Yoann Richomme won't be on the start line at this year's Route du Rhum, but that hasn't stopped him weighing in on what's shaping up to be a records-tumbling edition.
The Frenchman has won the Class40 category twice at the Route du Rhum, Destination Guadeloupe. This year his IMOCA Paprec is still under construction, so he's sitting this one out. That hasn't dulled his sharp eye for routing and rivals.
"It smells like a 24-hour mileage record," he said, days out from the start. With weather he described as "quite surprising" for the opening days, the routing for the Ultims and IMOCAs looks set to track north of the direct course. "It's a great scenario," Richomme said. "The start of the race is going to be very fast, probably. Those who've mastered foiling and are comfortable going fast downwind will clearly be favoured on the first leg to the Azores."
Asked to pick a horse in the IMOCA fleet, Richomme backed Jérémie Beyou. "I think Charal has all the potential today. They spent three years developing this machine and we saw it at the Transat Café l'Or last year. They were hitting average speeds no other IMOCA has ever reached."
It's understood to be the final campaign for Beyou's Charal project, which gives the pick extra weight. "We know it's the end of the project. We wish him well!"
Whatever happens, the 60-foot monohull class is shaping up as brutal. "It's going to be violent to live through on board, with sleep deprivation, commitment and intensity. You can't afford to miss the train."
Richomme's real affection, naturally, is for Class40, the class that delivered both his Route du Rhum wins. "There's a great podium possible with Guillaume Pirouelle, Corentin Douguet and Alexis Loison," he said. "I'm bound to be forgetting someone, but we know Pirouelle has the edge downwind with his boat. And more than that, he's done his homework over the last three or four years."
He expects fireworks. "I think it's going to be one of the best regattas of the Route du Rhum. It's going to be tight, with boats that have extraordinary potential and incredible speeds."
