The key facts

  • 115 yachts set out from Saint-Malo towards Pointe-à-Pitre in Guadeloupe
  • Charles Caudrelier is the favorite aboard the new Gitana 18, capable of over 50 knots
  • Armel Le Cléac'h, at 49, is once again fighting for victory in his category

The start of the transatlantic race

On Sunday, 115 yachts will set out from Saint-Malo in France 115 yachtsto begin the Route du Rhum — a solo transatlantic race to Pointe-à-Pitre on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe. The race is held every four years, and each skipper crosses the Atlantic alone. According to AFP, the weather forecast for the first days of the crossing is favorable — unlike 2022, when a storm forced the start to be postponed.

Caudrelier and the untested Gitana 18

One of the favorites is Charles Caudrelier, who set the race record in 2022 (six days 19 hours) aboard the trimaran Gitana 17. Now he is setting out on the new, multi-million Gitana 18-Maxi Edmond de Rothschild, featuring Y-shaped structural elements and capable of speeds exceeding 50 knots (about 96 km/h). The boat was launched in February and has never competed. “The others have boats they have been sailing for four or five years. I see the difference between their level of knowledge of the boat and mine,” Caudrelier admitted, calling this race “the beginning of a story” between himself and the vessel. The calm weather forecast may work in his favor, allowing him not to overload the new boat.

Le Cléac'h and a family story

The 49-year-old Armel Le Cléac'h, winner of the round-the-world Vendée Globe, is once again trying to win the race category that has so far eluded him: “I tell myself that one day it will happen to me in the Route du Rhum.” He recalls how, at the age of nine in 1986, he learned of the death of skipper Loïc Caradec, who disappeared at sea a few days after the start — the boy had seen his catamaran in Saint-Malo himself. The race also marks the debut of 24-year-old Basile Bourgnon, a contender for victory in the Ocean Fifty class and the son of Laurent Bourgnon — the only yachtsman to have won the race twice, who died in 2015 in a diving accident. “This is the transatlantic race of my dreams,” said the young athlete.