Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe: Six winners, six classes
by Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe 23 Nov 2018 17:04 NZDT
23 November 2018
2018 Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe © Jean-Marie Liot
The six winners in the six different classes - ULTIME, Multi50, IMOCA 60, Class40, Rhum Multi and Rhum Mono - of the four-yearly solo Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe transatlantic sailing race have now been crowned, with this dramatic edition of the race showing anything can happen in the final few miles of the 3,542 nautical mile transatlantic.
In the ULTIME class, the French ocean racing veteran Francis Joyon on IDEC Sport won the race by just seven minutes and eight seconds after whittling away François Gabart's lead on MACIF.
Whilst Alex Thomson (Hugo Boss) looked set to win the IMOCA class, he was given a 24-hour time penalty for using his engine after running aground meaning skipper, Paul Meilhat was next to cross the finish line and earn the title in the IMOCA monohull division onboard SMA.
Pierre Antoine and Yoann Richomme were convincing winners in their class after leading from the off in Saint-Malo, Britanny. The veteran French sailor Pierre Antoine earned the Rhum Multi title on board his trusty wooden trimaran, Olmix whilst Yoann Richomme finished shortly afterwards to win the 53-strong Class40 division.
To round off the winners of each class, French sailor Sidney Gavignet won the Rhum Mono division at the helm of Café Joyeux after being the outright leader in the class since the start, bidding farewell to his professional sailing career at the same time.
A total of 123 sailors started the Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe on November 4 off Saint Malo in Brittany.
Find out more on the official website: www.routedurhum.com/en.