Aina Bauza takes the first step to meet the challenge of the Mini Transat.

Aina Bauza has just completed the Solo Med 2022 offshore regatta, earning more than half of the required 1,500 racing miles to fulfill her dream of participating in the 2023 Mini Transat aboard her 6.5-meter boat ‘Redó‘.

The Mallorcan sailor, Aina Bauza, has successfully finished the Solo Med 2022 offshore regatta, securing more than half of the 1,500 racing miles needed to realize her dream of participating in the 2023 Mini Transat aboard her vessel ‘Redó’, a 6.5-meter boat without assistance, fuel consumption, relying solely on wind power and onboard solar panels.

Undoubtedly, this is a significant achievement, marking the first step for the Mallorcan sailor in her ambitious project set for 2023 – to become the first Balearic woman to solo-cross the Atlantic in the Mini Transat 2023. After navigating almost 800 miles in her Mini ‘Redó’ during the Solo Med 2022, the athlete from the Club de Vela Port d’Andratx (CVPA) is gearing up for her upcoming challenges to fulfill the dream of the 2023 Mini Transat.

The Solo Med 2023 concluded with 22 out of the 34 sailors who started the race reaching the finish line. It is a Mini 6.50 class event organized by the Fundació Navegació Oceànica Barcelona (FNOB) and Base Mini, involving solo navigation of over 800 miles in two stages in the waters of Barcelona and the Balearic Islands.

Having secured funding for the Mini Transat project through sponsorship from Ànima Negra, B&G, and the generosity of dozens of sponsors, both companies, and individuals, Bauza is now focusing on accumulating the necessary miles to participate in the Mini Transat. She is also preparing her boat and gaining experience in solo navigation aboard ‘Redó.’

“The SoloMed 2022 has been a fantastic experience. It was challenging due to the weather conditions we encountered, with gusts of over 35 knots, which forced me to sail very conservatively and abandon the freeze-dried meals I had prepared, opting for pieces of fruit because everything inside the boat was a shaker,” she comments. “But despite the lack of equipment preparation, the boat is doing great, it’s very fast, and it’s incredible how it planes over the waves. The initial feelings aboard ‘Redó’ are very positive. This regatta allowed me to start getting to know the boat and learn to resolve situations quickly. Plus, I haven’t broken anything and made it to the finish line, something that more than a third of the fleet couldn’t achieve due to retirements along the way due to breakdowns or serious material damage to the boats“, she assures.

After this trial, Bauza is gearing up for her next steps towards fulfilling the dream of the 2023 Mini Transat, which requires sailors to prove they have sailed 1,500 racing miles and 1,000 solo miles to participate. Her next stop is to sail the 1,000 solo miles, in the coming weeks, depending on the weather, from Mallorca to Corsica and back. Then, in the summer, she will participate in the Mare Nostrum regatta as part of her preparation for the Mini Transat.

Covering 4,000 miles in two stages (Les Sables d’Olonne-La Palma and La Palma-Guadalupe), the Mini Transat is one of the world’s most demanding transoceanic races. Specifically, it is the oceanic category race with the smallest boats, 6.5 meters in length by 3 meters in width, without any interior comfort, and without the possibility of using electronic maps or external communication, beyond a daily weather report provided by radio from the organization.

If successful, Bauzá will follow in the footsteps of Balearic sailors such as Nacho Postigo, Hugo Ramón, José Linares, or Felip Moll, becoming the first female born in the Balearic Islands to achieve this challenging feat.

Bauzá boasts an extensive track record as a sailor from the Club de Vela del Port d’Andratx in classes such as Optimist, Laser 4.7, Laser Radial, and ILCA 6. She is part of the Spanish sailing team and recently finished fourth in the Offshore World Championship alongside Guillermo Altadill