Irish sailor Pam Lee has led the international reaction as Class40 finishers arrived in Fort-de-France after a demanding Transat Café L’Or.
Lee and co-skipper Jay Thompson finished 19th on #EmpowHer. Both said the race pushed them technically and mentally.
Thompson said they approached the start with “an open mind” despite their boat’s downwind strengths. “We were 100 per cent convinced that the north route would make it,” he said.
Lee said the decision came at a cost. “We paid dearly, losing our sails, and it really was a battle,” she said. “But I came out of this race learning so, so much by going that more technical, more complicated route.”
She said the experience helped her trust her own assessment of weather and routing. “Learning to see what I think is going on rather than just accepting what the GRIBs say,” she said. “There were really a lot of deep, challenging moments.”
Across the dock, other international skippers echoed the scale of the challenge.
Italy’s Pietro Luciani, third with William Mathelin-Moreaux, said the opening stage was “one of the worst I can remember”. A podium finish, he added, is “one of the pinnacles of my career”.
Seventh-placed Alberto Riva described a tactical contest split between north and south. “It was a beautiful race full of choices,” he said.
Czech skipper Milan Kolacek, eighth, said the fleet never stretched out. “It was tight all the time… mentally quite hard and long,” he said.
Italy’s Luca Rossetti, sixth on leg two, said the top trio were “in another race”. An electrical fault in leg one forced a stop in Cherbourg. “It is a mechanical sport,” he said.
Germany’s Sanni Beucke, 18th, said she embraced the steep learning curve. “It was a big challenge for me… all good experience,” she said.
Spain’s Pep Costa, 16th, said finishing brought pride. “Sometimes things don’t work out… but there’s no reason to give up,” he said.
