Saint-Malo is filling up. With days to go before the Route du Rhum fleet departs for Guadeloupe, the village around the harbour is thick with sailors, shore crews and spectators, all drawn by the same pull that brings this crowd back every four years.
AFP photographers have been working the pontoons and public areas daily, capturing both the preparation on the boats and the growing crowds taking in the atmosphere before the start.
The race turns Saint-Malo into something of a pilgrimage site. Spectators press against the barriers for a look at the IMOCAs, Ultims and other classes before they vanish over the horizon toward the Caribbean.
The images, credited to Sebastien Salom-Gomis, Loic Venance and Lou Benoist shooting for AFP in partnership with Route du Rhum, Destination Guadeloupe, show the familiar pre-race rhythm: skippers fussing over final details, crews running through checks, crowds craning for a glimpse of their favourites.
In these last days before the start, everything feels both ready and not quite ready at once. Not yet the open Atlantic, not yet Guadeloupe. Just Saint-Malo, waiting for the gun.
