• Less than two weeks before the start of the 12th Route du Rhum, the 138 boats entered are preparing to disembark in the port of Saint-Malo.

  • New this year, the Ultims will be part of the party and will be moored on the pontoons of the port of the corsair city.

  • The passage of the locks of these giants of the seas promises however to be delicate.

They will be 138 this year on the starting line, a record.

138 skippers who will set sail for an Atlantic crossing between Saint-Malo and Pointe-à-Pitre.

Less than two weeks before the start of the 12th edition of the Route du Rhum, which will be given on November 6, the tension has risen a notch in recent days in the corsair city.

Because the challenge promises to be daunting to accommodate the 138 boats in the basins of the port which will be full as an egg.

"This Route du Rhum will be XXL this year and this therefore requires an XXL device", underlines Stéphane Perrin, vice-president of the Brittany region, owner of the port of Saint-Malo.

The organization is all the more complex as the equipment does not stop living for the start of the race, which takes place every four years.

"The other activities of the port such as fishing and trade continue during this period and we must make everyone live together", indicates the elected official.

To make room for sailboats, 175 pleasure boats were still temporarily moved.

Because for the first time this year, all the boats will be moored in the Duguay-Trouin and Vauban basins, at the foot of the ramparts of Saint-Malo.

A millimeter device

If some are already at the dock, the bulk of the troops will disembark in the coming hours with arrivals that will last until Wednesday.

“Such a device cannot be improvised, assures Philippe Gomes, head of the event center for the Brittany region.

Each boat has an order and a time of passage depending on the tides.

Always a spectacular moment, going through the locks will be even more so this year.

Because unlike other editions, where the Ultims had to park outside the port, these giants of the seas will this time have the right to their walkabout.

But before that, the eight boats entered in the queen category will therefore have to pass through the locks on Tuesday at the end of the afternoon, divided into three chambers.

Led from the Naye command post, the operation promises to be delicate to say the least.

“The lock is 25 meters wide and the boats 23 meters,” summarizes Thomas de la Broise, Deputy Port Commander.

If we add the fenders of the boats, there remains only 50 centimeters of room for maneuver on each side.

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Hand drawn Ultims to enter the port

Given the price of the machines, which are worth several million euros, the teams therefore have no right to make holes.

“There will be pressure because we will have to aim straight”, continues the commander.

To avoid breakage, a temporary pontoon will be installed, which will allow the Ultims to be well aligned at the entrance to the airlock.

The racing cars will then be guided by RIBs before the mooring crews take over.

Installed on each side of the lock, these port agents will pull the sailboats by hand with ropes to make them move slowly and bring them to the large basin.


This old-fashioned technique will be used again before the start of the race.

This time, the adventure will really start for the skippers who will take on the legendary transatlantic race alone.

And without anyone this time to help them maneuver.

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Thirteen days of celebration in the port

A very popular event, the start of the Route du Rhum should again attract crowds with nearly two million people expected during the All Saints holidays on the pontoons of the port of Saint-Malo.

New this year, all the boats, with the exception of the Ultims, will parade during parades at sea the first week.

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