At 24 years old, Basile Bourgnon crossed the finish line at 01:12 in Guadeloupe, i.e., 06:12 in Paris, just two minutes ahead of the winner in the Imoca category, Corentin Horeau (MACSF), a close friend and former rival on the Solitaire du Figaro.
He spent 9 days 17 hours 10 minutes and 23 seconds at sea, becoming the second youngest winner of the queen of transatlantic races after British Ellen MacArthur, who won at 22 in 1998, in the 50-foot monohull category.
“It took effort to fight. It wasn’t an easy race, but I wasn’t sold it as such. I came here to chase this. This victory is to make up for everyone around me; it’s a race that means a lot to our family,” Basile Bourgnon said, very moved, at the finish.
Favorite Bourgnon took the lead at the start gun in Saint-Malo, but was caught up on Monday by his two rivals Thibaut Vauchel-Camus (Solidaires en Peloton) and Pierre Quiroga (Wewise) after tearing a sail.
“At first I was afraid, then I was ashamed. To see his boat in that state, worthy of the Flying Dutchman in Pirates of the Caribbean, frustrated me a lot. But we had to rally again,” he explained.
Like Father, Like Son
The pressure at the start was enormous for Basile Bourgnon, who bears the weight of an extraordinary family legacy. His father, Laurent Bourgnon, had won the Route du Rhum twice, in 1994 and 1998. He remains to this day the only sailor to have won the event twice overall.
In French Polynesia, Basile Bourgnon spent part of his childhood and developed his passion for sailing. In 2008, at the age of only 6, he joined his family for a world tour aboard a motor catamaran. After a year of travel, the Bourgnons settled in Raiatea, in the Society Islands. Basile was about 7 then and would spend five years on the island, growing up in close contact with the ocean. An upbringing that helped shape his calling as a navigator.
But in 2015, his father Laurent Bourgnon disappeared in a diving accident. Eleven years later, his son’s victory on the Route du Rhum takes on a particularly meaningful dimension.
“What a wonderful tribute to my father, up there, by winning this race, he who was also on these pontoons. I thought of him throughout the crossing. I think he gave me two or three little helps after all,” Basile Bourgnon confessed, tears in his eyes, upon arriving in Guadeloupe.
Horeau Rules in Imoca
In a twist of fate, another sailor from Trinité-sur-Mer, Corentin Horeau (MACSF), a great admirer of his father, followed Basile to the finish dock, after having won the race in the upper-tier Imoca category, the Vendée Globe monohulls.
He went around Guadeloupe bow-to-bow with Bourgnon, before finishing his crossing in 9 days 17 hours 12 minutes.
“I could see him coming back and I told myself we would finish almost side by side. We crossed the line virtually shoulder to shoulder; Basile wins, it’s incredible, I hardly have words,” Horeau said at the finish.
Winner of the Solitaire du Figaro 2023, Horeau took the lead of the fleet northeast of the Azores, where he was the first to escape a veering wind zone that had pinned the favorites Sam Goodchild (Macif) and Ambrogio Beccaria (Allangrade Mapei).
Then, the 37-year-old sailor delivered a perfect race. “Indeed, it’s somewhat the dream trajectory. Even in my wildest dreams I wouldn’t have imagined such a scenario,” he explained.
Tom Laperche, winner on Saturday in the flagship Ultim class, waited for a good part of the evening to see them arrive. Their embraces sealed the success of these three Trinité friends.
