A record 118 skippers will line up for the 13th edition of the Route du Rhum, Destination Guadeloupe, after the entry list closed in recent days with the additions of Guirec Soudée in Ultim and Alexis Thomas in Class40.
"I'm really looking forward to it!" says Violette Dorange (Initiatives Coeur, IMOCA), echoing the mood among competitors ahead of the solo transatlantic sprint from Saint-Malo to Pointe-à-Pitre. "I've never started with so many boats on the line, it's going to be particularly intense."
Francis Joyon, who won the race in 2018 and returns aboard OCEANS in the Vintage Multi class, put it simply: "It's always been a very intense experience. These are big moments of passion and adventure."
In the Ultim class, Armel Le Cléac'h (Maxi Banque Populaire XI) and Tom Laperche (SVR Lazartigue) go in as favourites, while defending champion Charles Caudrelier will be closely watched on his first race aboard his new foiling Maxi Edmond de Rothschild.
The IMOCA fleet pits proven boats, Jérémie Beyou's Charal, Sam Goodchild's Macif, Francesca Clapcich's 11th Hour Racing, against newly launched machines including Sébastien Simon's Groupe Dubreuil and Boris Herrmann's Malizia 4.
Ocean Fifty brings a generational clash. Veterans Erwan Le Roux (Plastic Odyssey Fifty) and Thibault Vauchel-Camus (Solidaires en Peloton) face a younger wave led by Basile Bourgnon (Edenred), Pierre Quiroga (Wewise) and Baptiste Hulin (Viabilis Oceans).
More than a dozen Class40 skippers could trouble favourites Guillaume Pirouelle (Sogestran Seafrigo) and Corentin Douguet (SNSM, Faites un don!). The Vintage Multi and Vintage Mono divisions, which keep offshore racing's history alive, continue to grow too. Four Orma trimarans will start, among them Joyon's OCEANS and Damien Séguin's Arkéa, Handicap International, with the old tris potentially fast enough to trouble the Ocean Fifty fleet.
In Vintage Mono, Jean Le Cam (Alegria) and Sidney Gavignet (Le Cigare Rouge) line up alongside Tanguy Caradec (Eurvad) and Titouan Pilliard (Use It Again for Youth).
Tanguy Caradec's presence carries weight beyond the results. His father Loïc died during the 1986 Route du Rhum. "I know there will be a lot of emotion at the start, that it will be a beautiful tribute to my father," he said. "For now I'm not thinking much about the race, I'm focused on my preparation. I've never crossed the Atlantic, crewed or solo."
New this year is the "Off du Rhum", a Saint-Malo initiative running concerts and cultural events through the town during the race village, alongside the Art Explora museum-ship festival and a new children's mapping resource for schools following the fleet.
Julie Coutts, managing director of OC Sport Pen Duick, said the 118 skippers were "the salt and the DNA" of the event, adding that organisers wanted "a race of a very high level, but also an event that is both popular and accessible."
For New Zealand followers of IMOCA and Ultim racing, the fleet lineup, from foiling giants and cutting-edge IMOCAs to a growing vintage class, gives a clear picture of where French ocean racing technology is heading next.
