Transat Café L'or Ocean 50 preview: Ocean Fifty, the racing karts of the oceans

Ocean Fifty boats are photographed at the Transat Café L'or © Jean-Louis Carli / Alea

There will be ten Ocean 50s at the start of the TRANSAT CAFÉ L'OR Normandie Le Havre this coming Sunday. The light, fast flying catamarans require the pairs of co-skippers to really live life much closer to the edge on their race from Le Havre to Martinique.

The class is growing all the time, drawing top sailors from Class40, the Figaro and even IMOCA, because they offer a certain freedom of design, their costs are tightly controlled but they are super fast and require constant vigilance, mistakes are costly. Of the six which started in 2019 only three finished.

"It's a really intoxicating mix of speed, power, and also lightness. It's very exhilarating on board," enthuses Anne-Claire Le Berre (UpWind by MerConcept). "You fly above the water, you're more sensitive to the sea conditions... They're real go-karts of the sea!" Erwan Le Draoulec (Lazare) agrees: "You experience a whole host of sensations on these magical boats; it is quite incredible!" Damien Seguin (Solidaires en peloton), a newcomer to the class, agrees: "There's speed, simplicity, sensitivity, and it's a lot of fun!"

"From a sporting perspective, it's completely crazy."

There is no shortage of new and established talent in the class. There were only three Ocean Fifty boats at the start in 2019, and six on the last edition in 2023. There will be ten on the starting line this year.

"Little by little, we've demonstrated that our boats have incredible potential," smiles Thibaut Vauchel-Camus, an ex sports catamaran champion who won the last edition and sails this time with Seguin. Erwan Le Roux (Koesio), three times winner of this race is one of the class's longstanding leading figures.

"From a sporting perspective not it is completely crazy. With new skippers coming in the level is getting higher and higher, and the competition is incredibly fierce!"

And so it is hard to pick a favourite, or indeed a podium.

"Of the ten who are starting, more than half can clearly win or be on the podium," smiles Damien Seguin. "It's going to be a great show!"

The season's results so far to provide some insights and tip the scales in favour of Matthieu Perraut and Jean-Baptiste Gellée (Inter Invest). So far they have won the Route des Terres Neuvas, the Med Max, and the Rolex Fastnet Race.

In the Fastnet, they finished ahead of Erwan Le Roux and Audrey Ogereau (Koesio), who will certainly be contenders, "We had a great season, going well and and we're gaining maturity," Le Roux says "Everything points to the potential for a good result!" Now partnered with double Vendée Globe racer Seguin, Thibaut Vauchel-Camus (Solidaires en Peloton) is out to defend his title but doesn't think he has any advantage, "It's another race, another edition, there are new competitors, so defending the title is not what I am thinking of!"

Outsiders galore

He prefers to talk of the other threats, particularly Edenred with the particularly strong duo of Emmanuel Le Roch and Basile Bourgnon, whose late father Laurent won this race with his uncle Yvan in 1997 in the ORMA 60 class. "They're good sailors, they have a good boat, and they won their first race (the 24 Heures Ultimes)," Thibaut recalls. "The really up the pressure and the game for everyone!"

"We launched the boat in mid-July, but we've worked hard to be ready," assures Le Roch. "Despite its youth, it's a reliable boat that allows us to have a certain confidence" explains Bourgnon who is just 23 years old.

Tanguy Le Turquais (Lazare) also hopes to fight for victory: "We're starting the TRANSAT CAFÉ L'OR to win." "There are some great competitors, but we have a very good boat," continues Erwan Le Draoulec, who wouldn't mind "having beginner's luck too."

What about the other boats? "There's a significant difference between the newest and oldest boats," acknowledges Elodie-Jane Mettraux. The Swiss sailor Mettraux races with Anne-Claire Le Berre (Upwind by MerConcept) on a boat of the same vintage and potential as Wewise (Pierre Quiroga and Gaston Morvan), Viabilis Ocean (Baptiste Hulin and Thomas Rouxel), and Mon Bonnet Rose (Laurent Bourguès and Arnaud Vasseur). "But between us all it should be very close," assures Elodie-Jane.

"The vigilance level is a little higher than for the others."

Franco Brit Luke Berry is cautious: "Our priority is to arrive in good shape." Everyone is aware that on these boats, mistakes are unforgivable. "We know there's a red line that we mustn't cross, otherwise we'll capsize," continues Anne-Claire Le Berre. "It adds extra nervous tension and forces us to be even more focused."

"It's easy to put the foot right down hard on the accelerator, but capsizing is the problem of you push too hard" Erwan Le Roux.

"The need to be vigilant is a little more than the every other division," confirms Thibaut Vauchel-Camus. "We must learn to be even more attentive to keep looking ahead to what is incoming and be ready to react. Tanguy Le Turquais, a recent convert from the IMOCA after his Vendée Globe is the skipper of Lazare and he concludes, "On board, you realize that you are slowly getting used to it, to increasing the threshold of fear."

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