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The first leg of the Mini-Transat regatta is over

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The first leg of the transatlantic singles race on the 6.5-metre Mini-Transat is coming to an end. Only 14 of the 83 competitors remained to reach the hospitable marina in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

Unfortunately, four boats (three French and one Czech) had to withdraw from the competition.

The skippers failed to solve on-board problems in the 72 hours the rules give for a pit-stop.

The top three French Proto winners, Axel Tréhin , François Jambou and Tanguy Bouroullec, were the first to finish with just 26 minutes to go in the night of October 14 in the Canaries.They covered 1350 nautical miles from La Rochelle in 8 days and 18 hours.

The Serie fleet was not far behind. Italian Ambrogio Beccaria arrived in Las Palmas only 2 hours later. His result in the first leg of the regatta was 8 days, 19 hours, 52 minutes and 7 seconds. Frenchman Félix De Navacelle finished another 1 hour and 43 minutes later, followed by his compatriot Matthieu Vincent an hour later.

By the evening of 14 October the Russian Feodor Druzhinin had finished the first round in 10th place in the Proto fleet.

It took him 9 days, 10 hours, 3 minutes and 10 seconds to get from La Rochelle.

«I am fine, I am not even tired. There is some damage, but it is minimal.The race had some tough moments, but the last three days I got into a rhythm and it felt good, I could go and go... I wash and clean the boat, and I need to go and teach our yachtsmen in the Canaries! » - he later wrote in his Facebook group.

Compared to the first day of the race Druzhinin managed to rise by 4 lines. The morning of October 6 he was 14th.

Irina Gracheva, participating in the Serie fleet, arrived in the Canary Islands on the morning of October 15, 9 days, 21 hours, 39 minutes and 54 seconds after her start in La Rochelle.

«The race went quite well for me, I am satisfied with my strategy. I had some technical problems, but I managed to solve them. I need to do some repairs on the boat, so here in the Canaries I have some work to do! » - Gracheva said after the race.

In her fleet the Russian rider took 25th place.

In comparison with the beginning of the competition she managed to improve her position: in the morning of October 6 she was only 41st.

The break between the stages will last for at least another ten days. Prologue race is scheduled for October 26 and local yachtsmen will take part in it together with Mini-Transat fleet.

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