Fresh start expected as light winds stand between leaders and the Route du Rhum finish
by La Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe 9 Nov 10:42 PST
9 November 2026
Guirec Soudée (Liamm) crossed the finish line in fourth place at 16:31:43 (UTC) this Monday. Very light wind conditions are expected across the Caribbean arc over the next 48 hours—a situation likely to reshuffle some of the packs.
French skipper Corentin Horeau (MACSF)—expected in Guadeloupe on Tuesday afternoon—continues to keep his pack of pursuers at a safe distance in the IMOCA class, but victories in the Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe's Ocean Fifty and Class40 fleets are much less certain now.
In both of these fiercely competitive classes, there looks to be a fresh start after eight days of racing. A leading trio has emerged among the 50-foot trimarans, while seven determined rivals are ready to pull out all the stops in Class40. The Atlantic is now calming down for the next 48 hours. These tricky conditions could well reshuffle the rankings all the way to the shores of the "butterfly island" (Guadeloupe).
Horeau looks set for victory with 200 miles to the finish line and 220 miles of a lead. But a fierce battle is raging for second and third on the IMOCA podium.
Franco Brit Sam Goodchild (MACIF Santé Prévoyance) lost some miles in the last 24 hours and is fourth today, now 20 miles behind Elodie Bonafous (Assocation Petits Princes Quéguiner). The Franco-Brit confirmed today he has had some sail damage to fix and has had to climb the mast to sort things out. In second Boris has 65 miles in hand over Elodie right now but she has been knocking out some high average speeds on a boat which is a sistership to Sam's.
Here is what Horeau, Herrmann and Goodchild have said today:
Corentin Horeau (MACSF): "With just a few degrees of adjustment, I'm on a direct course for Guadeloupe—it's quite pleasant! I've made good progress since yesterday. Things got a bit unsettled a little while ago, but up until then, it was practically a straight shot. I still have a significant lead over those chasing me. I was looking at the numbers: it's almost a balanced equation—380 miles left to go, with a 320-mile lead. It's an incredible situation! We have a pretty good idea of what's in store for us. The wind is going to die down gradually, so we're trying to make the most of these final breaths of air to push toward Guadeloupe as quickly as possible. After that, we'll likely hit a calm patch lasting about 24 hours.
"According to the routing models, this slowdown will affect everyone; the others should find themselves brought to a standstill along the way, too. In my wildest dreams, I never imagined having a lead like this! But I have to stay cautious. I've never sailed around Guadeloupe, and by all accounts, it can be quite tricky. If I still have 100 miles of my 300-mile lead left by the time I reach the island, that would be great—and then I'll need to hold onto that advantage all the way to the finish. This situation certainly allows me to sail with a greater sense of ease. I can afford to be a bit more relaxed about the boat's speed, which I think is important. It gives me the chance to take more naps, ensuring I'm in top shape when I hit the calm weather and the final stretch of the course—even though, naturally, I want to arrive as fast as I can! For now, the conditions aren't very stable." "The boat was making good progress with the breeze, but it has eased off a bit now. There's still rain, with small squalls passing through, and perhaps even some thunderstorms ahead as we get closer to Guadeloupe."
Boris Herrmann GER (Malizia 4): I had three technical issues on the trip so far, two last night. There's really nothing serious, we hold ropes with T-bones in the composite dead ends of ropes and I was standing here because I wanted to to do something with the sails or so in the middle of the night and I hear in the boat like the metal noise of a metal part falling down, like ' bling'.
I thought this must be a pretty substantial screw falling down and shortly after the boat slowed down and the foil started rattling in and out and I oh fuck I thought again the foil system broke.... what's what's happening, but really a T-bone was a hard slamming, a T-bone had fallen off getting loosened the rope and then the consequences were not bad, but it took me an hour to sort it out.
So that was my little adventure last night. I saw that Sam also bore away for a while and he must have had an issue or he was just taking his time to fold a sail away or put a sail, I don't know. Anyway, we are still going nicely here.
We have the last little bit of wind before it dies, a few more hours maybe going at sometimes 27 knots at the moment averaging 21 By the way, Elodie (Bonafous) seems super strong. She's high averages all the time Really strong. So congrats, chapeau for her
We have this shutdown coming and then a little trade winds to get out of it and to get to the finish with a normal wind shadow around Guadaloupe. I was really hoping to come to Guadalupe for first time in my life with a westerly wind I would have loved to see that to sail around the west side of Guadaloupe as the windward side Unfortunately, that's not going to be the case with this forecast. We have trade winds coming in. And then we're gonna restart probably all together Well, if you look at it a bit darkly, you say the whole race restarts here except for the first place. But let's see maybe my lead serves something and I can sneak into the new wind first But I'm not sure about that at all, of course. No one can with these models Yeah, yeah the wind isn't the same it has it used to be with the good old trade winds But anyway, it's nice and warm and not too hot yet and all good.
Sam Goodchild GBR/FRA: "We are 500 miles from Tête-à-l'Anglais. I haven't sent any updates over the last few days because we encountered some very intense conditions while crossing a tropical depression with a lot of wind and sea. It wasn't easy. On top of that, we had a few minor things to fix, and I even had to repair a sail and I had a bit of glue everywhere and I had to climb the mast yesterday morning quite quickly. nothing serious, but I've ended up with bruises all over; I really took a beating. Up there, things were moving around a lot. It cost us a few miles and a few places in the rankings, but we aren't giving up—we're going to keep fighting all the way to the finish. Even though these aren't the trade winds because the wind is in the wrong direction, the sky is blue, the sea is too, it's warm, and things are finally starting to get pleasant and in a while it is going to be too hot!"
Open season in Ocean Fifty
With 500 miles to the finish, and despite uncertain conditions, three skippers in the Ocean Fifty class appear to be in the running for the win: Basile Bourgnon (Edenred), Thibaut Vauchel-Camus (Solidaires en Peloton By Delanchy), and Pierre Quiroga (Wewise). This winning trio could potentially be joined by newcomer Léonard Legrand (Sodebo Fifty), who is continuing to close the gap; he sails one of the lightest trimarans in the fleet, though he remains 50 miles behind the leaders.
The question of the day is: what sail is missing from Basile Bourgnon's inventory? A large gennaker? Probably not—this morning, while sailing on a broad reach in light winds, Basile seemed to be keeping pace. Could it be the J0? Or perhaps the J2—the versatile "all-purpose" sail that was likely unfurled when Basile was slowed down by the intense conditions of the tropical depression? The mystery remains, but the young Edenred skipper—who held a 122-mile lead when passing through the eye of the tropical depression—has effectively seen that advantage vanish. On today's latest standings, Thibaut Vauchel-Camus is just 5 miles behind him.
One thing is certain: the Ocean Fifty class is already emerging from this Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe having come of age. The capsizing of Matthieu Perraut (Elvest) is the only dark spot to report. Eight out of 10 skippers remain in the race. Seeing these boats reputed to be fragile and unruly in heavy weather emerge from such a rough race so far to find themselves racing within a stone's throw of one another just two days from the finish, speaks volumes about the maturity of their skippers.
With 1,200 miles left to go, the Class40s are entering the final third of their transatlantic crossing, and seven boats are separated by just 50 miles. Achille Nebout (Amarris) is holding firm in the lead, but the gaps are minuscule given that the route ahead remains wide open.
Track the fleet via www.routedurhum.com