German pair Burke and Fink are the next generation, now
by TJV Media 23 Oct 00:12 PDT
29 October 2023
Class 40 Sign For Com, skippers Lennart Burke and Melwin Fink, is illustrated before the Transat Jacques Vabre, in Lorient, France © Sign For Com
German duo Lennart Burke, 25, and Melwin Fink, 21, may be the youngest pairing in a record sized 43 strong Class 40 line up which is ready to start the Transat Jacques Vabre Normandie Le Havre next Sunday but – individually and together – they have already shown enough promise to be able to deliver on their hopes of a Top 10 finish into Martinque.
At 19 years old Fink memorably won a feisty first leg of the 2021 MiniTransat- the one when most skippers stopped and took shelter from a big storm – and then went on to finish third overall in the Series division. His young compatriot, Burke, has a string of top five Mini results to his name also.
After Fink lost his Mini which was wrecked during a delivery in the Med and could not find the funding to complete a campaign with a new boat the two rivals came together as a duo. Burke who had the Class40 and a sponsor, German international telemarketing company Sign For Com. It is less then a year ago that they set up Next Generation Sailing which combines their talents, campaigning a Pogo S4 (189) Sign For Com. “It is amazing to be here.” grins Burke, “To date our only experience of race starts before has been the Mini Transats and so this is amazing.” “Considering it is less than a year since we really got the project going and now to be here is great.” Adds Fink who after French skipper Benjamin Bourgnon, also 21, is the second youngest skipper among the 196 competitors.
Since they teamed up, initially as something of a ‘marriage of convenience’ – Burke needing a co-skipper and Fink’s programme having come to that unfortunate halt, they have sailed more than 12,000 nautical miles, racing, training and on deliveries. They have finished fourth in the Rolex Fastnet and fourth on the second leg of the Azores Horta Azores (Fink with Estelle Greck) and eighth in the Normandy Channel Race. And they now spend so much time together it made sense to share an apartment in Hamburg.
They explain what they consider to be their strength, “The nice thing is we can both do the same things equally well. So we do try to have watches knowing that he is driving the boat and trimming and the next hours I am driving the boat and trimming. And while I am doing that he is doing navigation and sleeping and eating, best case of course! And we were singlehanded sailors, we are both equal skippers, neither of us own the project, it is 50:50.”
In a fleet which now contains many of France’s former top Figaro racers as well as a posse of strong Italians they are far from overawed but quietly keen to prove their potential. Burke – a former Melges 24 sportsboat racer, notes, “I just started offshore five years ago and so seeing the big names on these boats is a big thing. On the Normandy Channel Race on our signs in front of the boat our palmaires were one line each: ‘Mini Transat….’ and some like Antoine Carpentier had like 10 times winning the Fastnet Race and there are Vendée Globe and Route du Rhum winners here and so on. But on the water they are just boats, you don’t think about who is on them, we try to measure ourselves against them and it is cool for example to be beside Crosscall which has the Vendée Globe winner on board (Vincent Riou).”
Borish Herrmann’s success on the Vendée Globe has ignited a great public interest in ocean racing in Germany and they are fortunate to be able to profit accordingly, “We are getting interest in Germany because of Boris Herrmann. He is moving in a big way and has a huge following. He helps us a lot. He let us use his RIB the other day for example and lets us use his hangar to store stuff and always gives us advice. And all the media stuff he does in Germany is good for us. There are not so many serious German projects. And there are more projects behind us but it is so hard to find money, it is very hard.” Fink explains.
In the same way that French racers like Louis Burton and Benjamin Dutreux have established their own boatyards, so also have the young German duo, investing in having a business alongside their professional sailing careers. It all started out when they needed additional funding for their project and so began doing up and trading older Mini 650s and now have seven people working full time and are refitting 35-40 footers.
Burke explains, “It is funny because we were out of budget and delivering pizza was never going to make enough. We needed money and so founded a boatyard and initially did some refits and traded some boats. So we created a company which Is growing and growing. We want to have sustainable business as sailing is so unpredictable. We can have a good project for four years and then you never know. And as a professional sailor you have profile and really learn about boats. You need a team you can trust.”
Clearly they are thinking of the future, but the next generation duo seem to have everything in place to return a solid result on their Transat Jacques Vabre Normandie Le Havre.
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