Happy Monday everyone...
In today's newsletter:
- Fierce opening 24 hours to Transat Cafe L'Or
- Swedish clean sweep: Berntsson and Östling victorious in Bermuda
- 2027 Finn World Masters awarded to Forio d’Ischia
- Boulangère Mini-Transat fleet leaves Las Palmas for transatlantic crossing to Guadeloupe
- Quiz Question...
Fierce opening 24 hours to Transat Cafe L'Or
The the opening days of the Transat Cafe L'Or (formerly the Transat Jacques Vabre) have proved eventful to say the least with storm force winds and big seas making life more than challenging for the double-handed crews leaving Le Havre, France headed for the Caribbean island of Martinique.
Despite the Ocean 50 trimarans being given a special dispensation to start 24 hours early to avoid the worst of a storm spinning up off the northern coast of Spain, no less than three of the 1o boat fleet (Lazare X Hellio, Koesio, and Inter Invest) capsized on the first night.
Sunday saw the Class 40, IMOCA, and Ultim fleets head out into the still wild and windy conditions. The Class 40s were told to race cross the Bay of Biscay but to take shelter from the weather at the Spanish port of La Coruña. The fleet is expected to arrive there during Wednesday with the timing for the Class 40 restart yet to be announced but potentially being next weekend.
There was a near-disaster for one of the IMOCA pre-race favourites, Yoann Richomme and Corentin Horeau aboard Paprec Arkéa, as the French pair collided with a metal buoy while travelling at 16 knots soon after the start. The duo, who were in seventh position at the time, returned to Le Havre for repairs to the boat's rigging and the starboard outrigger. After remarkably fast turnaround by their hard-working shore crew the sailors were back in the race within 24 hours.
Meanwhile the 2023 Ultim winners Armel Le Cléac'h and Sébastien Josse aboard Banque Populaire XI diverted to their home port Lorient to effect repairs to their boat's starboard rudder.
In the IMOCA fleet British skipper Sam Goodchild and France's Loïs Berrehar aboard MACIF Santé Prévoyance had a nearly 15 miles lead on Monday afternoon ahead of Charal (Jérémie Beyou and Morgan Lagravière). Italian ace Ambrogio Beccaria and his French counterpart, the two time back-to-back winner Thomas Ruyant, are third at less than one mile behind. Leaders in the Class 40 fleet are the Le Havre duo of Guillaume Pirouelle and Cedric Chateau on Seafrigo Sogestran.
Swedish clean sweep: Berntsson and Östling victorious in Bermuda
There were wild scenes of Swedish celebrations in Bermuda on Sunday as Johnie Berntsson and his team of Björn Lundgren, Herman Andersson and Oscar Angervall made history with a Bermuda Gold Cup hat-trick after beating Great Britain’s Ian Williams 3-0 in a tense final. Sweden’s Anna Östling and her Wings Sailing team defeated Denmark’s Lea Vogelius and her WOW Racing team in a battle for Scandinavian supremacy in the second edition of the Aspen Women’s Bermuda Match Racing Regatta.
Berntsson grabbed his own slice of Bermuda Gold Cup history by becoming the only sailor to lift the famous King Edward VII trophy three years in a row since the event switched to the modern format in 1985.
The Swedish skipper is also closing in on Sir Russell Coutts’s record of seven Gold Cup victories, with the defeat of Ian Williams in Hamilton Harbour on Sunday taking his record to five wins.
Berntsson swept Williams 3-0 in the Gold Cup final, although the races were much closer than the scoreline suggested, and it took some time for him to process his personal milestone. “If you had told me 20 years ago that I would win this regatta just once, I wouldn’t have believed you,” he said. “To now be just behind Sir Russell Coutts, I am over the moon. I have been sailing with this team now for three years and I am struggling to describe it. No other Swedes have ever won the Gold Cup and I look at all the other names on the King Edward VII trophy and it’s just such an honour to be on there with them.”
Berntsson was pushed all the way by Williams, gaining the advantage in the first race after his opponent was handed penalty and coming out on tap of a protracted duel in the last race. “The first race we came from behind and it was just a penalty that gave us the advantage to take that one, so that was lucky for us,” he said. “The second one he hunted us all the way around and it’s never easy when Ian Williams is just behind you. In the last race there was a fight all around the racecourse and he played us so hard. We had dial downs, tack covering, tack to splits and that race had it all. I would love to see it back on video as it was a great race.”
For the vanquished Williams, he was left to rue the small margins in a couple of defeats. “Johnie outsailed us in race two but a couple of races were super tight,” he said. “But in the real tight moments, he just got the hooks he needed when he needed them. That was great work for him and good decision making when he need it.”
In the Aspen Bermuda Women’s Match Race running alongside the Gold Cup, Sweden’s Anna Östling and her Wings Sailing team of Anna Holmdahl, Elisabeth Nilsson, Annika Carlunger and Linnea Wennergern ensured that Abba songs featured highly on the playlist in the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club after a double Swedish success.
Through the week, Östling had made no secret of her belief that her team would win the Aspen Women’s Match Racing Tour regatta and she came good on her promise. “I had such a good feeling that this would be our week and that we would make it and we’ve done it,” she said. “We made such good starts, which was something we had struggled with all week and the way we sailed I don’t think anybody would have beaten us today. I just have a very good team and we had such good speed in these boats. When you have that speed you can be very relaxed as a skipper and feel like you can do anything.”
While only able to finish third in Bermuda, France’s Pauline Courtois picked up her trophy for winning the overall 2025 Women’s World Match Racing Tour championship for the fifth straight year. “We are delighted to win the world tour again!,” she said. “It’s such a big achievement for all the team and we work so hard. That winning feeling always stays the same as it is easier to get to the top than stay there. I’m really proud of this team as we know all the teams want to beat us and we have to work harder each year to be better and better.”
2027 Finn World Masters awarded to Forio d’Ischia
The Finn Class is delighted to announce that an agreement has been made to host the 2027 Finn World Masters at Forio, on the island of Ischia, located off Naples in Italy.
The event will be arranged to coincide with the 38th America’s Cup, being held in Naples in 2027, allowing Finn sailors the unique opportunity to take part in a major Finn regatta and watch the America’s Cup during the same trip.
The event will be co-organised by the Cicolo Nautico Punta Imperatore in Forio, and the Reale Yacht Club Canottieri Savoia in Naples, which has just been announced as the sailing base of Team New Zealand, defenders of the America’s Cup.
Ischia is a unique, very beautiful, and very mountainous island, with a 34 km long coastline, famous for its beaches, thermal spas, unique wines, and sumptuous Mediterranean cuisine. The island is located at the northern end of Naples Bay, opposite Capri, and both destinations had high profiles during the 1950s and 1960s with many Hollywood films many there. It is a popular tourism destination.
After making a brief visit to Forio last week, President of the Finn Masters, Andy Denison said, “The Finn Class has been presented with a unique opportunity to host the Finn World Masters in the same waters and at the same time as the America’s Cup, in which many former Finn sailors are taking part. Ischia can be described a 'jewel in a crown of islands’ in the Gulf of Naples, and the venue itself is ideally suited to the Masters and provides an idyllic setting for what we expect will be a popular event and an exciting competition.”
Pasquale Orofino, Commodore of Cicolo Nautico Punta Imperatore and himself a Finn sailor, is driving the event and was very happy with the decision of the Finn Masters Committee to award the event to his home club on Ischia. He said, “I am truly thrilled and delighted that the Finn Class has chosen Forio d’Ischia as the venue for the Finn World Master 2027. Now it’s time to turn this excitement and joy into concrete commitment, to ensure the success and excellence of the event. My sincere thanks go to Andy and Robert for their time and dedication, and to the entire committee for the trust placed in us.”
Boulangère Mini-Transat fleet leaves Las Palmas for transatlantic crossing to Guadeloupe
The 89 competitors in the Boulangère Mini-Transat crossed the starting line in Las Palmas (Canary Islands) on Saturday afternoon bound for Guadeloupe – 2,613 miles (4,840 km) away.
The start took place in light wind conditions with the 89 competitors setting a course for a waypoint located 100 miles southwest of the Canary Islands. – a move designed to help them avoid a low pressure system further north. From there they will head west toward Guadeloupe.
Quiz Question...
The TP52 class is famous for its close, high-performance racing on the 52 Super Series circuit. But what does the “TP” in TP52 stand for?
Answer in the next newsletter...
Friday's answer: The start and finish ports for next year's transatlantic edition of The Ocean Race are New York and Barcelona.
