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A few months after the arrival of the Tall Ships, you will be hosting the start of the Transat Café l'Or 2025. What impact does this have on the port?
The port is involved at various levels in the organization of the Transat Café l'Or, formerly known as the Transat Jacques-Vabre, which leaves on October 26, 2025. We're working upstream, on all the nautical equipment, with mooring plans, the installation of pontoons and gangways. This part is managed by Franck Millet, the technical manager. On the water, we're also responsible for the reception, embarkation and disembarkation of passenger launches and assistance RIBs, as well as those used to embark people who want to watch the start on the water.
Upstream, for the duration of the village, we have a person on call to secure the area. This year, the weather conditions weren't exactly easy. The harbourmaster's office is responsible for the pontoons and moorings. We're going to secure the pontoons with people from the sailing league. We're going to put in place additional devices if we need to reinforce security on the boats...
At the same time, life in the port goes on. We continue to welcome yachtsmen, some of whom are completely unaware of the event! The start of the race mobilizes almost the entire team on Sunday.
In terms of numbers, how many boats are in the port?
In terms of numbers, this year we had 12 passenger boats carrying around a hundred people. That's around 1,200 people in the port on Sunday for the passenger launches. There are also around 60 assistance RIBs and passenger RIBs, large RIBs between 8 and 10 m long. We mobilize all 2 visitor pontoons.
In terms of volume, we doubled our visitor numbers in October, compared with a year when there was no transatlantic crossing.
It also attracts sailors from nearby ports - we have people from Fécamp, Ouistreham and Deauville who want to come here during village week to enjoy the village. During the week, visitors come to sail and enjoy the facilities. We also get people who come from further afield to watch the start. This year we had a 22 m sailboat arrive from Lorient, just to spend the night from Saturday to Sunday and be on the water on Sunday to watch the start. There are quite a few people.
This year's weather conditions were very good before the village opened. As soon as the village opened, we moved into a fairly strong westerly pattern, with rain. This limited the number of visitors, but it's an event that always attracts a huge number of people.
What does it mean to you and your teams to organize events like this?
We're delighted to host an event like this in Le Havre. We're all sailors and yachtsmen. So we're obviously very proud to see these boats in the basins, to welcome them, to see them pass in front of the office, under our windows, for the entry into the basins and then for the exit on departure Sunday. We're also delighted to see projects from Normandy.
This year, there were several Class40s based at the Le Havre marina, with a training center that's starting to get the hang of things. It's always nice to see people you know leaving, people you work with every day.
I was out on the water regulating traffic at the harbor entrance on Sunday, and every time a Class40 from Le Havre passed by, I'd go and give him a little message, telling him we were proud of him and wishing him a good transatlantic crossing on behalf of everyone.
