The Mini Pavois serves up the season’s first race across Biscay and provides a trial run for many who will be racing this course later this year during the Mini Transat. It was a warm up for the organisers, Grand Pavois, too who pulled out all the stops and had electronic billboards all over the city of La Rochelle notifying the public that we were in town and worth a visit

Start day was a harbinger for the rest of the race as it dawned clear and windless, forcing the start to be delayed until all the boats could be towed to the starting area. Strategic weather options for the first leg to Gijon were dominated by one’s personal take on a ridge extending into Biscay from the Azores high. Skippers prepared for light winds and the difficult task of determining how far off the rhumbline they could go in search of more pressure.

Having finally successfully started the race, the wind shut off completely and we were left playing shifts with 1 knot of breeze. After leaving Ile de Rey behind and spreading out over the ocean in accordance with our personal take on the weather, we were rewarded with perfect Mini conditions of 18-25 kts downwind, surfing with big spinnakers with blazing white phosphorescent spray.

It was the memory of this night that kept us going through the next two days; days that stretched out as time slowed with the diminishing winds. I always had boats around me which was good as misery loves company, but it also helped to allay the fear that others were getting away while I was working feverishly to get some speed out of my sails that hung limply and slatted with every passing wave.

The approach to the north coast of Spain is typically difficult with either northerlies or southerlies as the high mountains create wind shadows that make landfall almost impossible. Fortunately there was enough east in the north wind to keep pressure in the sails all the way to the finish, and for many the finishing sprint was closely fought with single minutes separating boats after 250 miles of racing. Unfortunately I discovered that while I was with other boats for most of the race, we had collectively made the wrong decision and had lost a lot to the leaders. Game on for the return leg!

After three days in Gijon where the fleet was treated to a reception banquet by the port and the city, it was back to our boats for a leg that would see us run straight to a turning mark off Penmarc’h before picking a side of Belle Ille on the run to La Rochelle. Expecting strong winds on our arrival, the organisers had already shortened the course by 50 miles, thereby cutting out what was expected to be a 20 mile slog to windward just before La Rochelle. As our boats are so optimised for reaching and running, there were no disagreements with this decision!

The big decision on the return leg was whether the right side would pay initially or whether it would be worth the investment to go left in a big way to catch the new wind and backing shift three days into the race. After the start it became clear that the fleet had very different ideas about how to play the weather as we very quickly broke into groups and settled down to our own races. Being close to others is very valuable for me, especially as I am new to the class, and was I was surprised to see that the fastest sail in a fine reach when ghosting is actually the big masthead spinnaker rather than our specific reaching gennaker/ Code Zero sails.

Days two and three of the race of the race were enormously stressful for me as I could no longer hear the twice daily radio reports of where everybody else was and I could only occasionally see a sail on the horizon. I was afraid that I had made the wrong call to go left and had fallen off the back of the fleet. Having no communications equipment on board beyond a VHF, Minis are unique in not being able to track competitors or download updated weather information. This forces skippers have confidence in their speed and strategy, because all the time I was stressing about my position I was actually polling second or third place!

The Figaro class is known for its tightly contested races, as proven again by the latest Trophée BPE, but the Mini class isn’t far behind as I rounded the turning bouy in third place, overlapped with next skipper after over 260 miles of racing. Upon rounding I was notified that the course had been further shortened and that we would be finishing close to Lorient as the forecast was for a force 8 later in the day.

It seems that the memory of the 2007 Transgascogne race, where many Minis were rolled and dismasted in 50+ kt winds, is still fresh. My impression so far is that our boats are remarkably seaworthy machines so the newly curtailed course came as a disappointment. However Classe Mini is has a special dispensation from Les Affaires Maritimes, the French version of the MCA, that allows us to race offshore in our little boats so its best not to push it.

The next major race on the calendar is the Mini Fastnet double handed race with 100 boats on the start line. Last year British Mini Transat contender Oliver Bond secured second place and is returning to try and go one better.