Happy New Year one and all!

After much nail biting during a recent transat delivery, I was welcomed ashore by a text message from a fellow 650ist, congratulating me on securing a position for the start line of the 2007 Mini Transat. It is position number 75 out of 75 possible entrants, so it couldn’t have been finer but nevertheless, domosofa.com and I will be racing in the single-handed Mini Transat 6,50 this year!! Thanks to PYD for logistical support.

There has been some controversy this year over the difficulty in securing a position and it’s true that you have to spend a lot of time on the water building up the qualification miles in order to stand any chance of success. This year it was immediately apparent that with the amount of miles to be gained on the Azores Race, it would be essential to enter and complete it to stand any hope of building enough miles.

I was indeed lucky, as I had planned to enter all races in the 2006 season, but broke my mast during the Fastnet race, consequently loosing potential qualifying miles for two races whilst I had the new rig built. This dropped me way back down the list and it was only the Azores race and my early solo qualifier date that kept me in. However, I only completed three races last year in GBR 500, showing that it is not by any means impossible to get a place, but it is essential you get as many miles in as early as possible.

I had a mixed bag of luck last year, what with hitting whales (the animal, not the country!), breaking my mast and later the spreader in the Azores race, but my positions were not as bad as they could have been.

My first race, the Pornichet Select 6,50 I came in 15th followed by a 12th position in the Trophy MAP. In the Azores and back race, I managed to keep in and around the top 10 all the way to the Azores before I collided with the Whale, severely damaging my keel, but still managed 9th position under reduced sails. On the return leg I lost my spreader and had to sail half the course under storm sails! My overall finishing position ended up being a disappointing 23rd. (All positions are for the Proto class).

Overall, I’m not at all disappointed with my season as I learned heaps about domosofa.com and my ability to handle her. I have plenty of ideas for improving boat speed, and will be working hard with Kemp/Hood Sails this year in order to get the most out of her drive potential. There’s no doubt, she’s a good boat and I think we can do well with her. Thanks to everybody for their support over the last year and look forward to seeing you at the London Boat show.

Cheers,

Andrew.

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