Route de Rhum

The British yachtsman Alex Thomson stood on board his damaged yacht, Hugo Boss, moored to the quayside in Guadeloupe this morning and told the assembled media that he did not deserve to win the Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe.

Following initial reports that Alex Thomson’s Hugo Boss had grounded on rocks during the final miles of the Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe while leading the IMOCA class, Race Direction has contacted the British skipper to check his status.

Blessed with bright Caribbean sunshine and a 20-knot trade wind for the final passage around the island of Basse Terre, French solo skipper Armel Tripon today won the Multi50 class in the 2018 Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe.

At the end of the second day of the Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe an Atlantic storm that had been forecast at the start has been making itself felt across the whole fleet with one boat capsized, two dismasted and many sailors electing to seek shelter in French and Spanish ports.

British skipper Sam Goodchild has dismasted during the second night of the Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe whilst racing in third place in Class40 on Narcos Mexico. 

The majority of the 123-strong Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe solo transatlantic fleet has enjoyed a brisk first 24 hours of racing as they head west into the Atlantic. 

With 20 skippers at the start in St Malo on November 4^th, of which 10 are sailing boats equipped with foils, this edition of the Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe in the IMOCA class promises to be competitive and exciting. 

The largest fleet in the Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe 2018 – the solo transatlantic race that starts from St Malo on November 4^th – is the Class40 monohull division with 53 sailors taking part.

Today marks one month to go until the start of the Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe. On November 4, 124 skippers will be leaving St Malo in Brittany to take on the 3,542-nautical mile course to Point-à-Pitre on the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe. 

With less than 40 days to the start of the 11th edition of the Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe solo transatlantic race, sailors, partners, organisers and journalists gathered at the Maison de la Radio in Paris today for the official presentation of the race.