Joshua Schopfer fulfills his dream with a magnificent 5th place in the Mini Transat 2025

by Joshua Schopfer 13 Nov 06:35 PST 9 November 2025

Joshua Schopfer finishes 5th in the Mini Transat 2025 © Manon Le Guen

Swiss - British sailor Joshua Schopfer crossed the finish line of the Mini Transat on Sunday 9th November, in Saint-François (Guadeloupe), after 15 days, 7 hours, 18 minutes, and 28 seconds of solo, unassisted sailing. Aboard his boat Mingulay (Mini 1028), he finished 5th in the Series category, just 7 hours and 39 minutes behind the winner—a great result given the highly competitive field in this edition.

Setting off from La Palma (Canary Islands) in light winds, Joshua Schopfer and his 87 competitors (57 in the Series class and 30 in the Prototypes class) first headed due south toward a waypoint north of the Cape Verde Islands, designed to keep them clear of a violent depression further north.

During the second night of racing, while in tenth place, Joshua suddenly heard the unmistakable rumble of an engine — a fishing boat, running without AIS (Automatic Identification System), at night, passing just a few meters in front of his bow. It was a frightening near miss: "I was really scared of losing everything — it takes so little for a Mini Transat to end! I lost a bit of focus at that point," he admits. "After that, I sailed a bit too far south after the waypoint, which cost me some ground against my direct rivals."

Joshua Schopfer finishes 5th in the Mini Transat 2025 - photo © Manon Le Guen

After this mishap, the Geneva sailor mounted an impressive comeback. Carried by the trade winds, he found an excellent pace, sailing full speed under spinnaker toward the west, gybing with each wind shift and overtaking his competitors one by one, until he climbed to second place, about 15 miles behind leader Paul Cousin.

"I knew I was moving up in the rankings, and that really motivated me," he recalls. "The sailing was intense — magical surfs on the big Atlantic waves, with naps of 30 minutes at most."

As the 87 remaining competitors stretched out south of the direct route, the race leaders set a furious pace, opening up a sizeable gap over their pursuers. Days and nights blended together as the sailors settled into their "bubble," completely isolated from the rest of the world — their routines filled with constant sail trimming, long hours at the helm, and endless repairs as the gear took a beating.

"Three days before the finish, I was sailing full speed under my biggest spinnaker, in 25 knots of wind — it was absolutely wild," Joshua recounts. "The boat kept rounding up, but I was flying, maybe a bit too much... Eventually I decided to change sails. Exhausted and a bit foggy, I messed up the maneuver — the spinnaker fell into the water, went under the hull, and got tangled in the rudders. I saw the bowsprit start to bend — it was about to snap — but I just managed to release the tack line in time. The load shifted to the mast, with crazy tension since the spinnaker was still dragging tons of water behind the boat. It took a while to get everything sorted again. Miraculously, the sail wasn't torn, but I was completely drained."

Joshua Schopfer finishes 5th in the Mini Transat 2025 - photo © Manon Le Guen

Joshua then realized that his forestay — the cable supporting the mast at the front — had been damaged and partially unraveled. He had narrowly avoided losing the mast altogether.

"I secured the rig and got back on course, but from that moment on, I never managed to regain my rhythm, and my closest rivals caught up."

Joshua stayed in touch with the leading pack right to the end, crossing the finish line 7 hours and 40 minutes behind the overall winner, Paul Cousin, and less than twenty minutes from fourth place.

"The four big favorites finished just ahead of me," Joshua points out. "I'm extremely proud to have kept up the pace and fought with them to the very end. I'm also just so happy to be here in Guadeloupe — to have made it across the Atlantic solo. It's an extraordinary feeling. For me, this is the realization of a dream."

Joshua's Race in Numbers: