After a very busy 2024 season, the Ocean Fifty class is tightening up its calendar this year with two Grand Prix (Saint-Malo and Concarneau), the Fastnet and the Transat Café L’Or. The line-up has also changed, with a new association of skippers, a new boat and several new entrants.
When they closed the 2024 season in sunny Sainte-Maxime, the Ocean Fifty skippers hoped to start their 2025 championship in the Mediterranean Sea. Announced on 20 February, the Ocean Fifty Series 2025 will in the end comprise just two Grand Prix in June (Act 1 in Saint Malo from 10 to 15, Act 2 in Concarneau from 24 to 29), the other two events (Acts 3 and 4) being the Fastnet Race (start on 26 July) and the Transat Café l’Or, which kicks off on 26 October.
It was the cancellation of the Toulon Act for budgetary reasons which upset the original schedule, as Emmanuel Versace, whose company Versace Sailing Management organises the Saint-Malo and Concarneau events, explains to Tip & Shaft. “The Ajaccio Grand Prix was approved, but when Toulon backed out a month ago, it was difficult to force the skippers, who are virtually all in the Atlantic and have financial constraints, to come to the Mediterranean to race in just one Grand Prix.”
It’s bound to be a disappointment for the sailors and their partners, who enjoyed their time in the Mediterranean last year (Med Max and Grand Prix in Sainte-Maxime), even if Laurent Bourguès prefers to see the glass as half full: “It’s better to have just two well-financed Acts on the calendar than to be racing in our own neck of the woods. The Grand Prix format is great, but it requires a certain budget to ensure that the VIP experience is rich.”
The fact remains that the class is still looking for a title partner to consolidate its calendar over the long term and make up for the gradual withdrawal of the local authorities. “The model of relying solely on local authorities is outdated and will be even more uncertain in 2026 with the municipal elections,” confirms Emmanuel Versace. Offered at €600,000 for just one year, or €450,000 for a three-year commitment, the naming of the annual championship – with presence on the hulls and VIP experiences – has not yet found a buyer. “For that to happen, you need to be able to tell a story and have a broadcaster for good quality images,” continues the organiser.
Two projects still
in search of a budget
In any case, the absence of a Grand Prix in the South does not help the only Mediterranean sailor in the fleet, Christopher Pratt from Marseilles, skipper of Ocean Fifty Wind of Trust-Fondation pour l’enfance, whose float bow was torn off during the Route des Terre Neuvas in August 2024. The part is currently being manufactured by Neo Sailing Technologies (formerly Lalou Multi), but has yet to be grafted on, representing a total budget of €50,000, a sum that the team from Marseilles does not have. “We’ve been self-financing the project for a year and a half and we just don’t have the money any more,” confirms Christopher Pratt, who is looking for a minimum of 600,000 euros to line up in 2025, which would bring the number of teams lining up this season to ten (for eleven boats).
To a lesser extent, Laurent Bourguès (Mon Bonnet Rose) is also struggling to make ends meet following the withdrawal of one of his partners and is looking to innovate by launching a lottery, the winner of which will be able to have its name displayed on the trimaran’s mainsail in the Transat Café L’Or. The entry ticket is €5,000, and the skipper hopes to “attract at least 80 candidates, which would enable us to make up 50% of our budget”.
In terms of the other forces present, the off-season has been busy, with Francesca Clapcich being replaced by Anne-Claire Le Berre at the helm of Upwind by MerConcept, the trimaran of the 100% women’s project supported by 11th Hour Racing, and the recently announced association between Matthieu Perraut and Sébastien Rogues, the latter bringing his boat, the former Primonial (launched in August 2023), and part of his team, making the Inter Invest Sailing Team the biggest team on the circuit. As a result, the Perraut’s previous boat, a VPLP design launched in 2017 for Thibaut Vauchel-Camus, is up for sale, opening the door to a possible eleventh entrant on the circuit this year.
Le Draoulec buys Réalités
As for the new entrants this year, all eyes will be on Edenred, the only boat to be launched in 2025, in accordance with the numerus clausus of eleven trimarans which governs the class. The late start to the season is not something that Emmanuel Le Roch and Basile Bourgnon will be unhappy about, as they will have just a month to get to grips with their Neyhousser design, the sistership to Inter Invest, built at Neo Sailing Technologies under the technical direction of Quentin Vlamynck and launched in May. “These are still fairly simple boats in terms of systems and we’re not setting off into the unknown. However, it’s good to have two Acts with a crew before tackling the Fastnet double-handed, which will serve as a qualifier for the Transat Café L’Or”, explains Basile Bourgnon, “proud to be reviving the multihull tradition in La Trinité-sur-Mer”, where the project is based.
Another major change: Fabrice Cahierc’s former Réalités will be skippered by Erwan Le Draoulec, who is about to complete the acquisition with the support of… Tanguy Le Turquais. “We’re in the process of finalising the purchase, with a pool of passionate shareholders,” confirms the winner of the 2017 Mini Transat (in series), without specifying which ones. “With the numerus clausus, a boat like Réalités is a safe investment, even if managing to block it has been a bit of an adventure!” While the amount of the transaction has not been revealed, another team, according to our information, has indeed bid heavily to buy this well-born boat.
“Réalités is almost better than a new boat, because she has the same level of performance, while being debugged,” continues Le Draoulec, who for the past year has made no secret of his desire to switch to a multihull. “We don’t have any work to do and in an ideal world, we’d like to be sailing at the end of April.” The boat will be based in Locmiquélic and Tanguy Le Turquais will be the project’s team manager. “We hope to line up together at the start of the Transat Café l’Or, but we need to ensure the operating budget, which amounts to €1.2 million a year,” adds the former Figaro racer. Not the least of the obstacles.
Photo : Vincent Olivaud
