17th Transat Café L'or Day 18: Class40 convergence, the next 24-36 hours might hold the key

Class 40 Seafrigo - Sogestran - Transat Café L'or Le Havre Normandie 2025 © Roland Grard

At the head of the Class40 fleet today on the Transat Café L'Or, with less than 1000 miles to go to the finish in Martinique, the leaders Corentin Douguet and Axel Tréhin (SNSM Faites un don) are still holding out with a margin of about 40 miles in the north.

But the angle of their course looks less than pretty and in the south, second placed Guillaume Pirouelle and Cedric Château (Seafrigo-Sogestran) are a little slower today but still gaining as the two sides of the course converge.

The computer modelling still predicts a small advantage at the finish to Seafrigo-Sogestran and the two co-skippers from Normandy, by a matter of hours but the trade winds in the south are fading slightly now.

Leader Corentin Douguet (SNSM) reported today, "Whether we're in the lead or not, we're going to fight to the very end to do our best. We know our position to the north isn't necessarily easy. We're entering the crucial 24-36 hours to see how we can make our way back down and position ourselves towards the south. For now, the competitors we're most worried about are definitely the leaders to the south: Seafrigo - Sogestran and Les Invincibles. They're in a good position. That's racing. From one routing to the next, sometimes it's positive, sometimes less so. A few miles or tens of miles can make all the difference. We have the plan in mind, we know what we want to do, and we hope it will go according to plan. The conditions are quite unusual, though; there's been a significant break in the trade winds."

In second Cédric Chateau (SEAFRIGO - SOGESTRAN) explained, "The temperature has risen considerably lately. But aside from these weather elements, we're quite happy with where we are with Guillaume. We had a rather eventful night last night because we encountered quite a few squalls, with significant changes in wind intensity and direction. We didn't come through it too badly, but we feel the nights are going to become tricky. Last night, for example, we had almost 17 knots for two hours, and then for three hours only 10 or 12 knots. So that means we'll really have to be pushing the boat to its limits because the finishes in Martinique could be very close. SNSM - they've added some miles to the tally with a nice northerly flow. They've put a bit of distance between us. I think they're still strong contenders for the win."

Third placed William Mathelin-Moreaux (LES INVINCIBLES) said "Morale is good, we're happy to be where we are, and we know the end is going to be intense, not because of the wind, but because of the battle with the others. We're going to try to hold our position and not make any mistakes. The winds are still quite light, we have 10-11 knots. It's not a very fast point of sail, but just 2-3 knots more is enough for the boat to really take off. We're steering all day to make sure we don't let anything slip by, not a single wave. We still have to stay focused and in good shape until the very end."

And in fifth Fabien Delahaye (LEGALLAIS) reported, "For the past two days, it's been clear that we don't have much of an escape route other than being swallowed up by this high-pressure system. That's what happened last night when our speeds started to drop, and then we had a very difficult night. Now, we're heading south of the high-pressure center with a southerly wind, sailing close-hauled in very light winds, waiting for the wind to shift back this time from the east so we can head down towards Martinique. This new wind, without any transition, should take us towards the trade winds—light, but towards the trade winds."

Best international, non French team are Italians Andrea Fornaro and Alessandro Torresani (Influence 2) are in ninth in the north, just ahead of their compatriots Luca Rosetti and Matteo Serricano (Maccaferri Futura) who are tenth right down to the south. There is just three nautical miles between them in terms of distance to finish but 650 miles of separation north to south.

And in 15th, fastest boat in the fleet today and pulling back some places in the very north where they have found a corridor of breeze, Ireland's Pam Lee and USA's Jay Thompson reported."

Pam: "We are good we have had a little bit of an opportunity to make a smooth transition around this calm to the north which had sucked Mich Desj' and Pep Costa into it, but it was a it scary at the time as we had to do some tacking and some negative VMG but it is paying off and we have made some places and so we are still riding this stream of wind which is taking us down south so we are pretty pleased as it has been a chance to play to the position we have up to the north with the good sails and the good route."

Jay: "We saw this opportunity and we have been able to take it and now we are just trying to keep ur advantage as much as possible and dive down south and meet up with the others. The moment of truth is coming."

Jay: "The models are aligning and it looks like we will all meet up for a last downwind, we have a light wind to get through when it will get softer, there is still a long way to go, but we are feeling a lot more confident and have had a good 24 hours."

Pam: "We will get down the south fine and then there is a little patch of transition which will be a little bit tricky but then we will be back on spi and gennaker, arriving in between seven and eight days. And we have routed the boats in the south and we all seem to arrive at the same time. So it is going to be interesting and it will be fun."

Pam: "This whole period in the north has been hard we have only really been able to take a day at a time because the GRIBs have been changing so much and there has been this big patch of light winds which has not been predicted, it was not on the GRIBs, so we have had to be on it and agile with our routing but it is starting to line up."

Find out more at www.transatcafelor.org or track the fleet.