Mini en Mai Recap Part 1
My first solo ocean race of the 2022 season is complete. Learn what it took to get to the starting line.
The Mini en Mai race started on 17 May, a 500 nm (shortened to 413 nm) solo race out of La Trinité-sur-Mer with an incredible 100 Classe Mini sailboats on the starting line (and plenty more still on the waiting list!). It took a significant amount of work for me to be prepared to race, and I was not alone in this part.
Teammates from U.S. Patriot Sailing have been extremely supportive throughout my time here, all while they have been busy themselves. In early May the Annapolis team trailered their Farr30 and Melges24 to South Carolina for Charleston Race Week. What an excellent opportunity to get Veterans from across the east coast together within such competitive fleets.
More recently, the team held its first International Safety at Sea practical training session. 16 veterans completed the in-water life raft and PFD training, fire fighting and signal flares, and damage control training. The team has a big season planned for this summer! If you are a veteran, make sure to sign up. Also, share the team website with any veterans you might know. You never know who U.S. Patriot Sailing might be able to help, and it takes your support to spread our team’s message.
Back in France, as you might have seen in a previous post, the work like new bottom paint was being applied to Terminal Leave when I first arrived in France just over a month ago. Then Jane joined me for a week and a half of boat preparations with the boat still out of the water.
Having not seen the boat since last year September, there was a long task list that we had been curating over the winter months. The work started with removing wooden shelves (a custom add from the previous owner), sanding the area and repainting it. We had to be extra careful not to cut into the hull, so the job took some time.
After replacing the VHF radio cable, masthead light, windex, and retaping the radar reflector, Jane and I raised the mast ourselves. By using a gin pole that we made the previous year, we lifted the 35 ft keel stepped mast vertically and into place (after a lot of set up). Then we installed Spartite between the mast and the deck to better secure this area of the mast. Spartite is a liquid epoxy mixture that you pour into a mold that you create around the mast and mast collar area for it to harden. Thank you Fawcetts for supplying this among many other products, so make sure to place your next order at http://www.fawcettboat.com!
After launching the boat, we finally had one initial shake down sail on Terminal Leave before it was time for Jane to head back home. It was a solid day of 15-18 knots of wind, so a great test for the boat. Thank you Jane for all your hard work and support to this campaign!
Shortly after, my friend Yannick Lemonnier arrived from Ireland for a few very productive days of training and boat preparations. Yannick will be my co-skipper for the upcoming Mini-Fastnet Race and is an excellent source of knowledge. He has a lot of experience in Minis and completed the 2021 Mini Transat on his proto.
Yannick is the owner of West Sails / Quantum Ireland with his sail loft in Galway and is an accomplished sailor. It is worth sharing a snapshot of his bio here:
Yannick has sailed in excess of 90,000 miles, mostly single or double handed and has competed in 5 “Solitaire du Figaro, 2 transatlantic race double handed “AG2R”, won 2 French National Student Match-racing championships, won French National Student Cruiser/Racer titles, Won twice the Round Ireland Race double handed, (setting a double handed record). Yannick has competed in many “Tour Voile”, Spi Ouest France, Cowes Week (TP52), Fastnet Race double handed, 4 Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race.
Our goal was to complete a 24 hour/overnight training sail on Terminal Leave. However, the wind was not cooperating. With a large high pressure system sitting over the Bay of Biscay, we called it after a productive 10 hours of sailing. Drifting all night long, with the possibility of not making it back the following day would have significantly impacted both of our schedules.
I look forward to competing with Yannick in the Mini-Fastnet Race starting on 12 June!
Just a few days later, it was time to kick off the Mini en Mai Race. That began with a short delivery just a few docks down in my home port, where they would host 100 Minis rafted up three boats wide along multiple docks. To accommodate all the Minis, they even moved one of the large 90+ foot trimarans out of the way to make dock space for us.
On 13 May I completed my thorough safety control inspection. This involved two race volunteers going line by line inspecting everything required by the Classe Mini organization to race in a solo Level B race (over 300 nm race). It also consisted of testing me on getting my life raft out of the escape hatch within 15 seconds. This process gets easier each time, but the first inspection of the season is always a bit stressful because this could prevent you from racing if you do not pass. Thankfully, I passed!
Finally, on 17 May it was race day. I had been planning for this day since January when each competitor was required to submit their preference sheet to the Classe on which races they want to compete in for the coming season. Since there is so much participation in the class, individual preference sheets allow the Classe organizers to provide an opportunity to all the sailors, allowing some to make the initial registration in a race and others go on a wait list and vice versa. Each race has a significant number of boats on the waiting list, but as the start date approaches for the races, people’s plans can change and movement off the wait list is common.
I was excited for this day and eager to get back out on the race course. It is incredible how there is always a work list leading up to the start, and any extra time available is just additional opportunities to make more improvements. I took all this time I had available and felt more than ready to see how I would stack up with the fleet this season.
Check your inbox soon for Part 2 of this recap. Mini en Mai is a race I will certainly never forget with many challenging lessons learned, the biggest being my autopilot dying on me 25 hours into a four day race!
Thank you to everyone who has donated so far to this campaign. If you have not yet, please consider supporting me through my GoFundMe page here. Without your donations, this campaign is not possible!
