September 28, 2007
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Isabelle Joschke. . .
. . . Won the first leg of the Mini Transat.
French female sailor Isabelle Joschke is one of the top ranked
competitors at this year’s Transat 6,50 Charente Maritime Bahia (Mini
Tranast) and has every chance of knocking Isabelle Autissier (the
French sailor who finished third in 1997) off the perch as top female
Mini sailor.Joschke,
who’s been racing Open 6,50s for four seasons, competed in the 2005
event aboard the boat formerly sailed by British sailor Sam Davies, and
finished a creditable 15th overall.Now, two years on, she’s
back, with one aim – to win. And with a new boat and some extremely
good recent results including a win in the in the Mini Pavois and the
Select, plus a second in the Trophy Marie-Agnes Peron and a third in
the grueling 550-mile Transgascogne, Joscheke is definitely one to put
your money on.Speaking to Joscheke on the dockside in La
Rochelle, it became clear just now focused this young French sailor is.
Four years ago she’d never done any racing. She spent her time as a
delivery skipper. But now has, “a passion for these boats. I love
racing them and I love being out in the open sea,” said Joscheke.
The
new boat, a Finot design with rotating and canting mast, canting keel,
daggerboards and water-ballast is one of three brand new boats in the
fleet and was completed in January. A fairly tight schedule but
Joscheke managed to complete her qualification in her first two races
and is now ready for the big one, commenting: “I am very happy with my
current form year and I am as prepared as I’ll ever be. I now have all
the tools to be able to do my best so I am really looking forward to
getting out on the racecourse. Although the first bit, where they [the
organisers] send us round a short, round the cans, course before we set
off down the coast, will not be so enjoyable, there a lot of work to do
on these boats so the sooner we set off on the long leg south, the
better.”Sue Pelling/Yachting World, 14 September 2007
from http://www.yachting-world.com/auto/newsdesk/20070814104547ywnews.html
and
http://www.ybw.com/auto/newsdesk/20070819093624ywnews.html
