The agony and the ecstasy Winners are grinners...not so when you are second

The SNSM Faites une don duo – whose program encourages donations to the French lifeboat service – won the first stage into La Coruña when the race was halted due to a storm. And after taking the bold, brave choice to go by the ‘north face’ they led stage 2 until four days from the finish when they were passed – by the only boat to pass them on the leg – Seafrigo-Sogestran sailed by Pirouelle and Chateau who went south.  

Both duos have known differing levels of misfortune. After the collision which was not their fault at the 2023 start, Seafrigo-Sogestran had to be rescued from the middle of the Atlantic after being struck by lightning on the way back from winning the Caribbean 600 last year. Douguet, the 2022 Class 40 champion in 2022, raced on Legallais in 2023 with Fabien Delahaye and had to stop into Cascais to effect composite repairs to their boat before going on to finish 22^nd. And so for both, today’s results were a welcome recompense for their durability and tenacity as well as talent and skill. 

Great images, starts and now...finishes

Class 40 has become known this edition and last for spectacular starts to this race but theirs was the most exciting finish, a race against the clock which SNSM just could not beat, leaving Douguet and boatbuilder Tréhin rueing the 7 minutes and 21 seconds they could not help reflecting they had lost somewhere…was it down to catching a lobster pot and having to dive to cut it away? Or might they have won had they gone south and gone head to head with Seafrigo-Sogestran? And did two years of damages to their boat influence Pirouelle and Château’s decision to go south – on what Douguet called ‘the holiday route in the sun’ 

These topics and a few more were answered on the dock before the rhum started flowing…..

Guillaume Pirouelle: “We're so happy to have arrived during the day and to have so many people to welcome us in Fort-de-France. It's been a long transatlantic race, and we're thrilled to have finally arrived. We had difficult conditions; it was a long race, and we fought hard the whole way. We believed in ourselves the whole time, and it paid off, so we're so happy to share this. And it's true, we have some great sponsors.”

We have stopped calling the insurance company.....

Cédric Chateau: “And this is a real comeback after the 2023 race when set off after somewhat challenging conditions, and an even bigger comeback after season 2024 where the boat was abandoned halfway across the Atlantic. It's true that this year we finally made it through. We have stopped calling the insurance company, and we improved throughout the season by training out of Le Havre. We achieved good results in all the season's events, and we were focused on this major event, the Transat Café L’Or which is always a complicated race, especially in usual conditions typical of October and November, with a lot of low pressures, changes to the schedule, and course changes. So, we managed to adapt well with Guillaume, and it was especially sweet revenge for 2023. When we finished 15th, we looked at each other and said it would be really great to do it again”

“So, we're absolutely thrilled to have all our partners on board, and thrilled to have done it with Guillaume, who's going all out for the out next year for the Route du Rhum.” 

 “Our bad luck in 2023 and 2024 with the boat did not affect our choice to go south, in fact it suited our boat better to go south than going north. The good boats which went north are all better upwind and ours is not, it is better going downwind.”

And when second feels like a loss...

SNSM’s Corentin Douguet: “It was a very long race, much much more than just these 21 minutes. We followed them the whole way around Martinique, we saw the gaps opening up and closing down, and we thought we could do it, but that's how it is….. until you actually cross the finish line.

It wasn't the last 21 minutes that were difficult. It was the last 7, the missing 7......

It wasn't the last 21 minutes that were difficult. It was the last 7, the 7 missing seven. That's just how it is. If it would have been the other way around, it wouldn't have made a difference. They would have been the ones who are disappointed now. When it comes down to such a small margin on such a long transatlantic crossing, it just means we weren't good enough. It's as simple as that. Of course….out of how many? 20 days of sailing finding 7 minutes isn't hard. A few small mistakes here and there. We didn't do everything perfectly. But the bottom line is we were 7 minutes short. That's the game, that's the sport. They were better than us. There's not much more to say. 

Frankly, when we set out, the southern route was a shit plan. In the end, the northern route didn't quite go as planned. We lost a bit more ground than we expected. The southern route opened up a bit again. And you know, there was only one boat that passed us, them but it was going very fast. 

You really have to find the right solutions all the time to the problems that came up on the southern route. But no, no regrets about going on the northern route. I was quite surprised that so many people were going on the southern ring road. Relaxing ….you know, holidays, sunshine, that's it. I don't know, maybe they were afraid of the waves. I have no idea. When we snagged a lobster pot and Axel had to dive to remove one that was caught in the keel, we thought those minutes might cost us dearly. 

We could see the gap, we knew it was going to be a close call, we'd known that for a long time. And then, yes, we really saw the gap we couldn't close. We were 7 minutes short, that's less than a mile. 

Axel Tréhin: “It's true that overall it was a great race. I think we can be proud of what we did. Like Corentin said, I was quite surprised when I saw that there weren't many of us heading west on what seemed to me to be the right route. We knew it was going to be tough. We understood that there were people who didn't want to go there. We didn't expect there to be so few of us, and in the end, it's true that the opportunity didn't open as much as we would have liked. We were far from having a clear route, especially against people like Cédric and Guillaume who sail their boat incredibly well, who make very few mistakes. And there we were, delivering a really clean performance on the northern route. Clearly, I think that in the grand scheme of the race, we can say that both routes were equally good. However, in reality, they aren't equal because we didn't get the medal of the right colour, so it's still a bit frustrating.”