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TCO25_PortraitsCaroline DieuJérôme Delire, INNOVAD.GROUP - XLG

Love is all you need Caroline Dieu et Jérôme Delire

Class40
22 October 2025 - 11h00
They met in high school near Brussels and ten years later fell properly in love. Having become passionate about sailing and the sea, Jérôme Delire convinced his partner Caroline to follow him. He is a professional skipper on cruising yachts and she has become a maritime expert. After completing a round-the-world cruise together they are now on the cusp of a big new challenge: the TRANSAT CAFÉ L'OR Le Havre Normandie, their first major ocean racing challenge together.

The world of ocean racing noticed them last Thursday. As all the skippers were presented to the press at the Docks Océane, the basketball arena in Le Havre, Caroline and Jérôme caught everyone's attention. Theu took to the stage holding hands. A few seconds in broad daylight, side by side, and the best illustration of what they are, at sea and on land: never without each other.

"In our heads and what we do, we're one unit, it's Jérôme and Caroline," she told us on their boat. "Sometimes there are days when we bicker a bit but we never question our feelings. It's not possible for me to be without him, and vice versa, that is also true."

INTERVIEW - INNOVAD.GROUP - XLG

Caroline Dieu et Jérôme Delire, INNOVAD.GROUP - XLG

« The first sailors in the family » 

While the duo are preparing to compete in the TRANSAT CAFÉ L'OR Le Havre Normandie, their story began far from the pontoons and the ocean. The two Belgians grew up on the outskirts of Brussels, about 100 kilometers from the nearest coast. Caroline and Jérôme met in high school; he was two years older than her, but they shared the same circle of friends. "In both of our families, no one sailed," Jérôme confided. "We are the first 'sailors' in our families," Caroline adds

Jérôme was the first to catch the sailing bug. "It happened almost by chance," he smiles. “It was on a small lake a little a duck pond about ten kilometers from the Lion Mound in Waterloo. "There were Optimist courses on offer and I was really tempted." Jérôme discovered the sport at the age of 7 before going on to complete a series of courses. He quickly entered his first competitions and raced"for 10 years" until he was 18. However he did not want to continue racing. "I was fed up with making circles in the water between four buoys; it wasn't fun anymore."

« We really met at sea.»  

Jérôme then began selling his services as a skipper on cruising yachts. "One thing led to another, and I made it my career." That's when he met Caroline again, ten years after they were at high school. “She was an accountant for a company in a business suit and heels every day," he says.
"On the second date, he said to me, 'I want to go sailing and go around the world.'" Caroline had already done some small races and had sailed across the English Channel. So she was soon persuaded and took him at his word and said, "Why not?" "I told myself I should at least try," she explains. "If I didn't like it, I wasn't taking a big risk."

INNOVAD.GROUP - XLG-TCO25
© Jean-Marie Liot / Alea

And so the couple embarked on wild adventures. It was offshore that they really discovered each other, particularly during their first transatlantic crossing. "At sea, everything is exacerbated, the positives as well as the negatives," Caroline recalls. "And you can't be s fake, you can only be honest, be yourself."

"You could say we really met at sea," adds Jérôme. The couple then got married and bought a sailboat "for our first anniversary." Their round-the-world trip began in 2019 aboard an IMX38, a small monohull. They passed through Panama, went from Tahiti to Reunion Island, headed for South Africa, and then up to Spain. During their travels, they shared the deck with a special guest: Tiki. He's a cat they took in on the island of Hiva Oa in the Marquesas Islands, before settling in on board until their return to Europe.

TCO25 Caroline Dieu et Jérôme Delire, INNOVAD.GROUP - XLG

« Sometimes you wonder what the hell you're doing here. » 

It was also during their round-the-world trip that they "became hooked on ocean racing." "Between Tahiti and Reunion Island, we sailed 10,000 miles non-stop," says Jérôme. And after these two months, we said to ourselves that we wanted something more extreme." "We want to add a
new dimension, to experience the racing atmosphere and push our limits," adds Caroline. And so on this TRANSAT CAFÉ L’OR the Belgians will a Finot design launched in 2011, one of the four oldest Class40s to take part in the race. "We've never competed against other Class40s, it's going to be fun to see how we get on," says Jérôme.

As the big start approaches, the two remain extremely humble. "There are a lot of big names, we'll be on the same starting line "We're on the same race as Michel Desjoyeaux," says Caroline. "Sometimes you wonder what the hell we're doing here," says Jérôme, looking at the boat next door, that of Vincent Riou (Pierreval - GoodPlanet Foundation).

For the couple the excitement masks any real apprehension. "I can't wait to see where human endeavour can take us," smiles Jérôme. Now all that's left is to write this new chapter, certain that their love will be at the foundation of their successes.