Route du Rhum Blast Off - Solo Transatlantic Race Start Enjoys Great conditions off Saint Malo

9th November 2022

Afloat.ie Team

On the 3.5 mile-long start line the 138 boats (8 Ultim 32/23, 8 Ocean Fifty, 38 IMOCA, 55 Class40 and 29 Rhum) blasted away forming an incredible panorama as the huge armada set sail for Guadeloupe

The twelfth edition of the Route du Rhum – Destination Guadeloupe started in great conditions at 1415hrs CET off Saint-Malo this afternoon, Wednesday, 9th November.

Ary Chalus (President of the Guadeloupe Region) and Gilles Lurton (Mayor of Saint-Malo) made the start signal off the Grouin headland.

The 138 monohulls and multihulls split up into six classes and categories, set sail towards Cape Fréhel in exceptional weather conditions: a 15-20 knot Westerly wind, slight seas and brilliant sunshine. It was a magic moment for an historic edition which has attracted the biggest-ever entry, and the start having been postponed since Sunday due to stormy weather.

On the 3.5 mile-long start line, the 138 boats (8 Ultim 32/23, 8 Ocean Fifty, 38 IMOCA, 55 Class40 and 29 Rhum) blasted away, forming an incredible panorama as the huge armada set sail for Guadeloupe.

With headwinds directly blowing from Cape Fréhel, the skippers set off upwind and were soon forced to tack to pass the CIC buoy off Cape Fréhel that the Ultim 32/23 boats should reach 75 minutes after the start, followed by the Ocean50 multihulls thirty minutes later, then the IMOCAs, Rhum Mono and Multi boats and finally the Class40 monohulls four hours later.

The twelfth Route du Rhum – Destination Guadeloupe is underway. Ahead of the fleet, 3,542 miles of racing.

La Route du Rhum race Tracker

You may need to scroll vertically and horizontally within the box to view the full results

Published in La Route du Rhum Race

Tagged under

Route du Rhum

About The Author

Afloat.ie Team

Email The Author

Afloat.ie is Ireland's dedicated marine journalism team.

Have you got a story for our reporters? Email us here.

We've got a favour to ask

More people are reading Afloat.ie than ever thanks to the power of the internet but we're in stormy seas because advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news sites, we haven't put up a paywall because we want to keep our marine journalism open.

Afloat.ie is Ireland's only full-time marine journalism team and it takes time, money and hard work to produce our content.

So you can see why we need to ask for your help.

If everyone chipped in, we can enhance our coverage and our future would be more secure. You can help us through a small donation. Thank you.

You might also want to read...

About The Route du Rhum – Destination Guadeloupe

Created in 1978 by Michel Etevenon, La Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe is regarded as the queen of solo transatlantic races.

For 44 years, the race has joined Saint-Malo in Brittany to Pointe-à-Pitre in Guadeloupe. It musters the biggest fleet ocean racing fleet of all levels on the same starting line. This transatlantic course at a total distance of 3,542 miles has become legendary as its unique magic is all about the range of different classes and the mix of competitors.

Some of the best solo racers in the world of sailing, professionals and amateurs, meet every four years to taste "the magic of the Rhum".

On November 6 2022, this legendary race will set off once again, taking on the Atlantic whilst appealing to a broad mass of public fans and followers. They are offered the chance to dream, to escape and share the wonder with the solo racers who are all ready to go to sea and challenge the Autumn Atlantic.