S časom 6 dni,8 ur, 25 minut in 40 sekund, je Kristian Hajnšek na Adrii Mobil 509 včera,j, ob19.03 po UTC, prvo etapo Transata 6.50 2007 končal na 18 mestu. Njegov zaostanek za zmagovalko Isabelle Joschke je 16 ur in 52 minut, za Andražem Mihelinom pa 6 ur in 28 minut.

Zaradi velikega zaostanka je nad rezultatom razočaran: »Enostavno nisem jadral tako hitro kot bi si želel in s tem so prišli tudi motivacijsko težki dnevi, v katerih pa so me pokonci držale vzpodbudne besede prijateljev in ekipe. Isabelle je bila tako ali tako razred zase, mene pa je skrbelo to, da kljub temu, da je bil občutek popolnoma drugačen kot na prejšnjem Transatu in tudi na Azorih, da je jadrnica bila hitra in je veliko bolje funkcionirala, to še vedno ni bilo dovolj. Tudi fizična pripravljenost in sposobnost izrabljati resorse se je močno izboljšala, a kot kaže, sem letos naredil premalo regat, da bi znal optimizirati svoje jadranje. Kot je bilo jasno že pred startom je konkurenca tokrat zelo močna, poleg tega pa je bila konstantno prisotna tudi na vseh regatah letošnje sezone. Po rtu Finisterre sem strgal tudi veliki špinaker in sem bil zaradi tega počasnejši. Moji cilji so se dodobra spremenili pred začetkom starta druge etape. Če se potrudim in dam vse od sebe, mislim da lahko dosežem mesto med prvih pet.« 

Komentar Phila Sharpa, četrto uvrščenega na prejšnjem Transatu, ter zmagovalca regate Route du Rhum v razredu Classe 40: »Prva etapa je bila zelo vznemirljiva, predvsem zaradi presenečenja, ki ga je vsem pripravila Isabelle Joschke. Odlična predstava, vsekakor jadra veliko hitreje kot v časih, ko sem z njo tekmoval sam. Tudi Andraž se je dobro odrezal, predvsem po nesreči na startu, ki je bila zagotovo psihološko zelo naporna, vsaj prvih nekaj dni. Najpomembneje je, da ima še vedno dobro podlago, s katero se lahko bori za vrhunski rezultat. Ne pozabimo, da je druga etapa skoraj trikrat daljša in da ima večjo težo tudi v primerjavi s prejšnjimi Transati zaradi podaljšane razdalje. Zato zahteva drugačen psihološki pristop, saj je tekmovalec velikokrat na meji popolne izčrpanosti, kjer do izraza pride t.i. sleep management in sposobnost prenašanja popolne izolacije. Zmagal bo tisti, ki je najbolj vsestranski jadralec. Z zanimanjem bom spremljal kaj se bo zgodilo v drugi etapi, saj vem, da sta na omenjenih področjih Andraž in Kristian dobro pripravljena.« 

Včeraj sem pri preračunavanju Andraževega zaostanka za Isabelle Joschke storila napako v škodo Andraža. Za vodilno Isabelle ima namreč 11 ur in 24 minut zaostanka in ne 11 ur in 57 minut, kot sem napisala včeraj. Za napako se opravičujem.

Na lestvici prve etape transata 6.50 2007 je med desetimi najboljšimi Andraž Mihelin edini ne-francoski tekmovalec. Med dvajseterico pa so tu samo še Alex Pella, Peter Laureyssens in Kristian Hajnšek.  

Yesterday at 19.03 UTC after 6 days, 8 hours,25 minutes and40 seconds, Kristian Hajnšek onboard Adria Mobil 509 crossed the finish line of leg one of Transat 6.50 in18th position.His gap on the winner Isabelle Joschke befor start of leg two is 16 hours and 52 minutes. Team mate Andraž Mihelin onboard Adria Mobil 510 has a 6 hours and 28 minutes advantage over him.

Kristian had this to say when he tied his Adria Mobil 509 to the pontoon in Funchal: »Obviously I’m not happy with this result and I have no great excuse as to why I did not deliver. My sailing simply wasn’t as fast as I had hoped for. I had some extremely tough days speaking from a motivation point of view and thank god for some optimistic words from our team members that held me up during that time. Isabelle was extremely fast but what worried me was that even though my boat and my experience was far better than the first Transat or even the Acores race, the boat was fast, I handeled all m resources well, but that still wasn’t enough. I think this is due to the fact I didn’t do enough races this year. The competiotion was though this year as we pointed out even before the race and they did almost all the Classe Mini races. After Finisterre I also lost my big spinnaker and that was a handycap aswell. My objective for leg two has thus changed – I think if I give it my best a top 5 position is what I’m aming for overall.«

Phil Sharp, a former competitor in the Classe Mini, 4th in the Transat 6.50 2005 and winner of Route du Rhum Classe 40 in 2006 had this to say about the race: »An exciting race to watch and some big surprises, mainly that of Isabelle’s superb performance, she is definately going a hell of a lot faster than two years ago when I was racing against her!  Well done to Andraž Mihelin who has put in a solid performance and make a good comeback despite his problems at the start that I’m sure must have been mentally very tough to deal with for the first few days. What’s important is he still has the foundation to go for a top result.  Lets not forget that the second leg is by far the longest and is weighed more strongly than previous Transats due to the increased distance.  It requires a very different mental attitude - it is a race of attrition with a much greater emphasis on sail conservation, sleep managment and overall seamanship, not to mention dealing with isolation.  Andraž and Kristian are well prepared and strong in these areas so I’m looking forward to seeing what happens in Leg 2!” 

Yesterday when sending out the press release about Andraž Mihelin’s arrival to Madeira I made a mistake calculating his gap on Isabelle Joschke, to his disadvantage. Before the start of leg two Andraž has an 11 hours and 24 minutes gap and not 11 hours 57 minutes as I wrote yesterday. My sincere appologies for the inconvenience. 

Andraž Mihelin is the first and only non-Frenchman in the top ten of the first leg of the Transat 6.50 2007. In the top twenty there are 4: Mihelin, Pella, Laureyssens, and Hajnšek.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 25th, 2007 at 2:11 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.