Bleak message came this morning from the organizers of the regatta Mini Transat: Irina Gracheva, who last night moved through the race with a broken mast, faced with new technical challenges that do not allow it to remain in the race. About 15 hours of day (GMT) Irina boarded the vessel support, she is healthy and safe.
Another night on the race card went missing the mark indicating the position of the yacht Russian Irina Gracheva at the distance of the Mini-Transat. The organizers said that Irina changed the mode of operation of the tracker to save energy to prolong the battery charge for a longer time.
Later, it was clarifying information on the yacht broke down two autopilot (main and spare) that makes it almost impossible to continue the race. To the finish line is still over 1000 miles and with the current speed of 3 – 3.5 knots the way to Martinique will take almost two weeks. To do it without autopilot it seems hardly possible sufficiently safe and most importantly – appropriate, because the leaders of the race finish today or tomorrow, and the most notorious outsiders come to St. Maarten in a week…
In this situation, Irina made the decision to stop the race and requested assistance from the organizers. More precise and probably more correct information we will have after get a message from the racers.
Andrei Petrov
Part of the Russian jahtsmenov in the Mini-Transat was supported by the companies of NORD consulting, Griffon, Ullman Sails, Fordewind-Regatta, Gill, A. P. I. Marine, Sail Ropes, NAVTEAM, WISTA Russia, “Alfa insurance”, Aquapac, “Mobile century”, Nautix, MX6, Lyophilise & Co.
Sponsorship Irina Gracheva provides Path Yachting Foundation.
