5 Jours du Léman 2025
The 33rd edition of the 5 Jours du Léman 2025 was marked by lively and sometimes rough conditions. The winners, Jean-Pascal Chatagny and Loïc Preitner on Twist Again, covered more than 950 km during the event, but failed to beat the record of 1,000 km set in 2015.
The 5 Jours du Léman kept all its promises between July 20 and 25. Sustained winds, frenzied surfing, rain, thunderstorms, close quarters and even a little sunshine were all on the menu for this exceptional edition. All those who completed the course came away from their experience with a great deal of satisfaction. And if some swore “never again” during the race, they re-evaluated their assessment once they had crossed the line, promising to return. Philippe Jeanneret, the event’s meteorologist for over twenty years, warned the racers at the pre-start briefing: “This edition is going to be lively, and you won’t have much opportunity to dry out your gear. Take advantage of the lull in the middle of the week to do so. The rest of the time, it’s going to be complicated.”
The boats set off at 2pm on Sunday, July 20, knowing what they were getting into. And while the start was bathed in a light 5-6 knot vauderon, the fleet got into the thick of things after nightfall. In the lead for the first part of the race, Victor Casas and Romain Defferrard’s CER – Ville de Genève 1 briefly relinquished its position to Fou du Vent, before regaining its position in Geneva in the early evening, and setting a steady pace for its pursuers.
The first night, bathed in a westerly flow, was memorable, and most of the fleet reached the Vieux-Rhône buoy from Geneva in some seven hours. But when you think of slipping along under the spinnaker, you also think of getting back upwind, “planting stakes”. A rare occurrence on the 5 Jours, the leaders completed their first lap at dawn on Monday. The fleet continued at the same frenetic pace for its second lap, putting the boats to the test. Mid-afternoon on Monday, Caroline Cartier and Marc Polliand’s Jawa was the first to notify the race committee of her retirement, exhausted by the first 24 hours.
A series of retirements
The second night was just as grueling, with a succession of retirements for a variety of reasons. Cust 4 – École de régate de Lausanne, Luc Voile 2, and Last but not least threw in the towel, leaving the fleet to continue at seventeen boats. We had a big scare,” explained Romain Bonnotte of Last but not least. We got into the boat and almost sank. That’s when we realized that we were no longer lucid due to fatigue, and that we couldn’t make the right decisions. That figure brought us face to face with our state of mind, and we decided to stop.” Rivale 3, for its part, came very close to tragedy: “During a tack, Hélène went overboard,” said Esteban Fischlin, hardly moved by her misadventure. She took a dive across the boat and ended up in the water. It took me two tries to get her back. Hélène Lasserre Bovard was apparently not traumatized by the situation. She explained: “I wasn’t scared, because I saw the boat stop immediately. I didn’t have the dramatic image of the sailboat continuing on its way without me. What I did experience was that a wet foulies pulls towards the bottom. But my vest eventually inflated, and I was able to climb back aboard on the second recovery attempt. Despite the situation, we never thought about giving up.”
Long-term durability
Fou du Vent, skippered by Loris von Siebenthal and Jérôme Plojoux, dropped out of the race on the first night, but after 30 hours of racing decided to change strategy in view of the demanding conditions. We realized that we couldn’t keep up the pace,” confided Jérôme Plojoux, “and we changed our approach, because we couldn’t rest. So we opted for wisdom rather than enthusiasm. And they were right to do so, as the duo climbed from 11th place to the leading pack in 24 hours, between days 2 and 3. CER – Ville de Genève 1 suffered a shroud failure early on Tuesday afternoon, forcing it to relinquish first place and let a large part of the fleet through for repairs. CER – Ville de Genève 2 then took the lead, closely followed by Twist Again and GFA Caraïbes. Then came the time for transitions, and it was in the middle of the race that crews had to call on their lucidity, as fatigue set in. The more experienced crews came out on top. Others, like GFA Caraïbes’s Martiniquais, Tristan Marmousez and Erwan Renoult, took the lead. “We managed to sail well, and we had good speed. But you need to know Lake Geneva to stick with the leading pack when things get complicated.”
A fierce battle
Twist Again, owned by Jean-Pascal Chatagny and Loïc Preitner, took the lead mid-day on Wednesday and remained almost untouchable until the end. CER – Ville de Genève 1, back in the game, CER – Ville de Genève 2, Fou du Vent, Du Léman à l’Océan – Pro Yachting took it in turns to try and snatch first place, but the duo, with a total of almost 40 entries, never gave up and eventually won the 120-hour race, ahead of CER – Ville de Genève 2 and Fou du Vent. Arnaud Machado, sailing with Lorine Robert, was obviously a little disappointed with his chocolate medal, but delighted with his mixed-crew experience. “We didn’t know each other before we set off. After this experience, I really want to encourage gender diversity. There’s an extraordinary complementarity. The sensibilities are different, and that brought a lot.” The co-skipper largely supported this comment, also delighted by this almost improvised pairing.
On the winners’ side, Loïc Preitner, who finally won for his 22nd time, praised the duo’s smooth running. “The key to a good result is to sleep when possible, so as to be ready to attack when necessary. I had to force Jean-Pascal to rest a little, and I think it paid off.” The winner of this 33rd edition covered 950.87 km in 120 h, 7 min and 18 s. He completed six laps of Lake Geneva, including a round trip between Vidy – La Tour Carrée – Vidy, a round trip between Vidy – Promenthoux – Vidy, and three laps of the final course in front of Vidy. The lap record was set by CER – Ville de Genève 1 on its 2nd lap, in 13 h 37 min 40 s.