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© Jean-Louis Carli / Alea

The IMOCAs done and dusted All 18 boats finished

IMOCA
Best of arrivées  |  15 November 2025 - 14h52
The last IMOCA boat to finish, New Europe (Szabolcs Weöres and Bérénice Charrez), crossed the finish line Saturday afternoon in Fort-de-France. The Hungarian-Swiss duo completed the course in 18th place in the 60-foot class, 8 days and 8 hours after the firrst boat (Charal).

It's worth noting that all 18 boats which started the race finished it, a good achievement in this unique transatlantic race. These are so many images that stay with the duos, synonymous with the TRANSAT CAFÉ L’OR Le Havre Normandie. Finishing into Fort-de-France always has something special about it: passing Diamond Rock and the first scent of land, the final leg in the bay of Fort-de-France, then at the pontoon, the fresh fruit, the first words exchanged, and the gentle charm of Martinique as a reward. In the IMOCA class, 36 sailors experienced this joy.

Significant differences 

This edition already displays at least one unique feature: the IMOCAs saw no retirements. During the previous race in 2023, six crews from 40 starters had to withdraw. This year, while some had to make technical stops – Paprec Arkéa, Association Les Petits Princes Quéguiner, MSIG Europe – all managed to withstand challenging conditions in the English Channel and the demanding descent south – for many - before reaching the finish line.

The race also highlights the significant speed differences between the latest generation of boats and their predecessors. The winner, Charal (Jérémie Beyou and Morgan Lagravière), completed the course at a multihull like average speed of 19.27 knots. For comparison, Best Western – Fortinet (Romain Attansio and Maxime Sorel, launched then years ago in 2015) finished 11th with an average speed of 14.88 knots. This difference was even more pronounced among boats with sdaggerboards such as Café Joyeux (Nicolas d’Estais and Simon Koster), 13th at 13.34 knots, and MSIG Europe (Conrad Colman and Mathieu Blanchard), 17th at 11.39 knots. And there is some eight days and eight hours separated the first (Charal) from the last (New Europe).

Arrivée de Charal, 4e de la catégorie IMOCA
© Jean-Louis Carli / Alea

At the front of the race, the exhilarating ride through the trade winds, flirting with high speeds for extended periods, was breathtaking. The flip side of these performances is the living conditions on board. Even though the race is more like a sprint than a marathon, most of the skippers spent less than two weeks at sea, their bodies were put to the test. The foiling boats are "very demanding" (Violette Dorange, Initiatives Coeur), "noisy, demanding, and requiring constant commitment" (Armel Tripon, Les Petits Doudous), and bring "a lot of stress and tension" (Xavier Macaire, Teamwork TeamSnef).

 

Uncomfortable 

On board, especially when conditions are harsh, even the slightest movement becomes very complicated. “Actually, there are only two comfortable spots on the boat, one on the seat and one in the bunk,” confided Corentin Horeau (Paprec Arkéa). “Otherwise, you’re on the floor, just hanging on.” “We spend all our time suspended inside,” added Elodie Bonafous (Association Les Petits Princes – Quéguiner). “You move around constantly holding onto the ceiling, you’re always tense and strained… I even started getting tendonitis in my shoulder!”

Despite the level of difficulty, everyone persevered and pushed themselves to the limit. The intensity of the race was striking. It led to a fierce battle from the very first night in the English Channel, contributed to a regrouping of the top 10 as they approached the Canary Islands, and then to that final sprint in the trade winds. This TRANSAT CAFÉ L’OR saw an experienced duo (Beyou-Lagravière) crowned champions, saw a skipper  win three times in a row (Lagravière), and also offered some promising talents. Francesca Clapsich, Loïs Berrehar, Ambrogio Beccaria, Elodie Bonafous, Armel Tripon, Corentin Horeau, and Nicolas d’Estais, among others mean we eagerly anticipate the next edition of the TRANSAT CAFÉ L’OR in two years time.

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© Jean-Louis Carli / Alea