Mini Transat Leg 1 AAR (Part 4)

Days 9-13: Downwind Sailing to the Finish

Make sure to check out all of the After Action Reviews and listen to me discuss this race on The Mini Transat Mission podcast! Click HERE to listen on Spotify.

Replay the Race Tracker Here

Day 9 / 3 Oct (Atlantic Ocean/Portugal)

As we sailed into the ninth day of this race, I crossed the halfway point of this 1,350 nm long leg of the Mini Transat. The A2 spinnaker was flying all night long and I was averaging over 7 kts on starboard tack. Unfortunately, I could not see any Minis on AIS throughout this night and into the early morning. While I was not trying to necessarily follow the groups route exactly, I could not tell if they had jibed over onto port yet or not.

Throughout the rest of the morning the wind started to shift right and I was ready to jibe at 1100 UTC. I was not entirely convinced the group of Minis I was chasing had jibed yet, because I thought at least a few might pop up on AIS. However, as you can see my assumption was wrong, all of the boats ahead of me had already jibed over to port by about 0900 UTC. Since my decision to jibe was a few hours later, I would not see those specific boats for most of the race. This was not a huge factor overall on my ranking, but was challenging mentally losing this group. Later that evening, I did not see many of those boats jibe back and cross my bow as they were still just beyond AIS range.

Watch the video from Day 9 on YouTube! Click on the image above or HERE

Day 10 / 4 Oct (Atlantic Ocean/West of Gibraltar)

As the sun rose on 4 October, we were now just south of the latitude for Gibraltar and the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea. The only other time I have passed through these waters was in 2018 when deployed with the Marine Corps on an amphibious assault ship (LHD 7 Iwo Jima). With over 3,000 Sailors and Marines on that ship, this current experience was the extreme opposite. Terminal Leave and I were now paralleling the NW coast of Africa. I could see a few minis occasionally on AIS but they were not the original group I was keeping an eye out for from the previous days. Still on port tack, I was liking the angle and winds and saw no reason based off the forecast to jibe. It’s funny looking at the tracker now, because at the time I was feeling pretty lonely out there thinking most of my competition had sailed away from me over the past few days. Little did I know, I had actually gained some ground and this part of the fleet had consolidated a bit, even if just briefly. Terminal Leave was surfing down waves and we spent most of the day averaging over 200 nm for the previous 24 hours.

With the wind shifting towards the early evening, I decided to jibe just before 2000. I was still cautious about sailing too close to Madeira, but needed to capitalize on this shift. My rate of turn in the jibe was too slow and as I was trying to get one of the lines sorted out (between the running back stays, spinnaker sheets, guys to rotate the pole, mainsheet, and traveler) the spinnaker wrapped itself around the headstay. This involved dropping the sail, untwisting it, and hoisting it back up. While this probably took about 15 minutes to sort out, it could have been a lot worse. The sail could have either torn or wrapped itself so tight on the headstay, the only way to free it is by climbing aloft. Luckily those worse case scenarios were avoided.

Day 11 / 5 Oct (Atlantic Ocean/Morocco)

At about 0400, I jibed back onto port still flying the A2 spinnaker this entire time. With less than 300 nm to the finish line, the end almost felt near. I continued to fight for every little advantage I could through navigation, helming and surfing the waves, sail trim, weight placement, etc. These 200 nm days were simply awesome sailing downwind the entire time. This is what the Minis are made for!

Day 12 / 6 Oct (Atlantic Ocean/Canaries)

The final day of Leg 1! With 135 nm left until the finish at midnight, and averaging over 8-9 kts, I was almost certain this was the final night at sea. The last sunrise on Terminal Leave for a few weeks. We were going fast still with the big spinnaker up and a good angle. The Minis that went farther east were affected by the wind shifting father right to an ~ENE direction. I could tell I was gaining on some of these boats.

About 30 nm out from the finish, the wind softens a bit, but at least I am still going 6-7 kts. It just feels slower relative to the past 48 hours. I can just about start making out the island of La Palma on the horizon. Even though the highest peak is about 8,000 ft, the area is so hazy that it takes another ten miles of sailing for the land to start coming into focus.

With twenty miles until the finish that afternoon, the wind continues to lighten. As it rotates, I switch from the spinnaker to the code 0 on a close reach. It eventually completely drops out with about 15 nm to the finish. Over the past few hours, more and more Minis that I had not seen for days appear on my AIS. At first I think it might be catching their signal from in the harbor and at the dock. However, I can occasionally hear a few voices on the radio and their speed over ground (SOG) are all hovering around 1 knot. Eventually I realize they too have not finished yet. There appears to be a bubble of no wind on the eastern side of La Palma. The finish line is located centrally in this impenetrable area just off the coast of Santa Cruz de La Palma.

There are swells growing and rolling in from behind that make it almost impossible to catch the 1-3 kts of wind as our little boats are tossed around. The endless luffing of sails banging on the mast was starting to drive me crazy. With the haze that afternoon, I still couldn’t even see the finish area or town. I end up setting the auto pilot to compass mode and set a course following this swell direction towards the vicinity of the finish line. The swells and current propelled me forward just over 1.5 kts, and if I was lucky with the occasional puff I was hitting speeds of 2-3 kts over the ground. I was literally drifting into the finish line.

Some of the other boats that were farther east saw us sitting in this bubble and sailed south of the finish latitude in an attempt to sail around this region. For some it worked, but either way it was a slow finish for everyone. Most of the boats that finished this day, a day earlier, or even the following day experienced a similar (and painful) situation.

Late that evening I was on a close reach with the code 0 in 5 kts of wind and sailing “fast” at about 4 kts. It felt great! I remember calling over the radio saying I was about 30 min out from finishing. I was quickly warned that everyone got this little boost, but then there was no wind for the final mile.

At midnight (UTC) I was about 1.5 nm from the finish line…and drifting. The finish line was difficult to see with the lights from the island just behind it. There was a floating mark with a small flashing light about 100 meters off the shoreline.

Day 13 / 7 Oct (Finish)

Shortly after midnight, I am beating in about 1-3 kts of wind. Still being pushed by the current and swell. As the finish line comes into view, my new concern is drifting just south of the mark. If I do not cross the line on this pass, it would take hours to turn around and attempt to sail into the current. Might even require dropping anchor until the morning wind (might) fill in.

During the final few hundred meters, I tacked out twice to a more northerly position for exactly this reason. On the final approach to the finish, I crossed the line less than a boat length away from the mark and was still concerned about drifting into it. Luckily that did not happen and I was finished at 0059 UTC on 7 October! (Just before 2 am local time)

1,350 nm in 11 days, 13 hours, 21 minutes, and 3 seconds

Terminal Leave and I crossed the line 50th out of 59 series boats. While it was emotionally tough seeing so many boats already tied up at the dock when I arrived, I was still grateful for crossing the finish line and making it successfully to La Palma. I had no major breakages, I remained in good health, and set myself up to be ready for the second leg of this race. We still have 2,700 nm of racing coming up soon and the rankings are a combined time from both legs. A lot can change in the rankings while crossing the Atlantic Ocean.

*Arriving at the dock just before 3 am local time*

*Thank you Jane for meeting me at the dock with a bottle of bubbly, this was very much appreciated!*

Arrival Reactions

Note: If you read the arrival reactions, keep in mind they are translating my statements from English to French and back into English. I did not “hit my forehead near Cape Finisterre” but was probably referencing a mentally challenging situation.

Race Results

Rankings Update

You may have noticed I was awarded a 45 minute penalty which bumped me down one place to 51st. When I finished the race, my required 10L container of survival water (required to be filled with 9 L of water) had lost about 3-4 L of its water. Even though the seal was still in tact (meaning I did not tamper with the container), there was a pin hole in the top of the container that slowly leaked out water when it sloshed around or was turned upside down. This damage likely occurred during the tough fourth day of the race with the front passing through, but I did not notice the water leak until a few days later. Therefore, I intentionally set aside another 10L jug of fresh water for both survival and in the spirit of the rule for weight reasons.

When I arrived at the dock, the chair of the technical committee inspected all of my seals (as they usually spot check the seals on the survival water & container, batteries, life raft, and water containers set aside for leg 2) and I immediately informed her of the leak. Per protocol, the technical committee files an official protest and an international jury decides if a penalty is awarded. A few days after the finish I met with the jury, which consisted of one member in person here and the rest virtual. After a brief deliberation, they awarded me a time penalty because I broke a safety rule. Certainly another lesson learned and despite the best intentions, they will add time penalties for situations like this one. You can see all of the jury rulings HERE.

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