Mini Atlantique: A dress rehearsal for the Mini Transat – two GER boats taking part

As usual, the top favourites in the Mini Atlantique are French. In the Protos class, for example, there’s Caroline Boule, who’d love to steer the Superfoiler “Nicomatic – Petit Bateau” onto the podium. Then there’s “Branchet” skipper Julien Letissier, who has already won the Mini en Mai with his 2023 Raison design. There are eleven challengers in the Protos class in total – a small but strong field, which also includes the 18-year-old Carla Hénon-Steck is in use.

Carla Hénon-Steck in the Mini Atlantique: “I’ve never sailed such a long distance before”

​Before setting off, the young offshore sailor said: “It’s my first really big race, because I’m heading for the Azores! 2,600 nautical miles in my little boat from Les Sables d’Olonne to Horta and back again. I’ve never been this far from the coast on my own before, nor have I ever covered such a long distance on my boat. I’m really looking forward to seeing how it goes and I’m absolutely delighted that I managed to qualify for this race in just 3.5 months.”

Carla’s thoughts on her own preparations for this year’s Mini Summit: “I’ve spent the last few weeks getting the boat ready. I’ve done the stability test required by the class, sorted out my batteries, the VHF antenna and my autopilot, carried out loads of safety checks, repaired the sails again and, of course, packed my provisions! The atmosphere in Les Sables-d’Olonne was really good.”

Sailing the “Bahia Express”, the solo sailor was at the helm of a 2005 Manuard Proto with the bow number 551. The boat is older than she is. The daughter of a French father and a German mother grew up in southern Germany, but spent every summer holiday at the family home in Brittany, where she also discovered her fascination with offshore sailing. As is the case for production-boat skipper Tom Wehde from Team Next Generations Sailing, the Mini Atlantique marks the most important race to date in Carla Hénon-Steck’s career, which has only just begun.

Tom Wehde sails in the tradition of Next Generation Sailing

Tom Wehde is racing the “Osterrath” in the Mini Atlantique class. The Kiel native had come out on top in a talent competition in the winter of 2024 and is now pushing ahead with his campaign for the 2027 Mini Transat with the 2024 Bertrand Vector 650. “This regatta is the ultimate dress rehearsal for the Mini Transat. I’ve been working all season specifically for this challenge.”

The “Osterrath” Mini had been launched that week at La Base in Lorient, where Boris Herrmann’s new IMOCA rocket, “Malizia 4”, was also launched. There, Tom Wehde prepared it for the highlight of the season before taking the boat to Les Sables-d’Olonne. “I’ve checked everything – really gone over everything on the boat twice and three times, run through every possible scenario. I’m ready,” said Wehde on the day of the Mini Atlantique start.

The race was originally known by its former name, Les Sables-Les Açores-Les Sables. It has only been called the Mini Atlantique since this year. It continues to run from the birthplace of the Vendée Globe to the Azores and back again. Around 1,300 nautical miles must be covered in each direction. Alongside the eleven Proto challengers, 53 production-class challengers are taking part.

Mini Atlantique: good winds right up to the finish line…

Whilst Carla Hénon-Steck managed to work her way up to sixth place in the Protos class during the first few hours after the start, Tom Wehde also got off to a good start on 22 July, sitting in fourteenth place in his fleet of production boats – a fleet almost five times as large. Here, the only Austrian competitor, Valentin Breitfuss, was in 29th place on Wednesday afternoon with “Naila”. The production boat classification was initially led by Joseph Cloarec, one of the joint favourites. Click here for tracking.

The Mini sailors have the weather on their side, at least in the early stages. Steady winds are expected to accompany the fleet over long stretches. Ahead of the start, Tom Wehde also anticipated some challenging sections, saying: “Winds between 15 and 30 knots – looks like it’ll be fun.” However, more changeable wind conditions are expected as the fleet approaches the Azores. Things could get tricky – and all the more exciting – in the final stages.

Melwin Fink, who, like his team-mate Lennart Burke, had competed in the Mini-Transat himself in 2021 – finishing third at the time – and has since made the Class40 his home, had this to say about the challenge facing Tom Wehde from his own racing team: “The race is a real test of endurance for Tom. We’re very excited to see how this challenge will pan out. We’ll naturally be glued to the tracker and cheering him on.”

REPLAY! A look back at the start of the Mini Atlantique: