Mini Petrolera

One hundred miles facing the Casablanca platform: the sprint that launches the season

Head due south from the Catalan coast, round an oil platform planted off the Ebro Delta, then race back up to Garraf at full speed — all solo, with little or no sleep. The Mini Petrolera is no pleasure cruise. Organised by Club Nàutic Garraf, this 100-nautical-mile loop has become a cornerstone event on the Mediterranean Mini 6.50 Class circuit, and the 2026 edition will be no exception.

A springboard to the open ocean

Since its inception, the Mini Petrolera has played a very specific role in the offshore racing ecosystem: offering sailors a demanding training ground to rack up qualifying miles before the major oceanic challenges. The race has regularly served as a round of the Catalan Championship — solo, doublehanded and Mini 6.50 — as well as the Spanish Offshore Racing Championship.

The fleet hasn't always been huge. In the early 2020s, reaching the quorum of five boats needed to constitute an official class was sometimes a logistical challenge. Despite this, the race has retained its status thanks to an unforgiving course and an ideal calendar slot, just before the shift to the Atlantic.

A deceptively simple course, formidable in practice

The route hasn't changed: start from Garraf, head south to the Casablanca platform, turn, return to Garraf. 185 kilometres of concentrated sprinting over roughly 24 hours, where every tactical decision carries weight.

The oil platform, planted off the Ebro Delta, serves as a natural turning mark. Between the two, skippers navigate a succession of traps:

• Thermal winds along the Catalan coast, capricious and localised
• Topographic effects around the Ebro Delta, where coastal relief reshuffles the cards
• Dense commercial shipping traffic in this industrial zone

No long offshore leg here. The intensity is concentrated on pure speed and short-term strategy. Weather reading errors are paid for immediately, with no margin for recovery on such a short format.

2026 format: solo, without a safety net

The 2026 edition imposes a strict framework, aligned with Mini Class standards.

• Start: Friday 6 March 2026 at 12:00
• Close: 8 March (48-hour window, though leaders are expected well before)
• Crew: solo — unlike some past editions open to doublehanded entries, the "single" format puts individual mastery at the heart of the game
• Category C, safety level OSR Category 3: liferaft, beacons, full equipment for nocturnal coastal navigation
• Rating coefficient: 2 — modest compared to transatlantics, but valuable for validating status or climbing the rankings without heavy logistics

The return to solo changes the race's character. On a 24 to 30-hour format, sleep becomes an unaffordable luxury. The ability to maintain high performance without rest will be the real litmus test.

Two divisions, one goal

The fleet divides into two distinct categories:

• Prototypes — floating laboratories, sometimes equipped with foils or canting keels, where innovation pushes the limits of the rule
• Production — production boats, often more numerous at the start, where only the sailor's talent makes the difference

For the Mini 6.50 ranking to be validated independently of ORC boats, a minimum of five units must take the start. No maximum quota is imposed.

For most skippers, the Mini Petrolera serves as a full-scale "shakedown": the first real test after winter work, the one that reveals the final tweaks needed before ferrying the boat to the Atlantic coast.

What's really at stake on 6 March

Miles that count

Finishing the Mini Petrolera means logging 100 racing miles and validating a Category C event — two essential prerequisites for qualifying for the Mini Transat or featuring in the Mediterranean Championship standings. For newcomers to the class, every mile is a building block on the road to ocean racing.

A mental endurance test

Sailing solo for 24 hours non-stop on a 6.50 means enduring cold, fatigue, repeated manoeuvres, constant vigilance in traffic — all while keeping the boat at full speed. The sprint format offers no respite. Those who manage the relentless effort best will gain the advantage.

First barometer of the season

As the first major Mediterranean event of the year, the Mini Petrolera sets the tone. Results allow assessment of the hierarchy, identification of new contenders, and measurement of the impact of technical developments tested over winter.

Find the complete Mini 6.50 race calendar on spencer.club.

Technical sheet: Mini Petrolera 2026

The countdown is on. In a few days, the Mini 6.50s will leave the Garraf pontoons to face the sea, the stopwatch and themselves. First verdict of the 2026 season.