Luke Berry has crossed the finish line of the Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe in sixth place in the Ocean Fifty class, aboard a boat that capsized in the Mediterranean just six months before the start.
The British sailor finished at 10.35pm local time on Wednesday 11 November, 3.35am in Paris, completing the course in 10 days, 14 hours and 33 minutes aboard Le Rire Médecin-Lamotte.
This was Berry's third Route du Rhum. He had raced twice before in Class40, in 2018 and 2022, but stepped up to Ocean Fifty this year off the back of a podium finish at last year's Transat Café l'Or, sailing one of the oldest trimarans in the fleet, built back in 2009.
From day three onwards, Berry deliberately let the leading group go, diving south to skirt past the Azores rather than fight for pace at the front. On a parallel route he had no real hope of matching the frontrunners, but he copped the same weather punishment they did, including the notorious tropical depression that battered the fleet. He'd set his sights on a mid-fleet finish from Saint-Malo. Job done.
He sailed 4027 miles, with an average speed of 13.87 knots on the great circle route and 15.82 knots in real terms, finishing 21 hours, 22 minutes and 57 seconds behind the class winner.
On the dock, Berry didn't hold back his relief.
"These trimarans remain super boats, they hold their course. I had up to 5 metre waves downwind and everything was OK onboard, I'm ready to go again. I'm very satisfied, I was aiming for mid-fleet. We mustn't forget we capsized the boat in the Mediterranean six months ago. Thibaut (Vauchel-Camus) lent me a mast, we brought the boat back to Saint-Malo, and I regained confidence. I had a fantastic routing team with Antoine Joubert, Daniel and Matthieu Souben, they answered my requests around the clock, I felt like they were with me the whole race. I was so comfortable out on the water. It was difficult, it was exhausting, stressful, but I never really scared myself and I've never enjoyed myself as much, whether on the village or during the race."
It was a journey that began in crisis. Six months earlier Berry had capsized in the Mediterranean, borrowed a mast from Thibaut Vauchel-Camus, and nursed the boat back to Saint-Malo before slowly regaining his confidence. From that low point to a sixth-place finish in Guadeloupe, it was, by his own measure, job done.
