Racing has been abandoned in the first leg
of the Mini Transat race after gruelling weather conditions in the Bay of
Biscay look set to worsen.

Although the Mini Transat fleet had covered
nearly two-thirds of the Bay of Biscay, the grib files are showing a further
deterioration in conditions compared to those expected at the time of the
start.

The bienniel Mini Transat, which was created in 1977,
saw 84 solo skippers in 6.5m (21.3ft) yachts set off from Brittany, France on 29
October.

The
start had been postponed since October 13 due to inclement weather.

The race will take the sailors via the Canaries to the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe.

Three yachts were forced to return to port early on: the 850 (Stan Maslard) required repair work for a
technical problem, while a collision
between 587 (Craig Horsfield) and 791 (Annabelle Boudinot) put both boats out of the race.

Now inclement weather has once again stopped play.

At 19.00 last night the Race Director took
the decision to cancel the first leg from Douarnenez to Sada to allow
competitors to reach port safely.

Why the cancellation?

Several parameters were involved in the
final decision. First was the concern to maintain the safety of the slower
competitors (who are often also the least experienced), during the course of
the morning the Race Director advised those boats who were still a long way
from the finish line to proceed south towards the Cantabrian coast and Gijon
where conditions should be much more manageable.

In doing so, nearly 40 competitors
immediately decided to proceed to the Asturian port. Under these conditions the
sporting fairness of the leg might be undermined.

Moreover, although the
leading prototypes were almost assured of reaching Sada before the arrival of
bad weather, the situation was much more critical for the group leading the production boats, which were located about 90 miles from the entrance to the Sada
estuary at 16.00.

What happens next?

The fleet will now stop at the port of Sada, near La Coruna, to wait for
the strong winds from the south-west that will sweep Cape Finisterre,
on 1 and 2 November to moderate and go northwest.

Once all boats are safe in the Cantabrian
ports, the organisation will take the most appropriate measures to provide a
new start to Lanzarote at the first available opportunity.

The Race Director said: ‘Ultimately five
boats have reached the port of Sada. Leader of the pack, Giancarlo Pedote
(Prysmian) is understandably disappointed that his performance on the Bay of
Biscay will bring him nothing.

‘Following him in order were Gwénolé
Gahinet (Watever – Logways), Bertrand Delesne (TeamWork), Julien
Pulvé (MEXT – ICA) and Nicolas Boidevezi (Nature Addicts). The rest of the
fleet elected to sail on to Gijon.’ 

The Race Director is now studying the
potential weather windows to restart as quickly as possible and Sada will be
the port of departure of the second part of the leg.

Picture credits: Francois Van Malleghem