Transat Café L'Or: Stormy worlds, an "early start" and high tension ahead
Tatjana Pokorny
· 24.10.2025
The two-handed race Transat Café L'Or caused some excitement even before the start. On Thursday, a storm swept over the starting harbour of Le Havre. The Race Village was closed in good time. Calm has since returned before the start. But for one of the four classes, the Transat classic from France to the Caribbean is now starting a day earlier than planned.
Ocean Fifty start brought forward!
The Ocean Fifty class and all their skippers have unanimously requested that their start in the Transat Café L'Or be brought forward. They had pointed out that the weather conditions were expected to be severe again on Sunday night and could be too dangerous for the 15-metre multihulls.
The race management then decided to bring forward the Ocean Fifty start to 25 October (16:30), which is now only half an hour after the Minis in the Santa Cruz de La Palma district, some 3460 kilometres away to the Transat Café L'Or. At the same time, the route for the Ocean Fifties has been changed so that its arrival in Fort-de-France should be in line with the original timing.
On their modified course, the Ocean Fifties will sail to the Canary Islands in the Transat Café L'Or, leaving the entire archipelago to starboard. They will then set course for the Cape Verde Islands and head for the original waypoint, which they will also leave to starboard. Another waypoint could be set to meet the planned race time of around twelve days. Click here to go to the tracker after the start.
74 duos compete in four classes
The starts of the other three classes in the Transat Café L'Or - Class40, Imocas and Ultims - will take place as planned on Sunday between 13.30 and 15.23 local time and will be broadcast live - see links at the end of the article. A total of 74 duos make up the challenger fleet. 18 of them will drive their Imocas across the Atlantic.
In the absence of Boris Herrmann, whose ex-"Malizia - Seaexplorer" is in the race from the new skipper Francsca Clapcich with Will Harris as "11th Hour Racing" Andreas Baden, a German sailor, will be in action. The Kiel native will start with Fabrice Amedeo on "FDJ - Wewise". A course of 4350 nautical miles has been set for the Imocas.
Sam Goodchild and Loïs Berrehar, who have just competed in the Ocean Race Europe with Boris Herrmann, will start the race as favourites on Charlie Dalin's Vendée Globe rocket "Macif Santé Prévoyance". But there are many duos that could jeopardise them: Yoann Richomme and Corentin Horeau on "Paprec Arkéa" and Ambrogio Beccaria and Thomas Ruyant on "Allagrande Mapei" are the two crews that also competed in the European race.
But the list of potential podium candidates in the Imoca class is much longer. Elodie Bonafous and Yann Eliés are sailing the still young "Macif" sister ship "Association Petits Princes-Quéguiner", with which the skipper very quickly got up to speed after the christening this year. Other candidates in the extended circle of favourites are Jérémie Beyou and Morgan Lagravière on "Charal". Lagravière is nothing less than the man who won the last two Transat editions alongside Thomas Ruyant.
Transat Café L'Or: Beucke and Lanièce in the race
While a duel between Armel Le Cléac'h and Sébastien Josse on "Maxi Banque Populaire XI" with their new foils and the "SVR Lazartigue" with Tom Laperche and Franck Cammas is expected in the giant class of the Ultims on the 6200 nautical mile course, the field in the Class40 is much more diverse. 42 duos, including three women's teams and three mixed teams, will tackle their race over 3750 nautical miles. The top favourites here are the class subscription winners Corentin Douguet and Axel Tréhin with their Lift V3 "SNSM, faites un don!"
Another armada of strong French riders such as Guillaume Pirouelle and Cédric Chateau ("Seafrigo-Sogestran") and big names such as the only two-time Vendée Globe winner Michel "Le Professeur" Desjoyeaux with Alexandre Le Gallais on "Trimcontrol" or Vendée Globe winner Vincent Riou with Yann Doffin ("Pierreval-Fondation good planet") stand out in the strong Class40 fleet. Sanni Beucke, the 49erFX Olympic silver medallist from Kiel, will also be racing alongside Parisian Sasha Lanièce on the Class40 "Alderan".
After the hotly contested biennial coffee route celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2023 as the Transat Jacques Vabre, this year the race is being called the Transat Café L'Or for the first time and will be held at the end of four different courses four winning duos in four classes at the finish harbour in Fort-de-France. It starts with the Live broadcast on Sunday from 9.45 a.m. with the launching of the boats in the Paul Vatine basin. The start broadcast begins here at 1.30 pm.
