Transat Café-L'Or


The Transat Café-L'Or is a yachting race that follows the historic coffee trading route between France and Brazil. It is named after a French brand of coffee.
The course was drawn up back in 1993 to follow in the wake of the clippers transporting coffee from Brazil to France. The Transat Jacques Vabre is a major date on the calendar, taking place every other year in odd years. It is a two-person race and the pairs of sailors are formed according to their complementary skills, what they have in common and how they get on. Boats leave from Le Havre, France's leading coffee importing port, going to Salvador de Bahia, in Brazil, the world's leading coffee grower and exporter. The first edition in 1993 was a single-handed race.
The event is open to multihulls and monohulls from the following classes: Ultims, IMOCA, Multi 50 and Class40. All kinds of navigational aids are allowed in particular for routing, except for the Class40 boats.
In 2025 the name of the race was changed to Transat Café-L'Or.
Ed.1234567891011121314151617
Year19931995199719992001200320052007200920112013201520172019202120232025
ORMA••••••••
MOD70•
Ultim 32/23•••••
Multi50/Open Fifty•••••••••••••••
IMOCA 60•••••••••••••••••
Class40•••••••••
Total de bateaux13111820333835602036444238597995

Ed.YearStartFinishClassesLength of route
11993Le Havre Carthagene
21995Le Havre Carthagene
31997Le Havre Carthagene
41999Le Havre Carthagene
52001Le Havre Salvador, Bahia
62003Le Havre Salvador, Bahia
72005Le Havre Salvador, Bahia All4340
82007Le Havre Salvador, Bahia
92009Le Havre Puerto Limón
102011Le Havre Puerto Limón Monohulls
Multi		4730
5323
112013Le Havre Itajaí All5400
122015Le Havre Itajaí All5400
132017Le Havre Salvador, Bahia All4350
142019Le Havre Salvador, Bahia All4350
152021Le Havre Fort-de-France Martinique Ultime
IMOCA
Class40		7500
5800
4600
162023Le Havre
Lorient 		Fort-de-France Martinique Ultime
Multi50
IMOCA
Class40		7500
4200
3750
4045
172025Le Havre Fort-de-France Martinique Ultime
Multi50
IMOCA
Class40		6200
4600
4350
3750

Winners

IMOCA 60 – Winners

Class 40 - Winners

1993 1st Edition

The first edition was a single handed race between Le Havre and Cartagena. 13 boats started.
  • 1st multihull: Paul Vatine on Région Haute-Normandie.
  • 1st monohull: Yves Parlier on Cacolac d'Aquitaine.

    ORMA 60 Multihulls

IMOCA 60

1995

A two-handed race between Le Havre and Cartagena.
  • 1st multihull: Paul Vatine and Roland Jourdain on Région Haute-Normandie.
  • 1st monohull: Jean Maurel and Fred Dahirel on Côte d'Or.
Classements Skippers Bateaux Temps de course

ORMA

IMOCA 60

1997

Again a two-handed race between Le Havre and Cartagena.
  • 1st multihull: Laurent and his brother Yvan Bourgnon on Primagaz.
  • 1st monohull: Yves Parlier and Éric Tabarly on Aquitaine Innovations.

    60ft Multihulls

IMOCA 60

50ft Multi

50ft Monohull

1999

This year was marked by the disappearance of Paul Vatine, on board the Groupe André.

IMOCA 60

Pos.CrewLaunch
Date		Boat nameArrival TimeElapsed Time
1Hervé Jan|FRA

IMOCA 50

Pos.CrewBoat nameElapsed Time
1Emma Richards|GBR

2001

A two-handed race between Le Havre and Salvador de Bahia. There was a total of 22 boats in 3 classes of boats.
  • 1 out of 14 multihull 60: Franck Cammas and Steve Ravussin on Groupama.
  • 1 out of 12 monohull 60: Roland Jourdain and Gaël Le Cléac'h on Sill Pleint Fruit.
  • 1 out of 17 monohull 50: Alex Bennett and Paul Larsen on One Dream.

    ORMA

IMOCA 60

Pos.CrewBoat nameLaunch
Date		Elapsed Time
1Gaël Le Cleac'h|FRA

Classe 2

2003

From this year there have been 4 categories of boats and 38 competitors.
  • 1st multihull 60 : and on Groupama.
  • 1st monohull 60 : and on Virbac. Ross.
  • 1st multihull 50 : and on Mollymawk.
  • 1st monohull 50 : and on Hellomoto.

    60ft Multihulls

IMOCA 60

50ft Multihulls

50ft Monohulls

2005

The start was 5 November for the monohulls and 6 November for the multihulls. or to do this year. 34 boats were registered:
Image:TransatJ.Vabre 6 11 2005 Gitana11.jpg|thumb|Gitana XI, Start day of the Transat Jacques Vabre, 6 November 2005

Multi 60 Orma

IMOCA 60

Multi Classe 2

Mono Classe 2

2007

The start was 3 November for the monohulls and 4 November for the multihulls from Le Havre. This year, 60 boats were registered.
  • 1st multihull 60: Franck Cammas and Steve Ravussin on Groupama 2 in 10 days, 38 minutes and 43 seconds: Record of the Race
  • 1st monohull 60: Michel Desjoyeaux and Emmanuel Le Borgne on Foncia in 17 days, 2 hours, 37 minutes and 5 seconds
  • 1st multihull 50: Franck-Yves Escoffier and Karine Fauconnier on Crêpes Whaou in 15 days, 22 hours, 27 minutes and 37 seconds
  • 1st monohull 40: Giovanni Soldini and Pietro d'Ali on Telecom Italia in 22 days, 13 hours, 2 minutes and 22 seconds

    ORMA

IMOCA 60

Multi 50

Class 40

2009

The start was 8 November and course was from Le Havre to Puerto Limon.
Winners Marc Guillemot and Charles Caudrelier on Safran.
Pos.CrewBoat name
1Marc Guillemot|FRA

Multi50

2011

2013

Force 10 winds in the English Channel caused the postponement of the start to 7 November.
The race was won by the MOD 70 Edmond de Rothschild skippered by Sebastien Josse and Charles Caudrelier. First monohull was PRB skippered by Vincent Riou and Jean Le Cam.

2015

The 2015 race departed on 25 October, with 42 registered boats.
  • 1st ULTIM:
  • 1st Multi 50:
  • 1st IMOCA 60: and on PRB 4 in 17 days, 00 hours, 22 minutes and 24 seconds
  • 1st Class 40: