Mini-Transat: First mast break on course Santa Cruz - the Minis are loose!
Tatjana Pokorny
· 22.09.2025
This was not how Frenchman Thomas Biasse had imagined his Mini-Transat in the 25th anniversary edition. Right at the start of the first night of the first leg from Les Sables-d'Olonne to Santa Cruz de La Palma, the mast on "Une Spondy en Mini" broke. The accident in Biasse occurred on Sunday evening in the north of the Île d'Yeu in strong gusts. The skipper is physically well. According to the organisers, Thomas Biasse is expected to reach the starting port under his own power on Monday afternoon under emergency rigging.
Pit stop with 12-hour penalty
Compatriot Julien Letissier also had problems with his autopilot. He had to make a pit stop in Lorient. He wants to carry out the repair in the harbour of Morbihan as quickly as possible and then continue the race. According to the regulations, however, he must complete a twelve-hour waiting period before he is allowed to continue sailing in the event of such a repair stop.
Before the first soloists were hit hard, the starting day in Les Sables-d'Olonne was full of emotion. The farewell to the 90 soloists was intense. Families, friends and fans of the skippers, 14 of whom are women, gave the daredevils their applause and many good wishes for this first 1350 nautical mile leg. With 75 per cent first-time participants, the excitement level was high until the proto and series fleets took their leave.
In the meantime, many boats from Les Sables-d'Olonne have long since rounded the first waypoint south of Concarneau and are on the section through the Bay of Biscay. If you want to follow the race on the trackerbut currently still requires some patience. The tracker does not always show the boats. It is also confusing that the mainland is shown in blue in the tracker. The organisers have announced that a technical team is working on the problems.
Top favourite Benoït Marie leads the proto classification
These problems do not matter for the sailors. The race organisers have assured us that they have the positions of all boats on screen. The current positions can also be seen in the tracking in list form on the left-hand side of the screen. It is no surprise that Benoït Marie is leading the proto ranking. Read the interview with the 38-year-old "Nicomatic - Petit Bateau" skipper herewhy this is the case. He was followed by Alexandre Demange from Team DMG Mori Sailing Academy in the pure proto classification on Monday afternoon, just two nautical miles behind. The Swiss Felix Oberle was in fifth place with "Big Bounce - Beltrona".
The best series boat sailor Paul Cousin on "AFP - Groupe Biocombustibles" performed remarkably well at this early stage, only four nautical miles behind foiling proto-superstar Benoït Marie. Among the 57 series boats Hendrik Lenz from Düsseldorf had already worked his way up from 19th place to 14th on Monday morning. His ambitious goal for the mini-premiere: "Finishing in the top ten would be silver. The top five would be gold." Before the start, Lenz had counted Paul Cousin, the current leader in the series boats, among the top contenders as a man with sprint qualities.
He himself wants to break into the maxi phalanx on "Monoka" alongside his friend, Vector ally and competitor Nicolo Gamenara. Shortly before the start, electrical engineer Lenz gave a satisfied summary of his preparations in Les Sables-d'Olonne: "I think my boat has rarely been as good as it is now." He is well equipped with spare autopilots, spare parts for the main electronics and wind sensors as well as repair materials. The only thing he did without was a replacement compass because, at around 1000 euros, it no longer fitted into the budget.
Can the series boat make it in under eight days?
His sailing wardrobe includes "a new very large Spi Max, which will probably be 100 per cent out on the second leg," says Hendrik Lenz. There is also an older, but rarely sailed Spi medium on board. Lenz says: "Then there's the Code 0 furled on wire, the new main from this season, the genoa and the storm sail, which I've never used before."
The routings before the start had resulted in a stage duration of 8 days and a few hours for Hendrik Lenz. However, according to the Vector attacker, it could also be a little quicker. He thought it was possible to reach Finisterre within 48 hours. The course of the stage will show how quickly the soloists actually make progress in the mini-transat. The proto record for stage one is 7 days, 8 hours, 58 minutes, for the series boats it is 8 days, 12 hours, 23 minutes.
The sailors cannot be questioned about their assessments during the race. It is a special feature of the Mini-Transat - and quite different from "transparent races" such as the Ocean Race Europe or the Glob40 - that the participants are not allowed to have any contact with the outside world during the race. Only the race organisers maintain contact. The interim results on Monday revealed that Thiemo Huuk on "Europe" was initially in 24th place, while the German-Frenchman Victor David with "Ich bin ein Solitaire" was in 31st place.
