The Mini Transat is a solo race across the Atlantic Ocean in incredibly small boats. In 1999 Kiwi sailor Chris Sayer caused a sensation when his 6.5 m yacht Navman finished a very creditable third out of seventy entries in this, one of the world's most competitive races.
His achievement earned high praise and Chris has been on the Mini Transat trail ever since. Buoyed by success and unable to find sponsorship for an Around Alone campaign, he built a second boat, Up the Blue, only to lose everything when the boat hit a submerged object in the middle of the Tasman Sea in May 2002. Forced to abandon Up the Blue and $100,000 worth of belongings and vital equipment, he was saved by a Korean fishing vessel. His story made national news, and broke the hearts of those in the yachting fraternity who had seen his determination to prepare himself and his boat for the next Mini Transat, in 2003-2004. The boat was uninsured, and Chris had to start from scratch, racing against time in a difficult post Americas Cup sponsorship environment.
Against the odds he made it to France, only to face an unprecedented bombshell from race organisers. Despite previous correspondence to the contrary, they refused to accept his wildcard entry, saying he, along with a number of other non-European entries, failed to meet a new qualifying condition of having raced a minimum of 1,000 miles in European events.
Faced with a difficult choice - of racing as a pirate entry and risking banishment from the class or giving up his dream and years of hard work, the drama of Chris Sayer's latest adventure is still unfolding, with the race due to start in September. At the time of writing the issue remains unsolved - but it will be classic Sayer determination and courage against the odds, whatever the final outcome.
