Congratulation on the finish, great job. So, how did it go overall? Harder than expected? Faster than expected?

DDS:
Thanks, I'm very happy for have finished this race without breaking too much. Harder than expected? Not so much, but I have been very lucky to be in the right place at the right time! The most difficult was the temperature, about 33 Celsius inside the boat, humidity...impossible to sleep for a long time... Faster than expected? Not, because I have completely destroyed my big kite (one more time...) after 3 or 4 days of the leg...so all the way with the medium (many thanks for my sailmaker Solatges in Marseille for such a good job!).

AM:
Well the result is maybe not as good as we hoped for but we are far from disappointed. Lack of experience proved to be bigger issue, as we thought, so the very good results we were getting throughout the season were a bit deceiving. The pace – especially in the first leg - was crazy. Second leg was a bit slower, but knowing, that the differences between boats are really small you still couldn't afford to relax. To illustrate: After 19 days of racing I finished just 10 minutes in front of Mikael Mergui, getting decisive lead only 2 miles before finish line.

KH:
The race was a toughie, much harder than expected. The wild sprint in the first leg forced you to go above and beyond of what you were (thought to be) capable of. After second and third day of wild surfing, breaking daily, monthly and lifetime records you desperately want to get a little easier conditions to rest but you can’t, since we did not know how to rest without loosing speed and we were both too competitive to let go… until we collapsed. Periods of brilliant performances coupled with complete meltdowns are not very fast. Second leg was more a marathon, where keeping good averages by sailing smart along the rhumb line and gybing on shifts proved to be crucial.

EC:
Thanks. It was one interesting experience and I must say that I have never been through such an emotional roller coaster ride as long as this one before. I had no expectations, just lots of narrative experiences to work by but it's always different when you are the one there. Faster than expected considering the problems I had had.

How did you do in the race?

DDS:
All was perfect, except my ass...

AM: I finished 12th in the second leg and then got 2 hour penalty for not showing my logbook in time (like many others) - so 13th. In the overall I also jumped from 30th place in the first leg to 12th and then fell one down because the penalty.

KH:
My final result is 19th among the protos and 22nd in general classification. It is not very good but better than 50-something as I was about a week from the start of the second leg. I think it is the realistic image of my (our) experience. I got 2 hours back since I had to change my course to meet with the accompanying boat to change my ARGOS which stopped transmitting but in general, this did not change anything.

EC:
59th overall and 25th in the serie class.

What did you plan to change for this leg to improve from Leg 1 and how did those changes work out?

DDS:
After my such bad first leg, I changed my runners system, and I have sailed more on the direct route. It has paid lots.

AM:
Basically the biggest changes were in my head. In the first leg I was totally out of the rhythm of the race. Partly because of damage on the spi and pole, partly because of crazy last days in La Rochelle. Second leg started much better. Our weather router Jure Jerman from Slovenian national meteo office joined us in Lanzarote a few days before the start and we mentally started the race three days before the start. There is still room for improvement but that was much more like it.

KH:
We were much better prepared. Boat was properly stacked, we had better charging system that enabled us to rely more on pilots but most of all it was the “been there, done that” attitude, since we were much better mentally prepared.

EC:
I had no major changes done as timing was too short so had to just live with it. But had learned how to cope with it so was easier for leg 2.

What breakages did you have, if any, how did you deal with them, how much did they delay you on this leg?

DDS:
Just my big kite, I should have won....ah ah ah, no, the first boats have been very fast...

AM:
Not much. My bowsprit cap (end piece on which you attach guys and bobstay) was changed in Lanzarote and broke on day 4. It took me few hours to fix it and it served me until the finish. Timing was really bad, since I was on 7th place at the moment, just in front of Alex Pella and behind Yves le Blevec. 3 nights before the finish I broke or better destroyed my starboard daggerboard by hitting unknown object in the middle of the night. Boat stopped from 8+ knots to 0 in split second. Hard to say how much was the time lost for that. I guess not too much since it was mostly reaching to the finish. So all in all not to bad.

KH:
I had few problems but they proved to be a handful. My first one was when the hydraulic drive of my gyropilot stopped working. Without gyro you are not able to fly kites or reachers so it presents a big problem. Somehow I managed to track down the problem to some possibilities like bad contact in the solenoid valve that pressurizes the system or some air bubble in the system. I checked for both and after that the system started to work. Second big one was about 900 miles before finish when my D4 jib started to delaminate. The sail was new, but I had problems with it from the very beginning. Things got worse when I started to load up the sail after the doldrums sailing upwind in about 20kts of wind. First the shackles that attach the sail to forestay started to pull out, I increased the forestay tension which loaded luff rope a bit more, but only to discover the next morning that the middle and top panel simply creep at the top shaping seam about a meter from the head splitting the sail in two. First I repaired with sticky Dacron, but it did not hold. Then I put another sticky Dacron and stitched it through, but the sail membrane pulled out of the stitches… At last, I remembered an advice from an Open 60 skipper and glued the sail together with Sikaflex, muttered some magic words and the damn thing held until the finish. It is difficult to estimate how much time I lost because of this repairs but I guess it is about one day.

EC:
Had electrical problems that lead to pilot problems eventually which really made it hard. Had to steer all the way to Cape Verde from then and that was still 400nm away. I had no choice but to steer as it was downwind and just had accidental gybes when I fell asleep on the helm :O). Had a broken rudder fitting as well. Bad things always come in 3s... had to change the whole rudder systems each time I had to gybe…nightmare... I think I lost about 2 days just trying to get to Cape Verde Islands.

Psychological peaks and lows on this leg – when did they occur, why, how did you deal with them?

DDS:
Nothing special, I am always so crazy than when I start. Maybe more now - I want to do it again!

AM:
Peak definitely when I realized I'm in the leading pack few days after the start. Downs - breakage of the bowsprit cap, getting stuck in the calm after Cape Verde and learning from Tanguy de la Motte (424) who showed on the horizon next morning that he was 35 miles behind me the day before.

KH:
Peaks every time when I felt I was sailing up to the boat’s potential. Low – I hit the rock bottom when I realized that my gyropilot is down, but then I started to dig when my second repair on the jib did not hold and I had already used all my sticky Dacron. I had some very hard moments but realized that the only way home is to sail as hard as possible to Salvador. Then I wrote on the boat with marker “we have no problems, only solutions.” Funny thing, but it helped…

EC:
Think I had more lows than peaks as I was dotted with problems. The pits was my first gybe and couldn't get the rudders back on and bent the fittings so had to take them off and try and re-bend and file so that the pin fits again. Lots of shouts, words with god, laughs, cries...if there was a video one would have thought I had lost it...close though. The finish and thoughts of friends and family back home pulled me through.

How about the physical peaks and lows? When, why and how did you deal?

DDS:
Except my ass, nothing. U push as u can.

AM:
They go hand in hand with psychological rhythm. But they are definitely not so extreme.

KH:
I strongly support Andraz’ opinion. There were moments after solving some problems or after a difficult thunderstorm that you felt really tired to the bone, but the adrenaline was abundant and kept you going.

EC:
When s*** hits the fan which happened thank god not too much, and also when lack of sleep when the pilots weren't working. Chocolate and Kendal mint cakes! Ran out a week before arrival but the last week was not so bad.

Who was your nearest competitor/course buddy on this leg?

DDS:
My friend David Augeix Pogo 323, during the first days we have sailed together, it was impossible to go faster...after one week, I was only 5 miles ahead! But at the Cap Vert I have been little faster. In the ITCZ, I have been in a better place than him. He has been faster in the first leg...

AM:
Last several days we raced together with Mikael Mergui who is sailing on a sister boat (Manuard). He broke one rudder but since the wind was almost all of the time from the same side that didn't slow him much. I underestimated him in the beginning (he also had problems with autopilot) but that almost cost me a place in the rankings. In front of the Salvador, just 6 miles to the finish line the wind started to change sporadically which meant changing from spinnaker to genniker to solent and back to spinnaker... Over 10 sail changes in less then an hour. At the end the wind turned dead ahead and with only one rudder he had no chance in a tacking match.

KH:
I sailed 18 out of 21 days without any boat in sight. Last boat I saw was Andraz on 2nd or 3rd day when we split gybes and lost each other.

EC:
219 as we had left Cape Verde together with two others. Heard nothing from the rest but had some contact with him along the way. Best was just after one of the squalls and you were pushed around by them the whole night and when the sky cleared, there was Conton. "a boat!!!!!' This was after 4 or 5 days of leaving Cape Verde. Had a chance to get close enough to chat without a vhf for a while before we carried on.

How did the food intake work out on this leg? What about the water? Do you have a favorite powder drink?

DDS:
Foods? 3 dehydrated packs per day and one Asian meal from Elaine Chua, lots of water. My powder drink : Isostar.

AM & KH:
Food about the same as first leg - a bit more regular though. We used Isoplus for drinks, Carbofull and Carbobar for carbohydrates, Brainplus and Free Radical Stop for mental recovery... And some other delightful stuff. It tastes like shit, but it works beautifully.

EC:
Had a fair bit left over I must say but those were main meals where I had no time to eat when I was stuck on the wheel so was chopping thru my biscuits and chocos, thus the bad rationing towards the end :O). Water was fine had no problems even had some to have a shower before arrival. MILO - a chocolate malt drink, you can have it hot or cold. Yummy!

Describe your crossing of the doldrums and equator. How did you end up celebrating the crossing? Do you feel robbed that you don't get to cross it from South to North?

DDS:
No celebration, good meal, but nothing more. I'm very proud for have done that by myself.

AM: No biggie. Doldrums, lots of storms but not too strong (up to 30knots). No calm - you are in NE trades, then big storm up to 45 knots and, bang, wind changes to south. My gift to Poseidon was last pack of cookies and promise to get last Mentos candies on the boat if he convinces Eol to change wind from S to SE. My boat was designed for reaching, but SE trades were more to the S. So upwind. Didn't work though.

KH:
Doldrums were storms, storms and few more storms with wind never dropping below 10kts. Storms were not strong, up to 30kts, but they lasted for 5 days, so at the end I was pretty exhausted. Crossing the equator was nothing special, I woke up, filmed the GPS changing from N to S and went to sleep again. Oh, yes, I gave the Neptune my gift of cookies and the most valuable thing on board, last tin of canned pineapples, a real treat. And what did he do? Turned wind into hard upwind slog that shredded my jib in next 12 hours. I think he’s really an ungrateful youknowwhat and is not getting anything from me anymore.

EC:
It was 7:30 in the morning so had a nice daybreak and also before I had left I had brought a couple of little bottles of bubbly. Have to give something to Neptune when I came to visit. It's a norm in our culture that you don't visit empty handed. It was also my mom's birthday so it was double celebration for me. A swig for Neptune, one for Feng one for mom and one for me. Mouthful of bubbly for breakfast! ... yes only a mouthful. I had crossed it from south to north previously in the BTGC so for me was a revisit to the infamous line.

How much did you end up sleeping inside the cabin on this leg? How did you manage sleep overall this time?

DDS:
I sleep only inside, it is safer, and my boat is not comfortable outside. I have slept about 5 or 6 hors a day, but some days only 1 hour and some others may be 12!!!!

AM: & KH: Sometimes les than an hour per day (storming under spi in 20+ knots), sometimes almost 8 hours per day (stable NE trades 15 knots, NKE steering). Average about 5-6 hours per day.

EC:
Never slept inside. It was nice outside, cooler in the day and the stars are beautiful in the night. When it was downwind I had very little sleep but upwind, as the pilot drove better than I, I caught up then, which was nice.

Did you receive news of the dismastings during the leg? How did you react to them?

DDS:
Yes, at first u think u have to take care of your mast, after a while u forget and sail 100% again.

AM & KH:
Yep about Yves Le Blevec. It was looking like 8 days upwind again (like the last Transat when two leading boats dismasted) and I must say it was not easy for the mind. Fortunately wind changed close to Brasil and at the end it was much easier than 2 years ago.

EC:
Oh no... was my reaction. I know how much effort it takes to just make it to the start and it really is a big big shame to not make it to the other end. Two years, for some four, of hard work, over in a snap...

How bad was the smell in the boat on finish?

DDS:
Don’t understand the question... Don’t speak [English] very well.

AM:
Better then I thought it would be and worse than my girlfriend expected.

KH:
It was nice until the finish. In the evening I had the shower and when the next morning I came to the boat to clean it up I stuck my head inside and almost got knocked out. Fucking unbelievable, I lived in this for 3 weeks?!?

EC:
Not as bad as I expected it to be. But I had been very diligently keeping things that might go off in ziploc bags and waterproof bags all along the way and did house keeping so it was livable till the end. I think it's very important on the boat as it's so small, salty and damp all the time and easy for things to grow and multiply fast and you end up with 'friends' you don't know about...

Tell us a bit about your sail inventory for the race? What sails were your "rock stars," which were not useful or just not good sails?

DDS:
My main and medium kite have been the most used, also genoa, gennaker and solent. No good sail: my big kite!!!! But I had no money to change it before the start.

AM:
That's easy: My masthead genniker (sort of code 0) - never used it. Big spi (85m2) was excellent. Medium with a reef also very good.

KH:
The sails were identical on 509 & 510. Masthead genniker, completely useless, we did not have light air doldrums and it loads the boat completely wrong in fresh breeze. Big spi was cool, medium spi was a weapon for VMG sailing in more than 18kts of wind. Fractional reacher is worth its weight in gold while my D4 jib brings up some very bad feelings. But I had to say it is not the fault of the sailmaker but the manufacturer of the D4 membrane.

EC:
My enemy was my Code 0 it seems as though we had something against each other in our past lives. Every time I have had problems with it one way or the other. I have 0-phobia at the moment. I think my little red kite and my new genoa were the best, they were the most trouble free sails and we made good speeds with them for the conditions where they were used in.

What equipment breakage was the most annoying?

DDS:
I broke nothing.

AM:
Honestly-both of them. They throw you out of your rhythm and it takes a while to get back in.

KH:
All.

EC:
My battery converter ... cuz you know it's a matter of time when the pilots would fail.

What equipment do you think these boats could really use but cannot have for one reason or another?

DDS:
For me nothing except one more sail and seafax or navtex for the best meteo forecast and it is more safe.

AM:
Maybe a better way to receive weather and positions. The SSB radio is quite tricky and weather info is very general. It is also quite hard to get info to the organizer (about problems you may have...). So maybe some sort of satphone locked to the number of organizers or something like that. But it is not a big deal.

KH:
Before the race I was sure that we need communication, but now I think the race should stay as it is, since it attracts more attention because of this. With comms it would be just another transatlantic race with small boats, but now it is both - high end race that is also a big adventure. I had no problems with SSB and could receive the position reports and rather basic meteo reports.

EC:
A fridge...but the weight constrains...would be nice on those hot days for ice water instead of luke warm water. Nahh just kidding. Hmm... Think satellite phones. If there can be a way or agreement that it can only be used for media purposes and not for weather. I think it would be more interesting for the viewers and also for the family to know that all is good just some problems on the boat thus the slow movement on the screen. My opinion I think it is very hard on the family and close ones to see that something is wrong but not being sure how bad it is.

Where there any collisions in the fleet with floating objects? What kind of equipment do you think would work to help avoid such problem?

DDS:
No collisions, never collisions, I hate collisions...

AM:
No solution I'm afraid. I don't know of an instrument that can spot a big tree trunk in the water or a half sunk barrel.

KH:
During the race my rudders hit UFOs (Unknown Floating Objects) five times. Three times the fuse broke and the rudder kicked up (box and a blade arrangement) but two times the fuse held and every time the rudder box started to squeak some more. I am afraid there is nothing we can do, maybe putting an extra layer of carbon on my new rudder boxes…

EC:
Not that I have heard of. That is a tough one may be some thing like a sensor to sense something close by but then how sensitive are you going to set it, too much you'd have the alarm go off on every wave that comes by and too low it's no use. Moreover, these boats go so fast that from the time it beeps and you look for where it is you'd probably have hit it by then.

Carbon mast is a necessity on a Mini or does aluminum work as well?

DDS:
I have a serie boat so carbon mast is forbidden…grrrrrrrr. I'll have one if I build a proto for a next Transat.

AM & KH:
No, carbon is much safer I think. If you don't push the limit in building it too light that is. And it saves a lot of weight as well. On the other hand Phil Sharp and Isabelle Jochke finished second leg 5th and 6th with alu mast. Sailor is still a very big factor on minis.

EC:
I have a serie boat so have no experience with carbon masts, mine’s black but just a disguise of 3M stickers.

What were your first drink and food on shore? How did that taste? How many followed it?

DDS:
Caipirinha, and beef with patatas fritas.

AM & KH:
Capirinha and it tasted like heaven. Many many many more just few hours later.

EC:
Famous caiparinha! Am not sure how many ... refreshing as it was cold, had no fridge on board and the weather was really hot!

Where did you spend your first night on shore?

DDS:
On the pontoon waiting my friends...

AM:
In hotel with my girlfriend. And I'm not going into details.

KH:
Well, to be frank I don’t remember. Later I was told that a top finishing British sailor drove me to the hotel in a shopping cart trolley. And due to pontoon talk and dark looks from the hotel personnel, he was obviously not in much better state than me that evening…

EC:
Found a place where some of the guys were staying and crashed there for the night. Good thing I arrived in the arvo otherwise it would have been the boat for sure...

Are you happy with your overall achievement in this race?

DDS:
Yes, but I can do better

AM & KH:
Yes. Goals of the project that started 4 years ago are achieved and everything is still open for the future.

EC:
To finish for me was the main aim as I had started sailing only in 2000. Trying to do well was to have the cherry on the cake but had many problems since beginning so thoughts of doing anywhere near well were out of the window quite fast.

What is next for you? Stick to racing? Return to land? Get a job in the industry?

DDS:
Who knows...it is certain I’ll look for some money to come back on another mini, or on a 40 footer. A job in the industry is the last thing I'll look for! So if you are a sponsor and are reading this - send me an mail...I'm just looking 250,000 USD to win the mini in a new proto design. Many thanks for all and long life to sailing anarchy.
David de SAQUI
Skipper of the 466 Lady Paulette
mini2005@hotmail.fr
33 6 62 80 66 87

AM & KH:
That's the big question. We need a bit of time to clear our heads and meet with our sponsors. We'll definitely keep you posted.
Andraž Mihelin and Kristian Hajnšek
www.4ocean.si

EC:
Definitely to carry on with offshore racing. But it really has to depend on sponsorship as in the minis one can scrape by on a shoestring budget but it is not possible for a bigger boat or a prototype. Canvassing takes away a lot of time from the preparation and training for the races and I really don't want to have to just barely make it to race again. One has to be well prepared to have a chance to do well.
Elaine Chua
www.elainechua.com