Written for BOATING NZ, October edition
The first leg of the Charente-Maritime/ Baghia Mini Transat 650 aptly summed up my Mini project thus far. A big job list was conquered with communal help, the race was a hurtling maestrome with plenty of highs and lows and I still have a grin on my face and want more.

“Allez Conrad, Allez” Cheers from hundreds of fans followed us out of the central city marina in La Rochelle and hastened us to our rendezvous with a hectic spectator fleet. It is clear that this race holds a special place in the spectrum of ocean racing in France and the energy surrounding the event was beautiful to experience.

That we are racing such small boats still allows for a sense of adventure that as left the upper echelons of the sport and skipper’s stories of dolphins and sharks, mountainous waves and epic repairs are just as well received as accounts of the thrust and parry of racing.

As my first major solo ocean race, my priorities are first and foremost to finish, to learn, and then place well. I was thrown in the deep end immediately as the first three days were relentlessly strong downwind conditions from 15 to 35kts, over and through big seas at 200 miles per day.

Most sailors live for the downwind leg, but when its more than a 1000 miles long and the boat is planing so fast that it accelerates up the back of ocean rollers, finding sustainable pace is crucial. It was here I really struggled. Eager to preserve the boat, and my position in the fleet, I spent long periods at the helm.

Relishing the extreme conditions and passing other boats in the night I held on, and on, and on, until a lapse of concentration would lead to a wipe out. Having righted the boat I would be so exhausted and hungry that I would  need food and rest, even if the sails that I had just pushed below the horizon came back and passed me again.

Even so, I managed to preserve the boat where others rolled or broke, and I am ready to take the lessons from the warm up leg into the marathon second stage to Brazil. Experience and familiarity with one’s boat clearly pay, as Portueguese sailor Francisco Lombato stunned the fleet by beating all but two of the prototypes while sailing a production boat identical to mine.

With more pacing experience, the kinks worked out of the boat, and proof that I can formulate a good weather strategy using tools at sea I look forward to discovering my potential in the second leg. Top ten is my goal overall, and its still within reach!