Guillaume Pirouelle and Cédric Chateau have delivered one of the tightest Class40 victories in recent memory on the TRANSAT CAFÉ L'OR, the biennial double-handed race from Le Havre to Fort de France. The Normandy duo crossed the finish line in Martinique at 15:57:43 local time, with a combined racing time across both legs of 19 days, 2 hours, 34 minutes and 46 seconds.
The race took an unexpected turn early on. A serious weather system forced the Class40 fleet to stop racing just days after departing Le Havre, with organisers diverting the boats into La Coruña for a three-day layover. When conditions improved, the fleet relaunched on a fresh northerly breeze, turning the event into a two-leg contest with elapsed times from each stage combined to produce the overall result.
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The seeds of the final result were planted in Galicia. Seafrigo–Sogestran arrived into La Coruña in second place, 21 minutes and 38 seconds adrift of SNSM Faites un Don !, crewed by Corentin Douguet and Axel Tréhin. That slender gap would go on to frame the entire Atlantic duel. When Seafrigo–Sogestran crossed the finish line in Martinique ahead of the rest of the fleet, the clock began its countdown. Douguet and Tréhin had a little more than 21 minutes to reach the finish and preserve their overall advantage.
What followed was a tense vigil on the dock. SNSM Faites un Don ! had led for much of the opening leg and continued to set the pace over large stretches of the Atlantic. Their strategic call had been a bold one: press north, accept the shorter route, and fight through three successive low-pressure systems. The mileage saved came at a cost, with relentless upwind work in rough, building seas.
Pirouelle and Chateau made the opposite call. They peeled south early in the second leg, choosing a longer arc to intercept steadier trade wind conditions, joined by the bulk of the fleet. At one stage the two leading groups were separated by nearly 900 miles of ocean, with Seafrigo–Sogestran sitting down in 13th place and more than 230 miles behind the northern group.
Patience proved to be the sharper weapon. The southern route came good, the trade winds held, and the Norman pair worked their way steadily through the fleet. With four days remaining to Martinique, Seafrigo–Sogestran moved to the front and stayed there. Even so, the racing remained knife-edged to the last. At one point the two lead boats were separated by just 4.5 miles, both driving towards Fort de France at ten knots.
SNSM Faites un Don ! eventually appeared off Martinique and crossed the line 28 minutes and 59 seconds behind Seafrigo–Sogestran. On corrected time, that translated to a winning margin of just 7 minutes and 21 seconds across nearly 5,000 nautical miles of combined racing. The longer, southerly course had proved the wiser choice: Seafrigo–Sogestran covered 4,869 miles to SNSM Faites un Don !'s 4,185.
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The victory carries particular weight for both sailors. Pirouelle and Chateau are products of Normandy's well-regarded sailing programme, the same environment that has produced champions including Charlie Dalin and Alexis Loison. Chateau has long served as a coach within the Le Havre league and recently guided Paprec to a second-place finish at the TP52 world championship. Pirouelle, 31, brings a distinguished record of his own as a former 470 European Champion, Junior Worlds winner, and runner-up in the 2022 La Solitaire du Figaro.
The win also draws a line under a difficult chapter. In the 2023 edition of the race, their campaign was ended within minutes of the start when their Class40 suffered major damage in a collision at the first mark. They pressed on with a repaired boat and showed considerable resolve, but a competitive result was never a realistic prospect. This time, everything held together, and the crew executed a disciplined, tactically adventurous campaign to claim the prize that had slipped away two years earlier.
Comments from the winners and full photo galleries are expected to be released shortly by race organisers.
