The decision was made shortly before 9pm on Monday evening: Guillaume Pirouelle and Cédric Chateau on "Seafrigo - Sogestran" crossed the finish line of their second stage in the Transat Café L'Or in first place, less than half an hour ahead of their long-term rivals from the north.
It took the two Frenchmen 16 days, 7 hours, 57 minutes and 43 seconds to complete the course from La Coruña to Fort-de-France. The northern sailors Corentin Douguet and Axel Tréhin ("SNSM - Faites un don"), who were narrowly beaten, crossed the finish line just 28 minutes and 59 seconds after the winners.
Narrow Class40 decision
Adding the 2 days, 18 hours, 37 minutes and 3 seconds for the leg up to the safety stop in La Coruña, which the race committee had set up for the Class40 due to stormy conditions, Pirouelle and Chateau won the 17th Transat Café L'Or with 19 days, 2 hours, 34 minutes and 46 seconds. Because Douguet and Tréhin had won the first leg with their new Lombard Lift 3, the difference after adding up the times over the entire Transat course was only 7 minutes and 21 seconds.
Shortly after the restart in La Coruña, Pirouelle and Chateau had already led the fleet on 2 and 3 November. They then began their "dive" southwards - and initially fell further and further behind in the 40-boat classification. By 5 November, the duo had dropped to 15th place, 233.6 nautical miles behind Corentin Douguet and Axel Tréhin, who were almost 450 nautical miles north of them.
Pirouelle/Chateau were still 377 nautical miles behind in the long-distance duel on 9 November, even though they had since moved back into the top ten. After that, the miles mountain of the eventual winners on their Mach 40.5, designed by Sam Manuard and launched in 2023, began to melt away steadily in the south. The "Seafrigo - Sogestran" crew regained the lead three days before the finish line on 13 November - and did not relinquish them until the line.
The winners complete their work at the Transat Café L'Or
Pirouelle and Chateau had reached La Coruña 21 minutes behind their top opponents, who had now been defeated. Then the southern route chosen by the sailors from Le Havre proved to be the slightly better choice on the long second leg across the Atlantic. The successful race was fuelled by the trade winds in the south. Both crews - Pirouelle/Chateau and Douguet/Tréhin - turned this transat into a highly exciting sailing competition in the Class40 with their duel.
Guillaume Pirouelle and Cédric Chateau confirmed their co-favourite status with their victory. However, they also impressively demonstrated their fighting spirit. Two years previously, they had had to extensively repair their boat after colliding with a marker at the start of the last edition of the Transat Café L'Or, before they still managed 14th place. This time, everything fell into place.
After a total of seven tasks, 33 Class 40 duos were still active in the Transat Café L'Or late on Monday evening. Among them were Sasha Lanièce and Sanni Beucke, who in eighteenth place still had around 400 nautical miles to go to the finish. Click here for the Transat Café L'Or tracker.
