Transat Café L'Or: Four classes, four worlds - Clapcich and Harris in front
Tatjana Pokorny
· 31.10.2025
While the Class40 two-handed crews use their stopover in Galicia for repairs and resttheir last four duos were still struggling to arrive in La Coruña on Friday morning. That's because the starting gun for the "second leg" will be fired there on Saturday afternoon. This division of the non-stop race into two legs had already been specified by the race organisers for the smallest monohulls in the Transat Café L'Or before the starting signal last weekend in Le Havre for safety reasons in view of the stormy conditions.
Transat Café L'Or: Beucke continues with orthosis
Now the Class40 players are gearing up for their new start. Among them is Sanni Beucke. The 2021 Olympic silver medallist is contesting the race with French rider Sasha Lanièce on "Alderan". She slipped on board on 27 October and injured her left knee. The result of the MRI scan: a posterior cruciate ligament was torn. On the downside, there was the information that a crew change in the originally planned non-stop race was not possible.
Sanni Beucke told YACHT on Friday lunchtime: "After much deliberation and back and forth, I have now decided - because I feel very, very stable and very good and have no pain - to sail with an orthosis. I'm getting it now. An orthosis that simply absorbs the movements that the ligament can no longer do because it's not there."
The nice thing is that the ligament heals on its own and no operation is necessary. I'm not actually risking anything right now. We're off and running!" Susann Beucke
While the Class40 athletes enjoy their last tapas, three boats could still arrive in La Coruña for the start of the second leg, which begins on Saturday at 1pm German time. "The Courbon brothers are still around 30 hours away from La Coruña and could get off to a slow start. The others will probably arrive in the middle of the night, assess the condition of their boats and decide whether to restart. For them, the wind is still strong but manageable," explained race director Francis Le Goff on Friday morning.
Fourth cancellation at Transat Café L'Or
The evening before, Le Goff had already had to note the retirement of Randolphe Sepho and Jean-Pierre Coutayar on "Rêve de Large 5". The duo had announced their retirement in Lorient. After the three capsized Ocean Fifties, this fourth retirement in the Transat Café L'Or marked the first in the Class40. This means that a total of 70 boats with 140 sailors are still active in this 17th edition of the Atlantic race from France to Martinique.
There has been too little wind recently for the Imocas, which were still stuck in the weak wind ridge of the Canary Islands on Friday morning. This led to a reorganisation of the fleet and some uncertainties. A high-pressure ridge, which the teams couldn't really get rid of, drove the boats eastwards, which led to correspondingly "strange" images in the tracking: At times it looked as if the Imocas were sailing almost in the opposite direction to their destination.
The weather conditions on this Halloween day - viewed through Imoca glasses - were anything but ideal. The crews on the large monohulls in the Transat Café L'Or struggled to decide where they should and could tack in order to find the north-easterly wind on the other side of this obstacle.
Clapcich/Harris strong in all wind conditions
The "11th Hour Racing" duo initially showed the best nerves in this game of nerves of steel. After a successful first week of racing so far, Italian-American skipper Francesca Clapcich and her British co-skipper Will Harris reaped the rewards of their many miles sailed. The experience gained in the Ocean Race Europe in dealing with the light mid-weather winds may also have been of benefit to them.
Will Harris has already travelled tens of thousands of nautical miles on the ex-"Malizia Seaexplorer". Francesca Clapcich is making her first transat as skipper on the Imoca, which was taken over by Boris Herrmann. For the Trieste-born Ocean Race winner, it was a pleasant surprise early on Friday morning when the sun rose, she savoured her espresso and "11th Hour Racing" took first place in the Imoca classification of the Transat Café L'Or.
Francesca Clapcich said: "We've had a really good week so far and I have to say a big well done to Will who has prepared so hard. We've stayed true to our strategy and it's paying off. But we've seen how quickly the boats can come back together. We have nine boats within 30 nautical miles of each other, and previously we (ed.: with the leading five boats) had a lead of 100 nautical miles. I think it will be a fresh start in the Canary Islands."
Transat Café L'Or: the top Imocas are in front
Frankie" also briefly found time to enjoy her surroundings on the Atlantic, saying: "It's a beautiful sunrise. It's really something special and one of the reasons why we do this sport. The sun is just coming up and we are approaching the islands. We have six knots of wind and calm water, so not much wind. We're making slow progress and of course we have to cross this big ridge, which isn't easy. After that, it won't be easy to get into good trade winds either."
I think the strategy is very important for the next 48 hours and then we'll see." Francesca Clapcich
The closest pursuers of "11th Hour Racing" were "Charal" with Jérémie Beyou and Morgan Lagravière, the Vendée Globe dominator "Macif Santé Prévoayance" with Sam Goodchild and Loïs Berrehar, "Team Snef - Teamwork" with Justine Mettraux and Xavier Macaire and "Allagrande Mapei" with Ambrogio Beccaria and Thomas Ruyant.
When asked whether her Imoca was in top form, Francesca Clapcich said: "I knock on wood. We didn't have many problems. After 36 hours we checked the boat thoroughly to make sure we hadn't missed any damage. The boat is in really good condition. The technical team is just incredible. They did a great job to get the boat ready to go again after the Ocean Race Europe. To see that the boat is so reliable is hugely important. There were little things here and there, but we sorted them out in five minutes."
Dolphins, magnificent sunsets and starry skies
This exciting but rather calm phase is accompanied by nature experiences on the Atlantic. Sam Davies, who was last in seventh place with Vendée Globe star Violette Dorange on "Inititatives Cœur", said: "The light wind is annoying, but you can go on deck and enjoy the view. We are accompanied by dolphins, a marvellous sunset and a starry sky. Simply magical!"
Andreas Baden from Kiel, who was in 14th position with Fabrice Amedeo on "FDJ United - Wewise", enjoyed very similar encounters. Baden sent the pictures from on board. During this "breathing space", all the Imoca duos tried to maintain their positions. At the same time, the Ultim giants had naturally advanced much further south.
They made a sharp course change to the west, passed Cape Verde at midday on Friday and are already heading for the squid zone. The Ocean Fifties, for whom the archipelago is an important part of their course, will probably have no choice but to pass Cape Verde to the east on Friday evening. They will have to keep a close eye on the slipstreams, which can extend over 150 miles to the south, before they too set course for the Caribbean destination harbour of Fort-de-France.
Unusual "Africa course" at the Ultims
Among the leading Ultims, Tom Laperche and Franck Cammas with "SVR Lazartigue" recently held a lead of more than 40 nautical miles over "Sodebo Ultim 3" with Thomas Coville and Benjamin Schwartz. Anthony Marchand and Julien Villon followed with "Actual Ultim 3", 80 nautical miles behind. Armel Le Cléac'h and Sébastien Josse made up ground after their pit stop. "Banque Populaire XI" reduced their deficit to 238 nautical miles. Click here to track all four classes at the Transat Café L'Or.
"Basically, our route is quite classic. The only unusual thing is that we sailed so close to Africa to find the wind," said Franck Cammas, summarising the previous passage. The Frenchman was also pleased with "the high level of competition between the boats, which have all improved significantly".
