After thirteen days of festivities enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of visitors, the 115 competitors in the 13th edition of the Route du Rhum – Destination Guadeloupe set off at 1:02 PM local time (12;02 UTC) this Sunday afternoon. Blessed by sunshine a vast blue sky and light favourable winds, the solo skippers racing in six divisions set off on the 3542 miles course to Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe. The ocean sprint opened with a short, 16 miles stage to Cap Fréhel and the final mark of the course before Guadeloupe.
After the brutal storm which battered Northen Europe last week, the picture postcard conditions were breathtaking. The light to moderate northeasterly breeze of 8 to 11 knots offered a gentle introduction to the solo pinnacle race which takes place every four years, All starting off the same 3.2 miles long start line, the pace may have been more sedate than previous editions, but the skippers still had to maintain intense focus to avoid collisions and ensure a clean start
And it was a clear start save for three skippers who were penalized for crossing the line too early: Christophe Rateau (Gustave Roussy) and Italian Marco Guerra (Imagin’Act-Socomec) in the Class40 category, and David Ducosson (Trilogik) in the Vintage Multi category.
First objective was Cap Fréhel—a mandatory waypoint located 16 nautical miles (29 km) away. As expected, the large multihulls led by Armel Le Cléac'h (Maxi Banque Populaire XI) with Tom Laperche (SVR-Lazartigue) in close contention.
I