Nothing stood in the way of the start of the Route du Rhum this time.

After a historic postponement due to the weather, it was under a bright sun that the 138 sailors set out on Wednesday, November 9 on the Route du Rhum, off Saint-Malo, to attack the Atlantic for a solo crossing that the fastest should complete in a record time of six days.

At the gunshot at 2.15 p.m., the skippers – 131 men and seven women – began to sail along the Brittany coast under full sail, before heading for Guadeloupe.

Live Departure 12th Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe https://t.co/6uqG6mkBcB

— Route du Rhum - Destination Guadeloupe (@RouteDuRhum) November 9, 2022

"A good decision, wise and courageous"

A great first in the history of the famous quadrennial race, the start, originally scheduled for Sunday, was postponed due to disastrous weather conditions.

"It was a good decision, wise and courageous, on the part of the organizers, estimated François Gabart (SVR Lazartigue), Wednesday morning on the air of Radio Classique. We are going to leave under much more reasonable conditions than if we were left on Sunday. There will inevitably be damage, but I'm sure that we avoided a big disaster."

Despite the postponement, thousands of people gathered at midday on the pink sandstone rocks of Cap Fréhel (Côtes d'Armor), to attend one of the greatest spectacles of offshore racing.

If the weather will be mild during the first hours of the race, "we must not believe that it will be quiet", according to British sailor Samantha Davies (Initiatives-Coeur).

"There will always be 138 boats to tack and cross along the coast, also with fishermen, traps... We will have to be very careful," she warned before the cannon shot.

Especially since, on the water, all sailboats did not start out equal.

The fleet, a mixture of professionals and amateurs, is made up of six categories of boats: from the small monohulls that took part in the first edition, to the latest generation flying multihulls.

[(LIVE 🔴: GRAND DÉPART)]



#Brittany is already exceptional in normal times, but when, every 4 years, the skippers of the Route du Rhum - Destination Guadeloupe put on their show, we touch on the sublime 😍 # RDR2022 @regionbretagne pic.twitter.com/mB9keBr1Au

— Route du Rhum - Destination Guadeloupe (@RouteDuRhum) November 9, 2022

"In Love With My Boat"

It was the latter, the Ultims, giant trimarans reaching more than 90 km/h on the water, which were the first to escape to sea.

Helmed by the best skippers on the planet, these giants of the seas can hope to make the crossing in six days, when the slowest sailboats will take almost a month to reach Pointe-à-Pitre.

Among the favorites, François Gabart, 39, returns to solo racing aboard a controversial Ultim launched last year, which he designed entirely.

"I want to win, I feel capable of winning (...). But sailing aboard this boat is not an additional pressure, it's a source of motivation. I'm a little in love with it from my boat and I really want him to experience a great Route du Rhum", explained the second of the previous edition, just seven minutes from Francis Joyon.

Two other latest-generation boats, designed to take off above the water using foils, seem capable of competing: the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild, helmed by Charles Caudrelier, and the Maxi Banque Populaire XI of Armel Le Cléac. h.

Francis Joyon's record in sight

In 2018, baptism of fire for these flying sailboats, the class had experienced a lot of damage.

But since then, "we have worked a lot on safety, reliability (...). We have all progressed and we are going faster", promised Le Cléac'h, who had capsized after two days of racing during the last edition and was rescued by a fishing boat.

After four years of development, these F1 of the seas can claim to set a new crossing record, held since 2018 by veteran Francis Joyon (7 days 14 hours 21 minutes), also at the start this year with his trimaran Idec Sport. 

"It will be fast to go to Guadeloupe, the sprint on the Atlantic announced should be there," predicted Le Cléac'h.

Behind the Ultims, 38 sailboats from the Imoca fleet, the monohulls (18 m) of the Vendée Globe, the famous solo round the world race, display great ambitions.

Charlie Dalin (Apivia) and Thomas Ruyant (LinkedOut), aboard the most proven boats, can hope to cross the Atlantic in 10 or 11 days.

With AFP

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