Already November 4 at 2 p.m. from the capital of French corsairs of Saint-Malo kicks off the 11th transatlantic race the Route de Rhum single. At the start of the regatta, which this year celebrates the 40th anniversary will be 125 participants. This is 2 more than during the last race in 2014. Traditionally among them will be like sailing stars who have previously participated in the Route du Rhum and the Vendée Globe circumnavigation, and fans, for whom the regatta would be the way to spend one’s vacation.
Sailors competing in 6 divisions, will undergo 3542 nautical miles.
according to the ancient ways of delivery Roma from the countries of the Caribbean region to Europe will mnogoyarusnyi Ultime, can accelerate to 40 knots, 50 tons old kechi, the latest “pocket rockets” Class40 and IMOCA foolery.
Finish line racing is located in the largest port of the French Guadeloupe — harbour Pointe-a-Pitre.
It is expected that depending on the type of boat the race will take participants 5.9–9.2 days (at a speed of 16-25 knots) up to 28 days. The current speed record (7 days, 15 hours and 8 minutes) was set during the last regatta in 2014, the Frenchman Loic with Paranam (Loïck Peyron) 31.5-metre Maxi Banque Populaire VII. As in the past 4 years sailing is constantly evolving, organizers of the Route de Rhum expect this year, this time may exceed. Candidates for this role are, for example, the Frenchman françois Gabaret (François Gabart) and Frenchman armel Le Cle (Armel Le Cléach), which will start on his class ULTIME trimarans. Probably when the big trimarans, flying at a speed of 30 knots pass through Biscay and Cape Finisterre, the other half of the fleet still would not pass the island , wassan in the West of Brittany.
For the first time in “the rum” the race will be attended by the Briton Alex Thomson (Alex Thomson).
The experienced yachtsman is already considered one of the favorites in the IMOCA class. For one of his famous black IMOCA HUGO BOSS, where he took second place in the world Vendée Globe 2016-2017, the current race will be the last. For the next Vendée Globe, the athlete is IMOCA 60 designs special solar battery.
“For me this race is a real opportunity to test myself and force the boat to show what we all know she’s capable of. During the last Vendée Globe we have seen that HUGO BOSS is one of the fastest if not the fastest IMOCA in the fleet. I look forward to the opportunity to see what we can do at this time,” said Thomson.
But not manage to finish on time, that is to stretch the journey longer than 28 days, according to experts at the Route de Rhum, maybe the Frenchman Laurent Joubert (Laurent Jubert), which will start on a 16-metre ketch Renaissance. He never participated in offshore races. Joubert is the father of 6 children, a physiotherapist and specialist in tobacco. The race will be his way to promote a healthy lifestyle and avoiding tobacco.
Another contender for the “anti-record” of the race, according to the official website Route du Rhum may be Frenchman Christophe Sucho (Christophe Souchaud). In any case, on his Beneteau 40.7 per, the smallest monocarbonic in the racing fleet, he takes food for 30 days. Interestingly, he goes on the ship, which was built for Willow Galleta Lava (Yves Gallot Lavallée) especially for the Route de Rhum in 1982. Then the boat finished 13 on the 20th day of sailing.
One of the partners of the regatta acts as a non-profit organization “Ocean as Common”. The organization promotes the idea that the world’s oceans under threat from pollution and climate change, a common value for all humanity. Thus, the partners and the participants of the race will help to pay attention to environmental problems.
“For four decades of professional sailors and Amateurs competed side by side on the site of the Route du Rhum. The ocean, which they know so well, will be a big danger. It’s an incredible challenge to humanity. Our partnership with “Ocean as Common” will help us to raise awareness about this issue, which is close to all those involved in the race from skippers to partners and fans,” — said General Director of the race organizing company Pen Duick, OC Sport Herve Favre.
