OTTO WULFF Duo Burke/Fink: Boat repaired, the mast is holding and the transfer to Brazil is underway

Melwin Fink was beaming from ear to ear when it was finally time to cast off again in la Réunion. Hard days lay behind him and his helpers, but in the end there was a happy ending. The Class 40 racing yacht from "Next Generation Boating Around the World" is seaworthy again and ready for its comeback.

Support on la Réunion "was incredible"

"It was an exhausting few days on La Réunion, but I'm super happy and satisfied. The support on the island was so warm, everyone helped. The support was incredible," said Melwin.

At the end of November, in the middle of the Indian Ocean, Melwin and Lennart's dream of sailing around the world was shattered in dramatic fashion. The so-called "boomerang", a massive connecting piece from the mast to the spreader, broke. Serious damage that forced the OTTO WULFF duo to abandon the third leg of the 30,000 nautical mile regatta and return to La Réunion.

Boat repaired, mast laid and scanned

At the end of January, Melwin returned to the island in the Indian Ocean with the spare parts in his luggage. Together with his repair team, he made the boat fit again. The most important news: the scan of the laid mast showed no damage whatsoever.

5,700 nautical miles to Recife in Brazil

Now the boat "only" has to make it safely to Recife, 5,700 nautical miles (a good 10,000 kilometers) away, in order to start the final Globe40 leg back to Lorient on 29 March.

That requires foresight. While Lennart takes care of the shipyards of the two young entrepreneurs in Germany, Melwin sails a regatta within a regatta, not in racing mode, but with just as many challenges. Here, too, it is sometimes a case of "bolting against the waves" in 30 knots of wind, but also enjoying picturesque sunsets and catching flying fish from the cockpit to put them back in the water.

Unplanned stopover due to 40 knots of wind

However, 40 knots of wind are too strong and a danger to people and equipment. On the way to Cape Town, Melwin and his supporters on board, the experienced offshore sailor Sebastian Dziwisch and Oliver Schultheiss, made a safety stopover in Port Elizabeth (the city has been called Gqeberha since 2021) to protect themselves from an approaching storm front.

"Everything remained intact! We are very pleased with how the crossing has gone so far"

Then the journey continued, again past the Cape of Good Hope, but this time from the other direction. It sounds banal, but it illustrates the challenge of this crossing, because Melwin and his crew are sailing against nature, against the wind and the ocean currents.

The onward journey from Cape Town to Recife will be similarly tricky if a lot of wind is expected and the question then arises as to how far north they have to go to get past the high pressure area around St. Helena.

Break and crew change in Cape Town

But that's still a bit up in the air. First of all, there will be a break of several days and a crew change in Cape Town. For the remaining 3,5000 nautical miles to Brazil, Sebastian Dziwisch and Arno Böhnert will join Melwin on board. Both sailors have already crossed the Atlantic several times.

If everything goes smoothly, the "Next Generation Boating Around the World" should reach Recife in the first week of March, where Lennart will then also rejoin the team to master the final preparations before rejoining the race together with Melwin.

"Then we want to be at the front once again and show what the next generation is capable of," says Melwin, beaming again.

A text by Matthias Heidrich