From Éric Tabarly in 1978 to Yann Guichard this year, every edition, or almost, of the Route du Rhum counted his great absentees. Small overview over editions.
1978: Eric Tabarly
Eric Tabarly (47), double winner of the English transatlantic race (1964 and 1976) did not find the financing to be at the start of the transat of freedoms at the helm of a competitive boat.
The idol of swells will wait a year to launch his trimaran foils (Paul Ricard), an innovation among others it will bring.
On November 5, 1978, Tabarly is nevertheless on the bridge of the Armorique ferry. It is he who gives the departure of the 1st Route du Rhum.
1990: Bruno Peyron
They are called pirates. Their boats exceed the authorized size limit (18.28 m, ie 60 feet), they are out of the ordinary but they took the departure, except race, of a edition marked by the absence (a first) of Florence Arthaud, winner outgoing.
Bruno Peyron ( Sport n1 ), the Baulois, is the leader of the slingers. Hervé Laurent ( Took Took ) and Jack Vincent ( Sport n2 ), who will help him shortly after winning the first Jules Verne Trophy, have followed suit.
1994: Florence Arthaud and Titouan Lamazou
The little fiancee of the Atlantic (multihulls) and the first winner of the Vendée Globe (monohulls) are the title holders.
Since then, the first has not found money to return to Guadeloupe with chances of success and became a mother in 1993. Pierre 1st, his sponsor to success (record of the Atlantic alone in August 1990 in 9 days 9:42 pm) was hit hard by the real estate crisis.
The artist-sailor, creator with Florence Arthaud Trophy Jules Verne in 1991, built a schooner 43.60 m. The largest racing monohull, Tag Heuer experienced irreversible damage from its first sea voyage in the spring of 1993. It is also the end of Lamazou's career, which in 2003 became UNESCO's Artist for Peace.
1998: Yves Parlier
Winner in 1994, in the monohull category, Yves Parlier threw in the towel, victim the summer before a serious accident of paragliding.
The extraterrestrial, his surmom because of his radical and often inspired meteorological choices, entrusts the bar of his Aquitaine Innovation boat to Thomas Coville, embarked at the beginning of that year on the Route de l'Or between New York and San Francisco . A success.
"Thanks to his routing, Yves carried me at arm's length, today tells Coville, one of the favorites today in the queen category of Ultimes. He offered me his generosity and it fell on me, who had never won anything. "
2002: Laurent Bourgnon
He gave the keys to Yvan, his little brother, whose multihull Rexona Men will capsize soon after the start. On the podium of the three previous editions, double winner outgoing, Laurent Bourgnon is not on the starting line of the 7th edition.
The French-Swiss navigator dreamed of a big boat and a record campaign. Primagaz, its historical partner, has withdrawn. We do not know it yet but it will never be present on Rum.
2006: Loïck Peyron
2002 has left traces. The game of massacre (18 multihulls at the start, 3 at the finish), has pushed Loïck Peyron to turn his back on an Orma class at the end of his life. Under the mast alone, the youngest sibling had capsized for the first time in his career, before being picked up by a cargo ship at the cost of enormous fears.
"I've been doing multihulls for a few years now," says Peyron. Many times, I said to myself, it's good, that's enough. Let's move on to something else. "
But never say never. Twelve years later, the Fujifilm Skippet "will put the story in the right order. "
2014: Armel Le Cléac'h
A domestic accident! While washing his car, Armel Le Cléac'h slides and wounds himself severely by the end of September. The doctors forbid him to go to sea.
"It is a terrible disappointment to have had this accident , slip the Leonard death in the soul. We were well prepared for this Route du Rhum, I felt ready for this beautiful challenge but it's like that ... " Banque Populaire, its partner, convinced Loïck Peyron to take the helm in his place. With the success that we know.
2018: Yann Guichard
They had to be 125 on the starting line. Lacking partners, Morgan Lagravière and François Guiffant will not be there.
At the same time, Yann Guichard ( Spindrift ), second in the 2014 edition, will settle in Brest, waiting for a favorable weather window before tackling the Jules Verne Trophy, the World Tour record. crewed.