Danes, 24.septembra ob 15.35 po UTC je Andraž Mihelin z Adrio Mobil 510 na sedmem mestu prečkal ciljno črto Transata 6.50. Skupni čas 1100 milj dolge prve etape, je za prvega od obeh Slovencev na cilju 6 dni, 2 uri,57 minut in 29 sekund.

Mihelinov zaostanek za zmagovalko Isabelle Joschke je 11 ur in 57 minut. Isabelle je prva ženska, ki je zmagala na eni izmed obeh etap regate Transat 6.50. Njena povprečna hitrost na regati je bila 8,11 vozlov. Drugo uvrščeni Sam Manuard ima 4 ure in 7 minut zaostanka, tretji Yves Le Blevec pa nekaj minut več kot pet ur.

Andraž je takoj po prihodu v cilj povedal: »nad uvrstitvijo nisem razočaran, čeprav ni ravno to, kar sem pričakoval. Zmaga se je, glede na Isabellino več kot očitno življenjsko formo, sicer nekoliko oddaljila, toda še vedno ni nemogoča. Predvsem do tretjega mesta so razlike še dovolj majhne, da se jih bo dalo nadoknaditi, ker pa imam veliko zaupanja vase in v jadrnico, tudi prvotni cilj, zmaga, še ni neuresničljiv.«

Seveda nas je najbolj zanimal njegov komentar nesreče na startu: »Če povem po resnici niti sam ne vem dobro kaj se je pravzaprav zgodilo, zato se mi zdi prehitro govoriti o protestu. Tudi oceniti koliko me je ta nesreča stala v času je težko, sem pa zaradi nje izgubil stik z vodilno trojico, ki se mi je dobesedno odpeljala. Tega potem skozi vso dirko nisem več mogel nadoknaditi, tudi zato, ker so s svojo prednostjo vozili v nekoliko drugačnih vremenskih pogojih. Če se bo izkazalo, da je krivda za nesrečo dejansko na strani novinarskega čolna (če je bil v prepovedani coni), potem bom seveda vložil protest – toda, če sva bila kriva oba, potem je vlaganje protesta nešportna poteza z moje strani in tega ne bom storil«.

O težavah, ki jih je imel na Adrii Mobil 510: »imel sem več težav, kot na regati Les Sables – Azori – Les Sables, kar se nenazadnje pozna tudi pri rezultatu. Največ težav sem imel ravno zaradi nesreče na startu, poleg tega pa so se mi pokvarili tudi vetrni instrumenti, zaradi česar sem bil med etapo brez podatkov o vetru«.

Kristiana Hajnška v cilju pričakujejo danes ponoči, njegova uvrstitev pa se bo, če ne bo neprijetnih presenečenj, gibala nekje med petnajstim in dvajsetim mestom.

Today, September 24th at 15.35 hours GMT, Andraž Mihelin crossed the finish line of leg one of the Transat 6.50 onboard Adria Mobil 510 in 7th position. Total time of 1100 miles long leg one for the Slovene was 6 days,2 hours,57 minutes and 29 seconds.

His gap on winner of leg one, Isabelle Joschke, is 11 hours and 57 minutes. Isabelle is the first woman to ever win a stage of the Mini Transat. Her advantage before first runner up sam Manuard is 4 hours and 7 minutes and just over 5 hours ahead of Yves Le Blevec in third position. Her average speed was 8,11 knots.

Imediatelly upon arriving to Funchal on Madeira, Mihelin had this to say: »The result is not optimal for me but nevertheless in the given conditions I can’t say I’m unhappy. The gap between me and Yves Le Blevec in third position is not too big, less than 7 hours and I think I can still make up for it. It is obvious that Isa is in the form of her life and that she will make our life hard in the second leg. but it is a long leg and I’m optimistical that my goal – to win the race - is still not impossible. Regarding the accident at the start I have this to say - I must first find out what really happened. As to filing a protest - I have no such intentions unless I get the information that the responsibility was solely on the side of the press boat. But I think it is also difficult to say with certainty as to how much time this accident cost me. Mostly I think the consequence was loosing the leading group. This meant that they sailed under slightly different weather conditions and I couldn’t make up for the loss.«

Kristian Hajnšek onboard Adria Mobil 509 is expected at Funchal today the late evening. If there are no surprises his ranking should be somewhere between 15th and 20th place.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 24th, 2007 at 5:33 pm and is filed under Rezultati, Transat. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.