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2026
Winner, Drheam Cup
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2025
Winner, Rolex Fastnet Race (IMOCA) with Élodie Bonafous
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2025
Winner, 24h Ultim
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2025
5nd, La Transat Café L'Or
Born in 2002, Basile Bourgnon is already establishing himself as one of the brightest young talents in French offshore racing. Edenred has backed him from the start, supporting his sporting ambitions as he sets his sights on victory in the 2026 Route du Rhum.
As the son of a sailor, I grew up around boats my whole life. I spent seven years sailing around the world on a catamaran with my family, which is how I first discovered the open sea. Competition has become a real passion for me.
The Adventure Continues
In 2008, at just six years old, young Basile set off with his family aboard a motor catamaran to sail around the world. After a year-long voyage, the Bourgnon family settled on the small island of Raiatea in French Polynesia for five years. Raised on the water, Basile naturally gravitated toward sailing as the family's travels continued.
Since 2019, Edenred has supported Basile's offshore racing career, a partnership that gave him his first real foothold in top-level competition. That year, Emmanuel Le Roch invited him to race in the Transat Jacques Vabre aboard a Class40. Basile was only 17 and preparing for his high school exams at the time. "There was no way I could turn down an offer like that," the skipper recalls. He received special permission as a minor and completed his first-ever transatlantic race.
Thrown Into the Deep End of Ocean Racing
The Covid pandemic sped things up. Basile chose the sea over remote classes and began racing a Mini 6.50 with Edenred's backing. In less than a year, he picked up several podium finishes in qualifying races, followed by his first solo Atlantic crossing in the Mini Transat. That success naturally led him to the Figaro Bénéteau 3 circuit, the gold standard of solo offshore racing.
Still backed by Edenred, Basile joined the Pôle Finistère Course au Large in 2022, the training center that has shaped some of the sport's greatest sailors. The results came quickly. In 2023, he hit a new milestone with a stage win at La Solitaire du Figaro in Roscoff, several podium finishes, and a runner-up spot in the overall standings, just ten minutes behind Corentin Horeau. In 2024, he finished second in both the Solo Maître Coq and the Trophée BPGO. Despite two more stage runner-up finishes at La Solitaire, the overall title slipped through his fingers. That disappointment only fueled his drive, since the multihull class has always been his ultimate goal.
Basile has competition running through his veins and he never lets go of anything, though I think that's just in the family.
While the Ocean Fifty Edenred 5 was being built, Basile kept honing his skills at the highest level, sailing on the Ultim Maxi Banque Populaire and on Élodie Bonafous's IMOCA Association Petits Princes, broadening his experience along the way.
Since taking the helm of this new boat, launched in July 2025, Basile has turned a corner. "He's progressing fast, but he never skips a step. He always keeps a cool head. His goal isn't just to win, it's first and foremost to learn," says his mother, Caroline.
More mature and more experienced, he combines natural instinct with meticulous technical skill, and today he knows every detail of his boat inside and out. Around him, he's built a team of seasoned professionals who share his drive and ambition. "Emmanuel Le Roch has been with me since the beginning, and he's played a huge role in shaping me as a sailor. There's real trust between us, on land and at sea," Basile says. Together, they're chasing a single goal: the 2026 Route du Rhum.
Profile
- Born on May 3, 2002
- Lives in Saint-Philibert (Morbihan)
- Skipper of the Ocean Fifty Edenred 5
- Instagram: @basilebourgnon
