French sailing invaded the Mogador theater in Paris this Wednesday morning for the traditional Route du Rhum press conference.
Organized by OC Sport Pen Duick, the 12th edition will take off on Sunday November 6 from Saint-Malo and will head for Pointe-à-Pitre.
New record, for an exceptional field, 138 solo sailors divided into 6 classes will set off for this legendary transatlantic towards Guadeloupe.
At the start: 8 Ultims trimarans (see below), 37 Imoca monohulls (Meilhat, Dalin, Bestaven, Ruyant, Beyou, Burton, Troussel, Seguin, Escoffier, Davies, Sorel, Amedeo…), 8 Ocean Fifty trimarans (Tripon, Le Roux, Goodchild, Péron…) 55 Class 40 (Richomme, Lipinski, Macaire, Douguet, Le Pape, Le Roch, Pavant, Kostelic, Ducros, Galfione, Grassi…), 16 Multi Rum (Poupon, Jourdain, Guillemot, Mabire,
For "this start in winter and this finish in summer", the Ultim class will be the big star of the race with its 32-meter boats and its battle at the top between defending champion Francis Joyon (Idec) who is putting his crown back on the line. , François Gabart (SVR Lazartigue), second four years ago and well present after a court appearance on his trimaran contested by his rivals Charles Caudrelier (Edmond de Rothschild), Thomas Coville (Sodebo), Armel Le Cléac'h.
The line-up of committed skippers gathered in Paris.
Martin Couturie
Great novelty in terms of organization, parades with the boats will be organized on 25, 26, 28 and 29 October.
The village will be larger (70,000 square meters) and will host for 13 days (from October 25 to November 6) the public who will be able to admire all the boats gathered inside the basins (another novelty).
The very popular passage through the locks will be launched by the Ultims from Friday 4 November (from 2:08 p.m.), will continue on Saturday 5 and will end on Sunday 6 in the early morning for the Class40 fleet.
The big start is scheduled for Sunday 6 at 1:02 p.m. on a single line of 3 nautical miles (nearly 6 kilometres) bringing together the entire fleet.
Record of the Route du Rhum destination Guadeloupe to beat: 7 days and 14 hours.
The ti'punch will fight with the champagne to celebrate the victory.