitrary, I will not comment on it further. I want to keep the race together. “

The Mini-Transat in a few figures

23

This is the 23e edition of the Mini-Transat, a solo offshore race on small boats, divided into two categories: production boats (66 skippers) and prototypes (24), some of which are equipped with foils.

4 050

That is, in number of miles (approximately 7,500 kilometers), the distance covered during the two stages of the race between Les Sables-d’Olonne, in Vendée, and Santa Cruz de La Palma, in the Canaries (1,350 miles), then between Santa Cruz de La Palma and Saint-François, in Guadeloupe (2,700 miles).

90

They were 90 sailors (76 men and 14 women) to take the start this year of the race, a record number. The Frenchman Georges Kick, who already took part in “the Mini” two years ago, is the oldest loner: 67 years old. In contrast, the two youngest (the German Melwin Kink and the French Basile Bourgnon, son of Laurent Bourgnon) are only 19 years old.

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