Kiwi sailor Conrad Colman has crossed the finish line in Martinique, completing the Transat Café L’Or Le Havre Normandie in 17th place aboard MSIG Europe. He and co-skipper Mathieu Blanchard, a French ultramarathon runner who had never sailed before this race, arrived after 19 days, 14 hours, 27 minutes and 47 seconds at sea.
For Colman, this crossing delivered another chapter in what he once again called “the life of the crazy Kiwi”. Speaking at the dock, he admitted the early stages were among the toughest he has faced.
“The first night in the Channel with autopilots on the fritz… I felt very by myself,” he said, recalling moments when he questioned what he was doing out there with a novice sailor on a boat he had already taken around the world.
The pair faced repeated technical issues, including failing autopilots and weather that swung between near-gale blasts and long stretches of drifting. But the unlikely duo grew stronger as the race went on.
“As we progressed down the race course, we stayed on top of the challenges and we grew together as a team,” Colman said. “I was in coaching mode for three weeks… but sometimes I’d turn around and he’d already done it. My heart just grew with joy.”
For Blanchard, arriving in Martinique completes a steep learning curve that began only weeks ago when he stepped onto an IMOCA for the first time. For Colman, it marks a personal victory as much as a competitive one.
“We’re here, we’re smiling, we’re happy to have arrived… and happy to have done the race in this way,” he said.
With the boat tied up and the sails finally down, the Kiwi skipper signs off another demanding Atlantic chapter — one defined not by the leaderboard, but by grit, patience, and the rare satisfaction of bringing a complete newcomer safely across an ocean.
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