The return stage to Les Sables d’Olonne of the Mini Class’s Transgascogne 2017 starts this afternoon off Aviles in Asturias on the north Spanish coast, with the 53-strong fleet knowing that Clarisse Cremer and Erwan Le Draoulec start respectively with two hour and one hour built-in time advantages after the Stage 1 race to Spain writes W M Nixon.
This resulted after hyper-flukey conditions at the finish on Tuesday evening had seen them escape from the tightly packed group of leaders to slip across the line. Though the race is in two stages, times are totalled at the finish back in France for one overall result, and racing is usually so close that it’s reckoned Cremer and Le Draoulec are now highly like to be first and second overall.
Ireland’s Tom Dolan missed a podium position by losing third place at the finish on Tuesday evening of the outward leg by just one second to Germain Kerlevo, a hugely frustrating result as the boats were barely moving as they glided across the line. Nevertheless it leaves him well positioned in the fleet placings, and he could pull a third overall from the outcome of this Aviles-Les Sables leg.
Tom will be giving a presentation on his current programme and plans for the up-coming Mini Transat at a Speaker Supper in the National Yacht Club on Thursday 17th August 2017.
