Mini Atlantique: Tom Wehde fights his way into the top ten at the halfway stage

Only one winner at the halfway stage had already crossed the finish line in the Mini Atlantique on 29 July: proto-favourite Julien Letissier was the first to bring “Branchet” across the line on Wednesday. The first half of the mini two-parter Letissier completed the journey from Les Sables-d’Olonne to Horta in the Azores in 7 days, 11 minutes and 14 seconds. At the finish line, he celebrated and said: “I’m absolutely delighted and can hardly believe I’ve come first.”

Mini Atlantique: Sawada finishes second at the halfway point despite an injury

A good eleven hours later, on 30 July, he was followed by the brilliantly tenacious Koki Sawaka aboard the “DMG Mori Sailing Academy 2”. In addition to the demands of the race and the nerve-wracking, light-wind finish to the leg, Sawada had to overcome a painful challenge, having injured his left thumb early on in the race.

At the age of 27, Koki Sawada has now become the first Japanese sailor to reach the halfway mark in the Mini race, which is being held under the title Les Sables-Les Açores-Les Sables until 2025. Delighted with his achievement, he said: “The previous Japanese skippers from DMG Mori had never finished this race. So it’s incredible to be the first Japanese sailor from the Academy to cross the finish line here.”

Thanks to his success, the young Japanese athlete from Zushi, near the two-time Olympic venue of Enoshima, has also put himself in with a good chance of a podium finish. And Koki Sawada also had a lovely message for all newcomers:

“80 or 100 nautical miles used to seem like an enormous distance to me. But now that I’ve covered that distance, it’s on a completely different scale. It was a tough battle, but a brilliant race.” Koki Sawada

The DMG Mori soloist said after crossing the finish line: “I’m over the moon. It took longer than I’d expected. And I never thought I’d come second! As you know, I injured my thumb. It was a bit of bad luck, but also my own fault: first, my tiller came loose from its mount and bent upwards. I tried to sort out the problem, but I was sailing under spinnaker at the time. When I went to haul in the spinnaker, the sheet slipped out of my hand. That’s when I injured myself. I still have no feeling in my thumb.”

Mini Atlantique: a fighting spirit that leads to success

As a result of his injury, Sawada found it difficult to execute his manoeuvres to the best of his ability as the race progressed. “At the start, I didn’t hoist the spinnaker at all. I just wanted to sail safely,” he said in Horta. But then he changed his mind, as Sawada explained: “I wanted to keep pushing. Finishing second is really something very special.”

"I'm over the moon and so proud!" Koki Sawada

Hot on the heels of the two fastest Proto soloists, the winner of the production boat class crossed the finish line. Here too, one of the favourites, Ronan Jézégou from Brest, came out on top in his 2024 Raison Maxi 650 “Irish Express”. With a lead of around one and a half hours over Joseph Cloarec on “Mini Fifty Fifty” – also a Raison Maxi 650, but four years older – and a good two hours’ lead over the third production-class soloist, Thomas Darmont, on the third Raison Maxi 650 “Demosthene”, Jézégou has built up a comfortable lead for the second half of the race.

A total of 56 solo sailors are expected to prepare for the return leg from Horta to Les Sables-d’Olonne. Four prototype and four production-class competitors have had to withdraw so far.

Click here for the live updates for the first half of the Mini Atlantique.

Tom Wehde, on the other hand, fought his way through. Having dropped back to 17th place in the very early hours of 30 July, he fought his way back up to ninth place on his 2024 Bertrand Vector 650 “Osterrath”. In doing so, he managed to make up eight places in the space of half a day.

Tom Wehde moves up eight places in 13 hours

Whilst Carla Hénon-Steck, who is of German-French descent, was in seventh place in the Protos class on Thursday evening with around 340 nautical miles still to go to the finish, Tom Wehde, thanks to his energetic final sprint, crossed the line that evening after 8 days, 2 hours, 22 minutes and 4 seconds get the party started in Horta.

Having joined Team Next Generation in the winter of 2024 via a competition as a young talent and future Mini sailor, his current position in the one-design class standings – out of 53 boats that started – at the halfway point of the Mini Atlantique marks Tom Wehde’s strongest performance to date. His initial comment: “The last few days have been tough, but it’s great to be here now. I’ve never been to the Azores before. It’s something really special.”

Commenting on the first of two legs of the Mini Atlantique, Wehde said: “The first few days were very windy. That was lovely and went by quite quickly. But the end was slower. It felt good to be alone on board my boat.” In the final days of the first half of the race, both prototype and production-class sailors struggled with light winds.