Despite three capsizes during the Transat Café l’Or, the Ocean Fifty class, boosted by the Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe, is approaching the season with the eleven boats of its numerus clausus and is taking back control of its championship to “move upmarket” and extend its appeal.
A winter to heal the wounds. After a Transat Café L’Or marked by the capsizes of Lazare, Koesio and Elvest (ex-Inter invest) from the very first night of racing, the Ocean Fifty class and all its skippers “were inevitably very affected“, according to Luke Berry, skipper of Le Rire Médecin-Lamotte. “There were a lot of collective exchanges and debriefings. It’s not insignificant, especially before a season that will be focused on solo racing and the Route du Rhum, with many rookies at the start. It was essential to experience it collectively.”
The latest sign of this painful episode is the announcement by Audrey Ogereau of her decision to withdraw from the start of the Route du Rhum on Koesio, considering that “the stars are no longer aligned to go into it with confidence“. Contacted by Sailorz, Erwan Le Roux, co-skipper of the boat, who is looking to complete his budget for the season, states that “the boat will be entered in the championship and the Route du Rhum, but we don’t yet know with whom or what it will be named”.
This news is the only shadow on the horizon for an Ocean Fifty class that is full this year, and has even been criticized for it. Particularly vocal, Damien Seguin, who sought to build a new Ocean Fifty and was prevented from doing so by the numerus clausus voted in 2022, stated in mid-March in Pos. Report that “the class doesn’t work, you can’t get in, there are a lot of personal interests getting mixed up with collective interests”.
“Our role is to protect
the financial ecosystem”
“His words are strong; the only response we have for him is that we never prevented him from joining, retorts Sébastien Rogues, co-president of the class. When he looked to join us, there were two boats for sale. That is the process followed by Team Sodebo, and before them Upwind and many others. He is an incredible sailor, whom we all love, but he wanted to enter with his own rules, and that just doesn’t work.”
And the latter adds, regarding the numerus clausus: “It is of course tempting to think that, since everything is going well for us and we are sold out, we could open up to fifteen boats without a problem, but what do we do in two years if we have four of them left on the sidelines? Our role is to protect the financial ecosystem, to make it last. It is precisely in the moments when everything is going well that you must remain steady on your feet, because if the class is doing well and great partners have joined us, it is thanks to our difficult decisions.”
This assessment is shared by many members of the class, starting with Erwan Le Draoulec, who confirms that “the Lazare project could never have seen the light of day without the numerus clausus; that is what gave our investors confidence”. After a winter dedicated to the trimaran’s reconstruction, the sailor, who launched the Ocean Fifty earlier this week, celebrates: “Our enormous technical and economic challenge has been met. The economic situation today isn’t perfect, but we have enough to get through the season. Overall, everything has been put in place for us to get back on our feet as quickly and effectively as possible.”
Return to the Mediterranean
With his crew composed of Clarisse Crémer, Davy Beaudart, Antoine Lauriot Prévost, and Tanguy Leglatin, the 29-year-old sailor will head in a few weeks toward the Mediterranean, along with his nine championship counterparts – Laurent Bourguès having obtained a waiver from the class to remain in the Atlantic with Mon Bonnet Rose, due to a lack of budget.
Canceled last year following the last-minute withdrawal of the city of Toulon, the southern leg will indeed take place this time with the first two Acts of the Ocean Fifty Series for which the class will itself be the organizer : in Sainte-Maxime from April 28 to May 3, then in Ajaccio from May 5 to 9. For the first time, gender diversity will be mandatory (at least one woman on board), as will the registration of a carbon footprint for the championship, with a point awarded to the most virtuous crew.
“There too, these are strong choices that were voted on democratically, after much debate; every voice counts and everything is said freely, I can guarantee it! smiles Sébastien Rogues. These choices require a significant financial effort for the teams, as the entry fee had to be increased, but everyone realizes that it is an investment to move upmarket and showcase our assets.”
Satisfying Partners
Recruited this winter to lead this takeover as director of Ocean Fifty Sailing, a new subsidiary in charge of class development, Mathieu Baule will be responsible for this ambitious roadmap: “We want to give more dimension to the Grand Prix format, create a true hospitality experience.” He will also have the mission of finding a title partner for the class – between 400,000 and 600,000 euros per year in exchange fof visibility on the eleven boats and on the villages, as well as up to 150 guest spots on the Grand Prix events.
“Today, there may be criticisms of the class, but no one criticizes our boats, because everyone knows we have incredible tools, particularly for partner activation. Once a sponsor gets a taste of it, they don’t want to do anything else!” explains Luke Berry, who is expected this year, with his 33 partners, to take 600 people sailing and offer more than 800 tours of his trimaran.
“Offshore racing is an expensive sport, without ticketing, without TV rights,” recalls Sébastien Rogues. “We think of those who keep us alive. Our goal is to give them satisfaction by offering both the major transatlantic races that people dream of, and a highly spectacular Grand Prix format, inspired by SailGP but with much more controlled costs, all of this with eleven boats capable of winning.”
The “mini laboratory” Sodebo Fifty
Smoothing out the performance differences between boats of different generations is indeed another major challenge for the class. The arrival of Sodebo in the circuit could thus serve as a “mini laboratory“, the former Ocean Fifty of Christopher Pratt having been quite radically transformed this winter, notably with a new mast and a new structure. “It has been great to see the team pamper this legendary boat, the former Crêpes Whaou ! of Franck-Yves Escoffier, launched in 2009, confirms the rookie skipper, Léonard Legrand, who will be accompanied at the Grand Prix events by Thomas Coville, Benjamin Schwartz, Frédéric Denis, Charlotte Yven, François Duguet, and Charles Defontaine. This transformation is also very consistent with our DNA at Sodebo. We did the same with Geronimo, which is soon to accomplish another feat with Guirec Soudée.”
“The path to reaching a homogeneous fleet is not simple; there are many questions to which we don’t have answers, but this refit will give us some indications,” rejoices Baptiste Hulin, winner of the 2025 Ocean Fifty Series on his 2017 VPLP design. “What is certain is that with the rest of the season being raced solo, performance differences between boats will be smoothed out, particularly on the Route du Rhum,” adds the St. Malo native, who won the last Transat Café L’Or ahead of Solidaires en Peloton (2017) and Le Rire Médecin-Lamotte (2009).
A Route du Rhum in which the vast majority of the fleet will be rookies, proof of the renewal of a class about which “veteran” Erwan Le Roux confides: “What we want is to anticipate the post-Rhum period and not have a slump. But today, I am very reassured to see the evolutions, and I welcome the change in governance which has brought us freshness in the debates. We don’t want a scenario like the MOD70s [the circuit, launched in the early 2010s, had very quickly foundered, Editor’s note] that is the whole point of limiting our growth to better control our fundamentals.”
