I still get lots of Google searches looking for information on Chris & the Mini-Transat. You can find more on what “Chris Sayer (The Kiwi) - Production Manager” who “has salty water running through his veins, a global passion of sailing and a love for good work” is currently up to at:
Yachting World have good coverage of the 2005 Mini Transat. Chris is not competing this time due to family commitments.
Message from Chris Sayer. Congratulations on being Number 1!
Hi all,
Link below shows a bit of a supprise as I did not do so many of the races. Be nice to be able to do the same next year!
Regards Chris.
Link: SeaSailSurf.fr : Chris Sayer remporte le Troph饠SeaSailSurf des Minis 2004.
Message from Chris regarding the Chronos 6,50:
Hi,
Well the Chrono 6,50 is a different race for sure. The start finish line is open for 7 to 14 hours on each of the 3 days. You sail single handed around Groix Island (about 25Nm) starting when you wish. One has to do 4 tours and at least 1 tour each day. Only the 3 fastest tours count. There can be as many skippers per boat as you wish.
David Raison, a friend from the 1999 and 2003 mini transats also did 2 tours on NZL403, the first time I have seen the boat sailing without me and the first time on the boat for David! The first 2 days there was very little wind and on the both days we did not start at good times, in fact getting the wooden spoon on the second day due to leaving to early for the second tour, a 2 hour loss!
Today there was a good breeze and we broke the 3 year old record of 3hrs 30 min by just over 2min only to be beaten half an hour later by 52 seconds. Over all we ended up 3rd, 3min behind Inkzone and 7min behind Vector Plus. Both boats in front had carbon rigs and new sails, a must for me next year.
There are 2 more races here this year but I think I am most likely to miss them as I should focus on finding sponsorship and work, but we will see. Once again it was a great and very well organised race and I look forward to coming back next year.
Regards Chris.
A fantastic effort from Chris Sayer and Pierre-Yves Moreau, in NZL 403, to win all three legs of The Open Demi-Cle Race.
General Ranking Of The Race (pos 1-3: click for full results):
Rgs Ident. Concurrents Grp/Cl HH:MM:SS Club / Pays
1 NZL 403 (SAYER CHRIS, MOREAU PIERRE YVES) 6.5/PROTO 6j.11:22:23 RNZYS
2 198 KAREN LIQUID (HARDY ADRIEN, LEBOUCHER PIERRE) 6.5/PROTO 6j.20:06:04 A P C C NANTES
3 433 PARIDIS (DOUGUET CORENTIN, HENSEVAL ERIC) 6.5/PROTO 6j.20:22:06 WINCHES CLUB
This is Chris' account of the races:
The race start was just outside Lorient on a perfect day. 10 to 12 knots of wind. We did not get a great start and were on the wrong side of the first wind shift but sailed very well during the first night to be in 2nd place by the morning. It was upwind all the way to La Raz de Sein but from La Raz to the Four (inside Ouessant) was 2 sail reaching. We at this stage we had 265 (Vecteur Plus) just in front and 419 (Legallais.co.uk) and 433 (Paridis) close behind. After the Four we were running with the big Southern Spars spi all morning and slowly we passed 265 only to fall over. We were quickly back in the lead, this time with the number 2 High Modulus spi and going faster. It was a great ride up the coast often hitting speeds of 15 to 18knots. Then it was back to 2 sail reaching for the leg into St Quay Portrieux. We finished 1st with 433 close behind. The windy down wind sailing was costly with Vecteur Plus and Fujifilm breaking their new carbon masts.The second leg was very light to start with... (cont.)
Chris won the first 2 legs of the Demi-Cle, and is on the third leg now.
News at http://open650.demi-cle.com/2004/uk/intro.htm
Mini Transat qualifier heads to Cardiff The Mini Transat qualifier - the Demi-cle for Open 6.50s will visit Cardiff Bay for the first time in the event's history....
Chris returned to France a few days before the mini Fastnet, a two handed race from Douarnenez, around the Scilly Isle, Fastnet Rock and back to France. He had been in NZ for two weeks for the launch of the book "Oceans Alone".
Hi, got back to find the boat safe and sound. All I had to do was tune the rig, clean the bottom and sort gear. Of course there were the pre race checks as well but no problems.
The start of the Fastnet was delayed for an hour due to light winds but they got us going at 15hr in a good 10 to 15knots. We had a very bad start and were in the bottom third of the fleet at the first mark after a 2Nm beat.
By the second mark rounding after a tight spi ride and some 2 sail reaching we had made it to the top third of the fleet. It was then a tight lay out through the Chenal du Four and by the time we were clear of the Les Platresses and on our way to Wolf Rock (off Lands End) we were in the top ten.
“We sponsored Chris’ rig because he is one of the true achievers in New Zealand sailing,” said David Barnaby, Southern Spars’ Designer. “In the 1999 event he was third in a boat he built himself.”
“Last year he lost his new boat in the Tasman after hitting a submerged object. But we were really impressed by his determination to start again from scratch and build another boat and compete successfully.”
Southern Spars : world leaders in carbon spar design and engineering
You may see Chris Sayer this month as he is back in NZ to promote Rebecca Hayter's book, OCEANS ALONE.
OCEANS ALONE: Chris Sayer's solos adventures on the high seas
By Rebecca Hayter, ISBN 1869504666, RRP $34.99, Release Date 24 May 2004
Interviews confirmed with:
Martin Tasker TV1 News (26 May), NZPA, Sunday Star Times extract (23 May), Boating NZ (extract to run in June issue), NZ Herald feature (29 May - Auckland Boat Show weekend), Radio Sport, Bay of Plenty Times, KatiKati Advertiser, Newstalk ZBs Hamilton, Invercargill, and Hawera, Planet FM and a profile in Auckland's CityMix Magazine.
Reviews will be running in Air NZ Magazine, Craccum, Adventure Magazine, Tourist Times, Boating NZ, RNZYS Mainsheet, Waterline Magazine, Critic, and Xtra Website.
"I have only just got back to Caen after 3 weeks away on 403 [his Mini Transat Yacht]. The boat got a good testing again due to the weather and stood up to it better than I did. I left Caen for Pornichet the Saturday that they decieded to delay the Transat AG2R for 4 days due to bad weather. So had a long beat down the channel in a gale with no GPS as both the boat one and handheld backup died (for some reason the antennas packed a sad). Do not know how they use to sail around this place in boats that could not go to windward in the old days without all our modcons.
Made it to Pornichet on time (just) for my appointment with the Classe Mini Measurer. 403 pased fine and I only had to get things like new flares to be ready to race. Lots of those never ending little jobs to do on the boat kept me busy though.
The Select 6,50 (300Nm solo from Pornichet to Pornichet) was the first qualifing race this year for next years mini transat. About 55 boats started and 28 did not finish, yes we had a good long beat to windward in about 25 to 35knots. I took the race very easy, to easy and ended up 5th overall and 2nd proto.
Interesting article on the design of Mini Transat 650 Yachts by Brett Bakewell-White.
New Zealand Division of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects newsletter - Issue 20 • December 2003
(Click to Open PDF format file)
Image Info: Yacht Design & Base Image by Brett Bakewell-White, Sponsor & number layout: Chris Sayer & Robin Capper.
Message from Chris ~ 28-04-04:
"I am in Pornichet getting ready for the 300Nm solo race that starts on Friday. Had a hell of a trip sailing here from Caen. Had to be here for the measurement date of the boat set by classe mini so ended up beating down the channel in a full gale (at the time they delayed the start of the transat ag2r for 4 days). To add to the fun had to navigate in zero viss the old way as the antennas on my boat GPS and handheld backup died! A very rude awakening to mini sailing.
But got here in time (not going to be late with these guys again) and the boat is all okay. I am entered in this race, the Mini Fastnet (French site)(700Nm), and the Demi-Clé (1000Nm). Both of these races are 2 handed and I would also like to do the single handed race to the Azores and back as well."
More Mini 650 information at;
Official Classe Mini Web Site (English Version)
Unofficial Mini Transat 650 (English)
I first met Chris in 1996 as we happened to work in the same building. I worked for a furniture company & he was a full time boat builder by day but spent every other spare second finishing his 6.5m (21ft) yacht for a Single-Handed Trans-Atlantic Race.
To me it seemed like a crazy thing to do (to be honest still does) but Chris is more determined than anyone I’ve ever met and with huge effort & little money managed to get the boat finished. He campaigned it locally named Essentially to qualify for the race then with the help of NAVMAN & many other supporters managed to get the boat (by now renamed NAVMAN) to France for the 1999 Mini-Transat. This was eventful with storms, gear damage, a run in with Spanish customs, knockdowns an many other thrills & spills but he completed the race finishing a superb third place. He was the first New Zealander ever to complete the Mini.
Chris returned to New Zealand with the hope of creating an Open 50 campaign for the Around Alone race. After an exhausting search for sponsorship he reluctantly decided to defer that and compete in another Mini-Transat, this time to win. He built a new high tech carbon boat designed by Bakewell-White Yacht Design. Chris completed the “Round North Island Race” and then sailed to Sydney for a trans-Tasman qualifying race. The race turned to disaster when the rig was lost requiring a return to Sydney & then total loss of the boat on the voyage home due to foreign object collision. Believe it or not, all this is just the begining of an epic story…
Chris’s Mini-Transat adventures are chronicled in a new book OCEANS ALONE by Rebecca Hayter. It’s soon to be published and can be pre-ordered at the links below. It will be an inspiring read, its an inspiring story…
Book Details:
OCEANS ALONE - CHRIS SAYER’S ADVENTURES ON THE HIGH SEAS
Rebecca Hayter ISBN 1869504666
Reserve a copy from BOAT BOOKS NZ
Reserve a copy from Dymocks NZ (NOTE: its towards the end of this page)
NAVMAN Photo Credit: Benoit Stichelbaut Photographe
Joe Bennett: Where Underpants Come from
I'll disclose I'm reading this because it's, in a strange way, about where I work and because I love Joe's writing.
The Best of Car Magazine
A blast from the past but still great reading today. From supercars to not super cars (Ford Capri), tales of CANAM and Formula One from the 60's, and when will the oil run out from the 70's (hint, it should have already) this is a great mix of nostalgia. One of the best articles is a "behind the scenes" look at filming the racing movie "Le Mans". Another highlight is the faithfully reproduced totally sexist advertising!
George Dyson: Darwin Among the Machines: The Evolution of Global Intelligence
I was shocked this book, about the evolution of artificial intelligence, began in New Zealand!
Karl Pilkington: Happyslapped by a Jellyfish: The words of Karl Pilkington
The sticker on the front says "If you think he's a genius, you're an idiot -Rricky Gervais". Karl writes about what he knows, which isn't much but he's been on a few holidays...
It's genius!
Karl Kruszelnicki: Great Mythconceptions: The Science Behind the Myths
Dr. Karl Kruszelnicki is an Aussie "celebrity scientist". This book is a collection of his columns which expose the truth behind many commonly quoted "facts".
Do we really use only 10 percent of our brain? Read this book and you'll find out...
Spike Milligan: Silly Verse for Kids
A classic for children of any age...
Jean-Michel Jarre : The Symphonic Jean-Michel Jarre (2CD Set)
I've always liked Jarre's work, his live concert DVDs especially, but the thought of it done by a symphony orchestra had me wondering: "elevator music"?
This disc proves I was wrong. The symphonic nature of his compositions is expressed brilliantly by superb arrangements. Recommended for more than elevators! You can hear samples, or buy as mp3's, from the Amazon page.
Greg Johnson: Here Comes the Caviar
Brilliant Kiwi artist, now resident in L.A. If you have the chance to see Greg live, don't miss it.
Rudy Sunde: Chants de Marins/Sea Shanties
Rudy is a local artist, writer and bugman (entomologist)
Pat Metheny: One Quiet Night
I liked Norah Jones hit track "Don’t Know Why", but not a fan of hers. Pat's solo guitar version on this album is lovely.
Anna Maria Jopek: Secret
Anna Maria Jopek's first English album is a mix of original and covers. The voice is pure rather than powerful but refreshing.
Rudy Sunde: Songs of New Zealand
Traditional Kiwi music. Rudy is a westie, folk composer/performer and expert on aphids!
Shane Jacobson: Kenny
To say it's Aussie Toilet humour is, well it's accurate, but doesn't do this film justice. Wonderful script, brilliant acting and finely balanced, like a teetering porterloo, mix of humour and pathos. It's nearly as good as "The Castle", my favourite Aussie film.
Christopher Nolan: The Prestige
I didn't know anything about this movie before seeing it but it's one of the best for years. About illusionists, it is packed with constant twists and surprises. Add a great cast, direction and production and you have a must see.
Nick Park: Creature Comforts - The Complete First and Second Seasons
Brilliance of "person-on-the-street" interviews coupled with aardman's outstanding claymation and subtle visual gags
Pat Metheny Group: The Way Up - Live
It's their best performance, their best composition - recorded live in Korea.
Kevin Macdonald: The Last King of Scotland
Great performance by Forest Whitaker. Not pleasant viewing but much more interesting than I expected.
Todd Field: Little Children
Don't expect a happy childhood story. It's confrontational and disturbing but also rewarding. Worth seeing for Kate Winslets performance alone.
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