The Mini-Transat

The first “Mini”, created by Britain’s Bob Salmon, who dreamed of sailing solo from East to West across the Atlantic, took place in 1977. At the time, the only competition of this kind was the Ostar, better known as the English Transat (twice won by Eric Tabarly), whose participating boats became bigger and more expensive over the years.

In response to the soaring costs of that Transat, Bob Salmon created the Mini Transat for small sailing boats no more than six-and-a-half meters long. For the first race, 23 boats sailed from Penzance in the Southwest of England to Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Canary Islands, then on to Antigua in the West Indies. In 1984, the French took over the organization of the Mini Transat, which then started from Brittany. The race usually took place in two stages, with a stopover either in the Canary Islands or in Madeira. The second stage usually ended in the West Indies.

This year, the organizers are being innovative and starting the race on September 22, 2001 from La Rochelle. Renamed the “Transat 6.50 Charente Maritime-Bahia“, this will be the first time that the Mini crosses the Equator and finishes in Brazil after a stopover in Lanzarote. There will be some great moments, such as when they will go through the doldrums, a windless area, where two weather systems converge.

Qualification :

To be able to participate in the last few Mini Transats, competitors had to qualify by sailing 500 miles solo and completing a Mini-class regatta. It turned out that that was not enough preparation, for many boats were launched only three months before departure and had not been tried out enough to be able to cope with the strong winds in the Gulf of Gascony.
This year, for safety’s sake, the number of registrations has been limited to 55 and the qualifying criteria have been tightened considerably: skippers have to sail 1,000 miles in a recognized Mini-class race and 1,000 miles solo along one of the itineraries within that class.

Prestigious names :

What is special about the race is that it brings together racing professionals who have already completed thousands of miles and pure amateurs who have never crossed the Atlantic before. It has given birth to such prestigious racers as Laurent Bourgnon, Loïck Peyron, Isabelle Autissier, Yves Parlier, Ellen Mac Arthur, Thomas Coville and Catherine Chabaud.