For a long time, an exciting neck-and-neck race characterised the top of the Imoca field at the Transat Café L'Or. Now the winner has been decided: Jérémie Beyou and Morgan Lagravière were the first to cross the finish line in Fort-de-France in their "Charal" at 5.15 a.m. local time on Friday morning. It took them 11 days, 19 hours and 45 minutes to cover the distance from Le Havre in Normandy to the Caribbean island of Martinique.
New record for Transat Café L'Or
Beyou is celebrating his first major offshore victory since 2020. The Breton sailor has won the Solitaire du Figaro three times and has always sailed at the front in the last major Imoca regattas - but technical mishaps have repeatedly cost him victory. Now he triumphed on the 2023-built "Charal", a Manuard design, together with co-skipper Lagravière.
This is Lagravière's third success in a row in the race: he won the two previous editions with Thomas Ruyant (2021, 2023) and is now back on top. Never before has a sailor triumphed three times in a row at the Transat regatta. Lagravière is thus making history.
At this point, you will find external content that complements the article. You can display and hide it with a click.
Clapchich/Harris in second place
The "Charal" duo took the lead shortly after the Canary Islands and did not relinquish it until the finish. The battle for second and third place was a different story: there the Teams "11th Hour Racing" with Francesca Clapcich and co-skipper Will Harris and "Macif Santé Prévoyance" with Sam Goodchild and Loïs Berrehar.
For a long time, Goodchild and Berrehar kept the competition at bay in second place, but one day and around 400 nautical miles before the finish, Clapcich and Harris made the decisive push. They sailed to the front on the former "Malizia" and crossed the finish line as the second Imoca, almost six hours after the "Charal". For Clapcich, the 17th edition of the Transat Café L'Or is his debut, while co-skipper Harris is competing in this special transatlantic race for the third time.
Legendary Transat race with a new name
Many people still know the regatta by its old name: Transat Jacques Vabre. Since this year, the French coffee brand Café L'Or has sponsored the event and given it its new name. The regatta is one of the most prestigious transatlantic ocean races for crews of two.
It has been held every two years since 1993 and follows the historic coffee trade route from the French port of Le Havre across the Atlantic - currently to Fort-de-France in Martinique. The teams sail in different boat classes: Ultims, Imoca 60, Multi50 and Class40.
Tight finish also for Ultims and Ocean Fiftys
Both the Ultims and some of the slightly smaller Ocean Fifty trimarans arrived in Martinique a few hours earlier. Tom Laperche and Franck Cammas brought "SVR Lazartigue" to the finish line off Martinique on Thursday night after 10 days, 13 hours and three minutes. Since the rival "Banque Populaire XI" dropped back early in the race due to repairs, the favourites were able to develop their strengths freely.
Read more:
The Ocean Fifty was just as close in the end. With a lead of just 20 minutes, "Viabilis Océans" (Hulin/Rouxel) prevailed against "Wewise" (Quiroga/Morvan). "Le Rire Medecin Lamotte" (Quiroga/Morvan) reached the finish line ten minutes later. The first four boats thus finished within an hour of each other. A remarkably close race with a total distance of around 4,700 nautical miles.
