Bonafous scores her first IMOCA class win after a close battle with Charal in Rolex Fastnet Race
by Ed Gorman / IMOCA Globe Series 29 Jul 2025 17:32 BST
29 July 2025
Association Petits Princes-Quéguiner wins IMOCA class in Rolex Fastnet Race © Arthur Daniel / RORC
The French sailor Elodie Bonafous' spectacular start to her career in the IMOCA Class continued today as she followed up second place in the Course des Caps earlier this month with her first victory in the Class in the Rolex Fastnet Race.
Racing with French veteran Yann Eliès, alongside Basile Bourgnon and Gaston Morvan of France, Bonafous, 29, reached the finish line off Cherbourg in the early hours of the morning just eight minutes ahead of second-placed Jérémie Beyou and his team on Charal.
Bonafous' crew on board Association Petits Princes-Quéguiner had taken two days, 14 hours and 7 minutes to complete the highly technical 695-nautical mile classic course from Cowes on the English south coast to Cherbourg, via the Fastnet Rock off the southwest tip of Ireland.
This year's course was mainly upwind to the Rock and then downwind on the way back, as the six IMOCAs that completed the race sparkled close to the front of a Fastnet fleet of nearly 450 boats.
For Bonafous this result confirms her status as a major player in the IMOCA Class on board her new Guillaume Verdier-designed foiler in the run-up to the next Vendée Globe in 2028, and now places her at the top of the IMOCA Globe Series Championship for 2025.
Eliès described Bonafous' debut in the Class as an "exceptional" start to her first season. "There are several reasons for that," he explained from on board the boat this morning as it made its way back to Concarneau in Brittany. "First we have a great boat, which is super-versatile. Second, we have a great skipper who learns really fast and we also have a great team that delivered us a boat that worked well."
"Now we just have to keep a cool head," he continued, "because it's only the early-season races and not all the teams in the circuit are here. Overall, on this Fastnet Race I think the weather conditions favoured the boat a bit, since it's quite versatile."
Eliès said moderate winds made for a kinder start to the race than two years ago and getting round the Fastnet Rock in the lead was key as the wind softened for the boats behind. He said the battle with Charal was a real classic with Beyou and his crew finding extra speed at times with differing sail set-ups. But in the closing stages he reckons Bonafous' team made slightly better choices, in terms of placement in the tide, to close out the win, with their boat also going slightly quicker in light winds.
"Let's say they deserved the win just as much as we did," he said of Beyou's crew. "What made the difference was the forecast and final stretch conditions, which were light winds, played more to our advantage - that's the boat's strength."
And Eliès, who has sailed with many different skippers down the years, gave a vivid insight into the personality of Bonafous as a skipper and sailor on the water. He said she sulks when the boat gets overtaken, but says that is a good thing.
"It's normal that it hurts when you lose, it means she cares," he explained. "And at the same time, her management style is kind and smart because she knows how to put the right people in the right roles, especially in a crew setting and she trusts them and lets them take the initiative. I think she's really up to the role of skipper," he added, "she's still the boss, but it's all done with intelligence and mutual respect."
For Beyou and his team on Charal, this excellent result continues his strong run of form in this race, having won it in the IMOCA Class in 2019 and finished second twice before, in 2013 and 2021.
Behind the leading pair there was another arm-wrestle to the finish between Yoann Richomme and his crew on Paprec Arkéa who got in just 11 minutes ahead of Sam Davies and her team on Initiatives-Cœur.
Richomme, the runner-up in the Vendée Globe earlier this year, thoroughly enjoyed an intense race which he described as a sprint from start to finish, with non-stop action. "The two boats ahead are still hard to catch in terms of performance on a course like this," he said of Charal and Association Petits Princes-Quéguiner. "But we managed to stay close to them at times, which was definitely a good sign for us.
"I was really happy with the team," he added after racing alongside the all-French trio of Corentin Horeau, Estelle Greck and Pascal Bidégorry. "And with how things worked overall, even with a few hiccups, even with the inevitable moments when we weren't moving as fast as we wanted. We always managed to stay motivated, always got back into the race. That was great."
Richomme, for whom this was his first race of the season ahead of The Ocean Race Europe, said this Fastnet was ultimately a test of upwind speed which, he added, is not his boat's strongest suit in medium conditions. And he enjoyed battling it out with Sam Davies and her team on Initiatives-Coeur which included the young French star of the Vendée Globe, Violette Dorange. "We're super-happy to have finished third - it really felt like our own little regatta with Initiatives-Coeur. It wasn't easy - they sailed really well. It was intense and full of small lessons, getting us ready for The Ocean Race Europe," he said.
Now Paprec Arkéa will undergo some minor repairs and improvements at Cherbourg before the crew sets sail for Kiel, probably on Thursday - from where The Ocean Race Europe starts on Sunday, August 10th. "The boat is in great shape," summarised Richomme. "We have lots of small ideas to improve it before the start of The Ocean Race Europe. That's what we're going to work on, but it's definitely ready to go."
Finishing in fifth place was the Swiss skipper Justine Mettraux and her crew on Teamwork-Team SNEF, with Louis Duc of France on Fives Group-Lantana Environnement which is expected to arrive in Cherbourg-en-Cotentin tonight.
The Canadian skipper Scott Shawyer and his crew on Canada Ocean Racing-Be Water Positive, retired from the race late on the first night with a hydraulic issue. The team said the priority was to ensure the boat was fully ready and repaired ahead of The Ocean Race Europe.
Class website: www.imoca.org