Louis Burton arrived at the pontoon of honour in Pointe-à-Pitre a happy man. At 41, he had just completed his first Route du Rhum in the Ultim class, finishing third aboard Armand Thiery after less than a year racing the giant trimaran.
The celebrations gave it away before he said a word. Burton let off smoke flares, then launched himself off the back of the boat into the water, surfacing soaked and grinning as he hauled himself back onto the pontoon. It is the kind of moment that lingers in the memory of a Rhum arrival.
Asked whether he could have dreamed of a better result, given he wasn't even racing Ultims a year ago, Burton didn't hold back.
"Yes, I'm just happy. I haven't felt joy like this since the Vendée Globe that I finished in third place (2020-2021). These are fairly indescribable feelings. I've been through some difficult stages in my sporting life. We bought this boat, launched it last July, and here we are on the podium. I'm not going to hide my pleasure. It's just crazy."
There was real emotion in it too, he said. Back-to-back depressions and broken sleep had taken their toll, making the race hard to gauge. He also spoke of Armel Le Cléac'h, who fought desperately hard for first place, saying it gave everyone pause for thought. For Burton personally, it had been twelve years since his last successful Route du Rhum, back in 2014.
He eased off only twice during the entire race, two hours each time, he said, reflecting on how aggressively he had sailed.
Asked if he thought he could have beaten Thomas Coville, Burton said that without those two stops he might have. He joked that he intends to come back in four years and beat everyone. More seriously, he revealed he had struggled to stabilise his port foil, a fault that risked the foil punching through the hull and splitting the boat in two, forcing repeated stops to secure it and lengthening every manoeuvre. It took, he said, all the brainpower of the shore team to get the boat to the finish.
Sailing an Ultim, he explained, is harder, more committed and wilder than IMOCA racing. It is almost impossible to put into words, he said: flying across open ocean beneath the stars.
Looking ahead to the Arkéa Ultim Challenge Brest in January 2028, Burton was candid about the scale of what lies ahead: learning to live what he has just experienced, but alone, for fifty days. He is not sure, he said, whether he has truly become one with the boat, but he has the feeling it was never going to betray him.
