2010/02/02

800 miles solo...

May 2010, they will be 60 sailors to participate to the Mini Pavois - qualifying race  for the 2011 Charente-Maritime/Bahia Transat 6.50. Great race of 800 nautical miles solo with a stopover. This sixth edition of the Mini Pavois will head south, for the fourth time, to Gijon (Asturias, Spain).

New: The race will not be held during the year of The Charente-Maritime/Bahia Transat 6,50. This will enable us to discover new talents of tomorrow but also to estimate the future favourites in the Mini class, a class that knows no crisis.

A race for specialists and tacticians.
The fleet will leave the coasts of the Charente-Maritime prior to sailing to Gijon (Asturias-Spain). There is about 300 miles of sailing to the Spanish port via the Bay of Biscay. If the best option is to go into a high-pressure system with East / North East winds, they will have to think over to avoid the flirting with possible lifts of Ocean’s bottom on the continental shelf. Lifts that generate a forceful and dangerous sea even with moderate gales. If the wind is westerly dominant, they will have to learn to manage the current... The approach of Gijon is not simple with the effects of wind along the Cantabrian hills. Once in Gijon, the fleet will stop for a few days off and sail off again on Sunday the 9th of May 2010 for 500 miles via a turning mark buoy yet undetermined before going back to the Charente-Maritime and La Rochelle. They will have then to be careful of shipping and fishing fleets, to manage the current overturns and coasts effects between the islands.

First arrivals on the 12th of May...

Programme: the 60 boats participating in the 2010 Mini Pavois will be at the marina of La Rochelle - Les Minimes from Friday the 30th of April 2010 (12:00 am local time). The start sequences will be launched on Tuesday the 4th of May 2010 and the start from Gijon (Spain) on Sunday the 9th of May. The first arrivals in the sea in front of the Charente-Maritime should be on the 12th of May.

A fantastic event…
Finally, as for anecdote, remember the names of the winner and the second prototype of the 2009 Mini Pavois:  Thomas Ruyant and Bertrand Delesne. Both of them won, a few months later, the first and second rank in the Charente-Maritime/Bahia Transat 6.50 for 2009 prototype category... An indication! Mini Pavois is indeed one major event to qualify for The Charente-Maritime/Bahia Transat 6.50 and to discover the new favourites of the 2011 The Charente-Maritime/Bahia Transat 6.50.


2009 Mini Pavois podium:

Prototypes:
1. Thomas Ruyant (Faber France)
2. Bertrand Delesne (Raging Bull and Entreprendre Durablement)
3. Rémi Auburn (AT Children's Project)

Series:
1. Davy Beaudart (Port à sec Guy Beaudart)
2. Fabien Sellier (Surfrider Foundation)
3. Pierre-Yves Lautrou (Altaïde Moovement)