Aina Bauza, ready to cross the Atlantic again in the legendary Transat Café L’Or

• The mallorcan sailor will set off from Le Havre on her first major transatlantic in Class40 thanks to the Cap pour Elles grant, embarking on her second Atlantic adventure after the 2024 world record.
• Over the past year, Bauza has been training at the Lorient base in France, the nerve center of ocean racing, where she has prepared with top international teams and sailors.

On October 26, the Atlantic Ocean will become the stage for the biggest challenge Aina Bauza has faced so far. The mallorcan racer from Club de Vela Puerto de Andratx, together with France’s Axelle Pillain, will start the Transat Café L’Or Le Havre Normandie 2025, a crossing that will take participants from the Norman coast to Fort-de-France (Martinique), more than 3,750 nautical miles non-stop and unassisted.

The Transat Café L’Or, formerly known as the Transat Jacques Vabre, is one of the great ocean races on the international calendar, where the world’s best sailors and the most cutting-edge boats compete. It features four classes: Ultim, Ocean Fifty, IMOCA and Class40. The latter, in which Bauza will compete, is one of the most hotly contested, concentrating a great deal of talent and teams aiming to step up to major projects such as the Vendée Globe or The Ocean Race. Taking part means entering the professional circuit of ocean sailing; it is a demanding, must-do event on the offshore calendar.

Starting from Le Havre, competitors must immediately face the Bay of Biscay, one of the toughest stretches of the North Atlantic, where low-pressure systems can bring winds over 40 knots and waves higher than 6 meters. It’s a race with variable winds and adverse weather, where strategy and meteorological know-how make the difference. The final destination is Fort-de-France, on the island of Martinique, after more than 3,750 nautical miles and a passage time that, for Class40s, can range between 13 and 22 days depending on the wind conditions.

Class40, a fast and demanding monohull

They will race aboard Engie–Dessine-moi la Hight Tech, a 12.19-meter Class40. Bauza and Pillain will face weeks of intense-rhythm sailing. The Class40 is a modern, fast and reliable monohull, capable of exceeding 25 knots in favorable conditions. It’s a competition-oriented yacht with no comforts on board; the interior is reduced to space for safety gear, freeze-dried food and basic tools.

Fotografia Michael Kunts

Sail handling requires physical effort, as the sails are large and heavy, and configuration changes can add up to many hours of work. In addition, any technical issue or breakage must be resolved by the sailors themselves with the resources available on board.
These features make Class40 a particularly valued class: a fast, demanding boat, ideal for developing sailors who later want to move up to larger-scale projects such as IMOCA or the Vendée Globe.

A well-matched team

Alongside her will be France’s Axelle Pillain, an engineer by profession and passionate about the sea since childhood, has stood out in sailing competitions in France and has made the project with Bauza her major sporting bet. They combine technical rigor, endurance and determination and complement each other very well on the water—key to tackling a race as tough as the Transat Café L’Or with confidence.
Their participation comes thanks to the Cap pour Elles grant, sponsored by Engie, a program that promotes women’s teams in ocean sailing and has given Bauza and Pillain the opportunity to fight in one of the sport’s most iconic events. “It has been a real challenge to reach the start line. That’s always the hardest part: months of work, sacrifices and preparation. But I’m sure that once we start sailing it will be the fun part—the one that gives meaning to all this effort. We’ve spent many months getting ready for this,” says Bauza.
With the start scheduled for October 26, the team is getting everything ready against the clock. Today they begin moving the boat to the port of Le Havre to set off on this new nautical adventure.
Even after making it to the start line, Aina Bauza and Axelle Pillain’s project remains open. The team is still seeking new sponsors to complete the budget and continue racing next season, consolidating this sporting project and maintaining their presence on the international ocean-racing circuit.