Ireland’s Pamela Lee Ready for Transat Café L’OR Start Sunday

25th October 2025

Afloat.ie Team

Pamela Lee from Greystones and co-skipper Jay Thompson prepare #EMPOWHER in Le Havre ahead of Sunday’s Transat Café L’OR start to Martinique with 74 boats racing offshore.

Pamela Lee from Greystones and co-skipper Jay Thompson are one of the boats in Le Havre ahead of Sunday’s Transat Café L’OR start to Martinique with 74 boats racing offshore.

Irish offshore sailor Pamela Lee will be on the start line this Sunday, 26 October, as the Transat Café L’OR (formerly the Transat Jacques Vabre) Le Havre Normandie gets underway.

The Greystones, County Wicklow skipper will race her Class40 yacht #EMPOWHER alongside American co-skipper Jay Thompson in the double-handed transatlantic contest.

Seventy-four boats and 148 sailors across four classes will compete in the race from Le Havre, France, to Fort-de-France, Martinique.

The Greystones, County Wicklow skipper Pamela Lee

The fleet leaves from Bassin Paul-Vatine before a parade along the Nelson-Mandela Esplanade and the exit into open water for the official start.

Due to the weather in the Channel, the Ocean Fifty fleet begins 24 hours earlier than the rest of the pack.

On Sunday, the start sequence will see ULTIM boats set off at 14:00, IMOCAs at 14:20 and the Class40 division — including Lee’s #EMPOWHER — at 14:40 local time.

Each class heads out on a different route: the Class40s taking a course via the Azores, IMOCAs around the Canary Islands and ULTIMs towards Ascension Island.

Live race tracking will be available on the event’s official website and social channels.

Pamela Lee carries the Irish challenge in one of offshore sailing’s most high-profile transatlantic races.

Published in Pamela Lee, Transatlantic Jacques Vabre, Class40, Women in Sailing

Published in Pamela Lee

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Pamela Lee

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About Pamela Lee, Irish Offshore Sailor

Ireland has produced some of the world’s most dedicated offshore sailors, and Pamela Lee of Greystones is one of them. She has made a name for herself in the sailing world, having worked as a mate on a charter Super-yacht for two and a half years. After coming ashore, she has been fully committed to her offshore sailing ambitions since 2019.

Lee has raced in various craft, including Figaro 3s, Class 40, Tp 52s, and multihulls, and has eight transatlantic crossings under her belt. In partnership with Kenny Rumball, Lee supported Rumball’s La Solitaire du Figaro sailing campaign to secure the Irish berth in the proposed Mixed Offshore Keelboat event for the Paris 2024 Olympics.

One of Lee’s stated main aims is to promote female empowerment in sport, and she set out to establish a double-handed Round Ireland speed record with Englishwoman Cat Hunt in the winter of 2020. This campaign gained much publicity, and Lee expressed pride in bringing sailing and offshore sailing, in particular, into the conversation for 2020.

To further her offshore sailing career, Lee moved to France, where she has recently secured a place to skipper a yacht in the Transat Jacques Vabre Challenge in October 2023. Lee’s passion and dedication to offshore sailing are inspiring, and her achievements are a testament to her hard work and perseverance.