BEL01 have put themselves in the box seat at the 2026 Offshore Double Handed World Championship, winning the second qualifying race off Marseille and edging closer to a place in Wednesday's final.
BEL01 crossed the line at 23:05:12 local time, holding off FRA01 in second and SWE01 in third.
Uruguay's Federico Waksman and Irina Gracheva came home fourth, with Germany's Lina Rixgens and Andreas Baden fifth. Both crews are provisionally through to the final, joining the top three from the race.
The course ran just over 64 nautical miles. Boats beat to Cap Croisette, then headed east along the coast to a turning mark at La Ciotat, before swinging west past two marks off Fos-sur-Mer and finishing with a run down to the Frioul Islands off Marseille.
The start was delayed briefly to let the sea breeze build, and the fleet got away in six to eight knots of south-westerly.
FRA01 led away first, tracked closely by URU01 and BEL01. GER02 and SWE01 were both OCS and had to dip back across the line, though they clawed their way back into the pack soon enough.
FRA01 pushed left towards the coast, with Ireland's Richard Bretherton and Inka Lührs in second for IRL01. Canada's Mickaël Egberts and Catherine Kierans, sailing CAN01, went right along with URU01, though the Uruguayans peeled back in to rejoin the leaders near the coast.
At Cap Croisette there is a gap of just 70 metres between the mainland cliffs and the rocky island of Île Marie, a passage nobody in Marseille could recall a fleet ever having attempted in a regatta.
The Figaro sailors aboard FRA01, known for their skill with rocky passages, went for it anyway, threading through the wind shadow under the cliffs and blazing a trail the rest of the fleet largely followed. Only IRL01 and CAN01 chose the safer route around the outside of the island. It cost the Irish boat dearly in placings.
By mid-afternoon BEL01 had worked into the lead, with SWE01 and FRA01 in tow rounding the La Ciotat mark. IRL01 had recovered ground to sit sixth, hard on the heels of GER02 in fifth.
Racing into darkness, BEL01 stretched their advantage. FRA01, URU01 and SWE01 stayed locked together behind, while GER02 and IRL01 traded blows for fifth. A tight spinnaker leg west gave way to a downwind VMG run back towards the coast.
The final leg turned hard on the breeze. Forecasters had called for the wind to fade late, but it held firm right through to the finish.
Attention now turns to Monday's repechage, the last chance for boats yet to reach the final. Seven crews go around again: ESP01, JPN01, NOR01, USA01, IRL01, CAN01 and NOR02. Only one of them will earn a place in Wednesday's final.
