Transat Café L'Or: Final in sight - storm of favourites on course for Martinique

Martinique is getting closer and the tension on the Atlantic is rising! In the Ultim class, Tom Laperche and Franck Cammas on "SVR-Lazartigue" are heading for victory. The Frenchmen had "only" a good 870 nautical miles to go on the evening of 4 November. In the Imocas class, Jérémie Beyou and Morgan Lagravière on "Charal" enjoyed a 47 nautical mile lead over their pursuers Sam Goodchild and Loïs Berrehar on the Vendée Globe winner "Macif Santé Prévoyance".

Transat Café L'Or: finally a victory for Beyou?

It could be a long-awaited victory for Jérémie Beyou. Although he won the Défi Azimut in 2023, his last major race victory was five years ago: in 2020, he finished first in the Vendée Arctique, beating the eventual Vendée Globe dominator Charlie Dalin into second place. In the most recent edition of the Vendée Globe, Beyou missed out on the podium in fourth place.

In the battle for the Imoca podium places in the ongoing Transat Café L'Or, Frankie Clapcich and Will Harris continued to defend third place for the 11th Hour Racing team. The Italian-American and her British co-skipper were recently faster than Goodchild and Berrehar ahead of them and were able to close the gap to the Imoca runners-up to just over ten nautical miles.

Behind the ex-"Malizia - Seaexplorer" taken over by Clapcich for her Vendée Globe premiere in 2028 Boris Herrmann's Ambrogio Beccaria and Thomas Ruyant tried to catch up with the 11th hour duo on "Allagrande Mapei", but ultimately had to make up 40 nautical miles to third place. Just under 200 nautical miles behind the Imoca leaders in Transat Café L'Or are Justine Mettraux and Xavier Macaire on "Team Snef - WeamWork".

"Paprec Arkéa": strong race to catch up, no chance of a podium finish

On the tenth day of the Transat Café L'Or, some of the leading Imocas were travelling very fast on a north-westerly course. "Charal" and "Allagrande Mapei" achieved 24-hour average speeds of 24.8 and 24.4 knots respectively. The race to catch up by "Paprec Arkéa" is also exciting in the class with the many Vendée Globe soloists who are contesting the current race in pairs.

After the collision with a buoy off Le Havre, a lightning repair in the starting harbour and the restart, Vendée Globe runner-up Yoann Richomme and his co-skipper Corentin Horeau are climbing irresistibly back up the rankings. In thirteenth place, 1111 nautical miles behind "Charal", they finally attacked the "Fives Group - Lantana Environement" ahead of them.

For the pre-start favourites Yoann Richomme and Corentin Horeau, there is no podium finish in sight after the early setback. Nevertheless, they are fighting for every place. Around 275 nautical miles north of Cape Verde, the two Frenchmen also picked up speed. After dealing with the disappointment of the start, they are enjoying the simple pleasures of the sea as well as the race to catch up.

Yoann Richomme as a hunter and connoisseur

Yoann Richomme said on Tuesday at the Transat Café L'Or: "We are starting the crossing of the Atlantic, there are six quiet days ahead of us. We still have a few boats to catch up with, if we can, and we'll still have some great moments. I'm enjoying the last crossing with my boat."

The new Richomme campaign is already being planned and will run under the umbrella of Team Paprec. After eight years of collaboration with Yoann Richomme, the company wants to manage the new project on its own without Arkéa. The launch of the new Imoca, whose design is the responsibility of Koch, Finot-Conq and GSea, is planned for the first quarter of 2027.

The current boat is changing hands to co-skipper Corentin Horeau and will race under the colours of Team Voile Macsf. Horeau is a companion of Yoann Richomme, who also sailed with him in the Ocean Race Europe. Richomme had introduced Horeau on stage at the team presentation in the starting harbour of Kiel as the "upcoming Vendée Globe winner".

Turbulent weather changes at the Transat Café L'Or

While Richomme and Horeau still have the Atlantic ahead of them, the Ultims have now passed the squid belt for the second time in this Transat Café L'Or. On board "Actual Ultim 3", Anthony Marchand and Julien Villion experienced alternating blue skies and violent tropical thunderstorms.

"We are trying to get out of this zone and get back into the trade winds further north," comments Anthony Marchand. "It's not an easy situation, we're manoeuvring a lot, it's hot and humid, but our efforts are gradually bringing us closer to Martinique." The maxi trimarans are sailing on course for Fort-de-France. "SVR Lazartigue" could reach its destination as early as the night between 5 and 6 November.

Emmanuel Le Roch and Basile Bourgnon on the Ocean Fifty "Edenred", on the other hand, are worried. They had been in the lead for a long time. Their rocket was travelling at 25 knots at times and was already heading for Martinique. "I was asleep and Manu was on watch when we heard a loud crack. The boat came to a standstill," Basile Bourgnon reported on the end of his team's dreams of victory.

Broken outrigger costs more than the Class 40 guide

The outrigger, on which the large gennaker is hoisted and deflected, was broken. Roch and Bourgnon had to repair it at reduced speed. For the rest of the race, they now have to cope with a handicapped outrigger. The disappointment is huge for the duo, who had been in the lead for almost seven days with impressive aplomb. They have now dropped back to fourth place behind "Viabilis Océanis", "WeWise" and "Le Rire Medecin Lamotte".

Things could get exciting again next night when Ultims and Ocean Fifties meet in the final sprint to Martinique, possibly between the tenth and twelfth parallel north on the Atlantic. Not to forget: The Ocean Fifties started one day before the other three classes. Three of the Trimarana had already capsized in the first 24 hoursTheir crews had to be rescued by helicopters.

For the Class40ies, the time for decisions is over for the time being. The majority of the fleet has opted for the south and the trade winds - the gentler course for the boats. But even if the route seems longer in terms of distance, it doesn't have to be longer in terms of time. The Class40 field continued to be led on Tuesday evening by Corentin Douguet and Axel Tréhin on "SNSM - Faites un Don" ahead of "Legallais" and "VSF Sports". Sasha Lanièce and Sanni Beucke were in 29th place with "Alderan", 140 nautical miles behind the leaders. Click here for the Transat Café L'Or tracker.