The Plastimo Lorient Mini 6.5 offshore regatta concluded on Sunday 14 April in Lorient, France . The 250 nautical mile round trip took participants from 1 day 14 hours to 2 days 3 hours. Out of 68 boats that took off on April 12 , 62 crews managed to sail the whole distance.
Fedor Druzhinin, who paired with Alexander Rachevsky from Belarus, showed the best result out of the two Russian-flagged crews participating in the race.
They finished eighth in 1 day, 16 hours, 58 minutes and 43 seconds after the start of the regatta and placed fifth in the Proto division.
«It was a very intense race and a result that both Sasha and I are happy with. 5th in the division and 8th overall out of 68 boats. Could have been 7th, but new jib broke a mile before finisher. Very tired, we rest», - FedorDruzhinin summed up the results on his Facebook page.
Irina Gracheva andVasily Alekseev returned to Lorient 21st after Druzhinin and Rachevsky. The route took them 1 day, 18 hours, 32 minutes and 15 seconds. In the Serie fleet the team took 11th place. The team from Japan, ranked 10th in the division, was less than a minuteahead of the Russians.
«The race is over, and it was an interesting one! We worked hard to remember all the nuances and subtleties. We didn't avoid mistakes, we analysed them and are happy that, in principle, there is further potential, and there is room to grow. We could not avoid strategic victories either, by the Island of Yeu we came in 5th place in the series and 9th in the overall standings! A long sharp backstroke of 75 miles in the wind up to 30 knots on the gusts was our uneasy ride, lack of knowledge and a little bit of stamina. I will be working on these elements in the next races! Good advice of the experienced received, now it's only up to my personal courage», - said IrinaGracheva in her turn on Facebook.
As a reminder, Irina Gracheva and Fedor Druzhinin are preparing to take part in a large-scale single Mini-Transat regatta in autumn 2019. The current regatta was the first major training for them this season before the main start of the year.
The best results at the competitions were shown by the French teams. They are among the top 5 in Line Honours, the first four places in the Proto division and the first, third, fourth and fifth places in the Serie division. While in the Proto division the fifth place went to the Russians, in the Serie division the second place was won by the UAE crew.
