The Race
History of the Route du Rhum
2002 :
This seventh edition was the one to smash all the records. In terms of the number of
entrants: 58 competitors divided into 6 rankings showing the range of boats sailed was
itself a record and a new page of the history of the Rhum. Unfortunately however, there
was also a record number of yachtsmen forced to retire, as although 28 boats were to complete
the race, only 3 out of 18 reached the Antilles in the masterclass of 60-foot multihulls. It
was also the first time that two monohulls were to finish ahead of the multihulls in real time,
as a result of the many boats capsizing and suffering damage in the hellish weather conditions.
A double victory for Ellen MacArthur: she won the race in the monohull category, but also achieved the overall best time.
Behind her in another monohull, Mike Golding came in second.
It was Michel Desjoyeaux, the recent winner of the Vendée Globe ahead of Ellen, who after three
stopovers for repairs led the multihull rankings following a tough battle with the two runners-up,
Marc Guillemot and Lalou Roucayrol. Only six hours separated the monohulls from the multihulls, which
illustrated perfectly the progress made in terms of performance by the former and the imperfections of the latter.
2002 : the rankings
| Classe IMOCA (Monocoques) | |||
| Position | Skipper | Boat | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ellen MacArthur | Kingfisher | 13d 13h31'47'' |
| 2 | Mike Golding | Ecover | 13d 22h49'35'' |
| 3 | Joé Seeten | Arcelor | 16d 00h51'51'' |
| 4 | Roland Jourdain | Sill | 16d 05h14'28'' |
| 5 | Antoine Koch | L'Héeautontimorouménos | 17d 13h17'28'' |
| 6 | Patrick de Radigues | Garnier | 18d 00h20'04'' |
| 7 | Didier Munduteguy | 60 ème Sud | 20d 05h21'58'' |
| 8 | Miranda Merron | UUDS | 20d 22h33'57'' |
| 9 | Mike Birch | Tir Groupé - Montres Yema | 21d 11h31'08'' |
| 10 | Patrick Favre | Millimages Gédéon | 22d 21h30'00'' |
| 11 | Frédéric Lescot | Dinan Pays d'entreprises | 23d 13h04'43'' |
| 12 | Georges Leblanc | Ciments St Laurent Océan | 24d 06h12'54'' |
| - | Sébastien Josse | VMI | Abandon |
| - | Loïc Pochet | La rage de vivre | Abandon |
| - | Dominique Wavre | Temenos | Abandon |
| - | Jean Pierre Dick | Virbac | Abandon |
| - | Elie Canivenc | Leasecom | Abandon |
| Classe 1 (Monocoques) | |||
| Position | Skipper | Boat | Time |
| 1 | Bruno Reibel | Ville de Dinard | 27d 22h00'41'' |
| - | Nicolas Peitrequin | Un autre regard - ensemble pour l'UNHCR | DNS |
| Classe 2 (Monocoques) | |||
| Position | Skipper | Boat | Time |
| 1 | Nick Moloney | Ashfield Healthcare | 18d 16h23'04'' |
| 2 | Luc Coquelin | Florys | 20d 03h58'58'' |
| 3 | Roger Langevin | Brannec III | 21d 07h20'43'' |
| 4 | Hervé Vachet | Mille Visages | 22d 06h14'21'' |
| 5 | Clément Surtel | Laiterie de St Malo | 22d 12h45'44'' |
| 6 | Bob Escoffier | Adecco Etoile Horizon | 22d 15h11'08'' |
| - | Christophe Huchet | APIC A3S | Abandon |
| - | Yannick Bestaven | République Dominicaine | Abandon |
| - | Jean-François Durand | Défi Vendéen | Abandon |
| Classe 3 (Monocoques) | |||
| Position | Skipper | Boat | Time |
| 1 | Régis Guillemot | Storagetek | 21d 01h11'50'' |
| 2 | Jérôme Thirriez | Passion Entreprendre | 26d 00h58'04'' |
| 3 | Etienne Svilarich | Grain de Soleil | 26d 15h33'42'' |
| - | Conrad Humphreys | Hellomoto | Abandon |
| - | Alain Grinda | Fantasy-Forest | Abandon |
| Classe ORMA (Multicoques) | |||
| Position | Skipper | Boat | Time |
| 1 | Michel Desjoyeaux | Géant | 13d 07h53'00'' |
| 2 | Marc Guillemot | Biscuit La Trinitaine | 13d 19h36'18'' |
| 3 | Lalou Roucayrol | Banque Populaire | 14d 07h01'00'' |
| - | Franck Cammas | Groupama | Abandon |
| - | Bertrand de Broc | Banque Covefi | Abandon |
| - | Giovanni Soldini | TIM | Abandon |
| - | Lionel Lemonchois | Gitana X | Abandon |
| - | Fred le Peutrec | Bayer Cropscience | Abandon |
| - | Francis Joyon | Eure & Loir - Lorénove | Abandon |
| - | Yvan Bourgnon | Rexona Men | Abandon |
| - | Philippe Monnet | Sopra Group | Abandon |
| - | Loïck Peyron | Fujifilm | Abandon |
| - | Thomas Coville | Sodebo | Abandon |
| - | Alain Gautier | Foncia | Abandon |
| - | Jean-Luc Nélias | Belgacom | Abandon |
| - | Karine Fauconnier | Sergio Tacchini | Abandon |
| - | Jean Le Cam | Bonduelle | Abandon |
| - | Stève Ravussin | TechnoMarine | Abandon |
| Classe 2 (Multicoques) | |||
| Position | Skipper | Boat | Time |
| 1 | Franck-Yves Escoffier | Crêpes Whaou | 16d 23h09'42'' |
| 2 | Anne Cazeneuve | YachtingCasino.com | 17d 22h37'07' |
| 3 | Hervé Cleris | Vaincre la mucoviscidose | 18d 18h55'52'' |
| 4 | Claude Thellier | Région Archipel Guadeloupe | 19d 02h47'18'' |
| 5 | Pierre Yves Guennec | Lehning Lapeyre - LPP Blanchet Gourbeyre | 24d 05h15'30'' |
| - | Didier Le Villain | Chaleur fioul - Elan | Abandon |
| - | Pascal Quintin | E-Sat - Tri sélectif | Abandon |
| - | Patrick Morvan | Groupe France Epargne | Abandon |