From  end of May, the  Mini 6.50, these mini offshore sailing boats with a reduced crew, will assemble in  Douarnenez for two big races : the Marie-Agnès PéronTrophy, a challenge of the  « French Championships of Solo Offshore Racing – Mini 6.50 » and the Mini-Fastnet.

For the Marie-Agnès Péron Trophy, the skippers will take part in a solo race of 220 miles between  Douarnenez, the Iroise sea, the south of Brittany and return to Douarnenez.

For the Mini-Fastnet, it’s a week later, after the Prologue on Saturday, that the sailors will cast off  anew from the Finisterian port on Sunday for a return trip in doubles towards the mythic  Fastnet lighthouse in Ireland.

 Before the start, on the pontoons of Treboul, its pure excitement. Even if the preparations take up time, it’s all done in a great atmosphere specific to the Minis and the skippers remain approachable ; visitors are welcome.

 Foreigners are faithful to the  Mini circuit. Outside France, not less than 13 nationalities have lined up at the start of the  MAP Trophy and the Mini-Fastnet in the last two years: Germany, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Croatia, Spain, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Turkey, USA.

During the races, we can follow the fleet’s progress on the maps.

Every year, in June, Douarnenez will be the unmissable destination of the Mini 6.50 Class.  For 3 weeks, more than a hundred skippers will tread the pontoons of Treboul.

The two races organised by the Winches Club represent  two very different profiles.

• The Marie-Agnès Péron Trophy, solo over 220 nautical miles, is framed by the competitive structure which roughly includes the second stage of the French Championships of Solo Offshore Racing – 6,50, the preparation of the Mini Transat of October, the classification in international ranking of the Class, and of course, a race entirely apart.
• The Mini-Fastnet is uncontestably the jewel of the double races of the Class. Just look at the winners of the of the thirty eight preceding editions since  1987 – a good number of the current competitors weren’t even born then.
  The Mini Fastnet and its mythic race of  600 nautical miles represents a Grail in itself.