This week 115 solo sailors in six classes took to the water to compete in the quadrennial Route du Rhum—a 3,500 mile course from Saint-Malo, France, to Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe. The first six days have been marked with difficult conditions, dramatic moments, and devastating losses for the fleet.
The most dramatic incident of the race occurred in the small hours of November 4th. The front of the Ultim pack was seeing violent and confused conditions with sudden gusty surges, in which Armel Le Cléac’h’s 105-foot trimaran Banque Populaire XI capsized. He was about 550 miles north west of the Azores at the time.
The exact sequence of events that led the Ultim to flip have yet to be made public, but stunning video taken by the Panamanian crew of the responding vessel, Palexpo, depicts the boat helpless and upside down as the tiny figure of Le Cléac’h carefully navigates the trampoline towards his rescuers. He is reported to be uninjured and was able to set off his emergency beacon and make contact with his shore crew shortly after the incident, but it was 13 hours alone in a capsized boat before help was able to reach him. Le Cléac’h was in second place at the time of the capsize.
Two other boats have also capsized as well: Mathieu Perraut’s Ocean 50 Elvest and legendary French sailor Francois Joyon (aboard the vintage multi ORMA Océans) who was rescued just south of Ireland, also by a cargo ship.
For Italian-American Francesca Clapcich with 11th Hour Racing, a good standing on the leaderboard doesn’t reflect such a happy picture onboard. Five nights into the race, her J0 became tangled with the J2 forestay. “I was able to get the sail down somehow, but the halyard is still caught up on the J2. I’m destroyed. It’s such a mess,” she related.
And that’s when the real trouble set in. While replacing the impaired J0 with her fractional Code 0, the bowsprit “exploded,” according to Clapcich, shearing off at the stem. She will continue racing, but without the bowsprit, her sail inventory is limited.
A 2028 Vendee Globe hopeful, Clapcich is racing in her first solo transat on an IMOCA, and finishing the race will put necessary points on the board towards qualifying for the round the world race. Still, the coming days will be a morale-draining fight to lose as little ground as possible while sailing severely handicapped.
Also on the outs is 25-year old sailing phenom Violette Dorange, who has retired after a collision with the vintage multi Use it Again, skippered by Romain Pilliard, which forced both of them to return to port to assess damage. It took several days to determine the scope of the problem before Dorange announced that she would not be able to return to the course. Pilliard has filed a protest over the incident and remains in port though he has not yet announced his retirement.
In total 13 boats have officially retired from the race at press time, including several diversions to the Azores.
The first Ultim finishers are expected to arrive this weekend, with the slower classes less than halfway through the race. To follow their progress and for more information on this year’s race, visit the race tracker.
