Route du Rhum

Route du Rhum

First held	1978
Type	single-handed off-shore race
Classes	Ultime, IMOCA, Multi 50, Class40, Rhum
Start	Saint-Malo
Finish	Pointe-à-Pitre
Champion	IDEC SPORT Francis Joyon
Most titles	Laurent Bourgnon (2)
Website	http://www.routedurhum.com

Foot impression of Michael Birch, first winner of the Route du Rhum race

The Route du Rhum is a transatlantic single-handed yacht race, which takes place every 4 years in November. The course is between Saint Malo, Brittany, France and Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe. The first competition, won by Canadian Michael Birch in his boat Olympus Photo by a margin of 98 seconds over second-placed Michel Malinovsky in Kriter V was held in 1978, and was marked in tragedy by the disappearance of Alain Colas during the crossing.

Current record is 7d 14h 21m 47s, set on November 11, 2018 by Francis Joyon.

The 2006 race began on 29 October 2006, with a maximum of 60 boats competing in 4 categories:

• ORMA Class: Multihulls measuring from 59' to 60' in length
• IMOCA Class: Monohulls measuring from 58' to 60' in length
• Class 2 Monohulls and multihulls measuring from 45.1 to 50'
• Class 3 Monohulls and multihulls measuring from 40' to 45'
• Class 40 Monohulls (40', specific class)

General standings

Year	Position	Yachtsman	Yacht	Time
1978 (38 entries)
	1	Michael Birch	Olympus Photo	23d 6h 58'35"
	2	Michel Malinovsky	Kriter V	23d 7h 01'13"
	3	Philip Weld	Rogue Wave	23d 15h 51'32"
1982 (52 entries)
	1	Marc Pajot	Elf Aquitaine	18d 01h 38'
	2	Bruno Peyron	Jaz	18d 11h 46'
	3	Michael Birch	Vital	18d 13h 44'
1986 (33 entries)
	1	Philippe Poupon	Fleury Michon	14d 15h 57'
	2	Bruno Peyron	Ericsson	16d 17h 03'
	3	Lionel Péan	Hitachi	17d 07h 08'
1990 (31 entries)
	1	Florence Arthaud	Pierre 1er	14d 10h 08'
	2	Philippe Poupon	Fleury Michon	14d 18h 39'
	3	Laurent Bourgnon	RMO	14d 18h 46'
1994 (24 entries)
	1	Laurent Bourgnon	Primagaz	14d 06h 28'
	2	Paul Vatine	Région Haute Normandie	14d 09h 38'
	3	Yves Parlier	Cacolac d'Aquitaine	15d 19h 23'
1998 (35 entries)
	1	Laurent Bourgnon	Primagaz	12d 8h 41'
	2	Alain Gautier	Brocéliande	12d 11h 54'
	3	Franck Cammas	Groupama	12d 19h 41'
2002 (58 entries)
	1	Michel Desjoyeaux	Géant	13d 7h 53'
	2	Marc Guillemot	Biscuits La Trinitaine	13d 19h 36'18"
	3	Lalou Roucayrol	Banque Populaire	14d 07h 1'
2006 (74 entries)
	1	Lionel Lemonchois	Gitana 11	7d 17h 19'6"
	2	Pascal Bidégorry	Banque Populaire	8d 4h 25'7"
	3	Thomas Coville	Sodeb'O	8d 13h 39'02"
2010 (87 entries)
	1	Franck Cammas	Groupama 3	9d 3h 14'47"
	2	Francis Joyon	IDEC 2	9d 13h 50'48"
	3	Thomas Coville	Sodebo	10d 3h 13'11"
2014 (88 entries)
	1	Loïck Peyron	Banque Populaire VII	7d 15h 8' 32"
	2	Yann Guichard	Spindrift 2	8d 5h 18' 46"
	3	Sébastien Josse	Edmond de Rotschild	8d 14h 47' 9"
2018 (123 entries)
	1	Francis Joyon	IDEC SPORT	7d 14h 21' 47"
	2	François Gabart	MACIF	7d 14h 28' 55"
	3a	Armel Tripon	Réauté Chocolat (Multi50)	11d 07h 32' 40"
	3b	Thomas Coville	Sodebo Ultim	16d 07h 45' 36"

IMOCA 60' standings

Year	Pos.	Sailor	Yacht	Time
2002
	1	Ellen MacArthur	Kingfisher	13d 13h 31'47"
	2	Mike Golding	Ecover	13d 22h 49'35"
	3	Joé Seeten	Arcelor-Dunkerque	16d 00h 51'51"
2006
	1	Roland Jourdain	Sill & Veolia	12d 11h 58'58"
	2	Jean Le Cam	VM Matériaux	12d 12h 26'53"
	3	Jean-Pierre Dick	Virbac-Paprec	12d 20h 27'58"
2010
	1	Roland Jourdain	Veolia Environnement	13d 17h 10'56"
	2	Armel Le Cléac’h	Brit Air	14d 1h 6'7"
	3	Marc Guillemot	Safran	14d 12h 28'2"
2014
	1	François Gabart	Macif	12d 04h 38'55"
	2	Jérémie Beyou	Maitre Coq	12d 12h 11'18"
	3	Marc Guillemot	Safran	13d 01h 59'20"
2018
	1	Paul Meilhat	SMA	12d 11h 23'18"
	2	Yann Eliès	UCAR-St.Michel	12d 13h 38'30"
	3	Alex Thomson	Hugo Boss	12d 23h 10'58"

50' Multihull standings

Year	Pos.	Sailor	Yacht	Time
2002
	1	Franck-Yves Escoffier	Crêpes Whaou	16d 23h 9'42"
	2	Anne Caseneuve	YachtingCasino.com	17d 22h 37'7"
	3	Hervé Cleris	Vaincre la mucoviscidose	18d 18h 55'52"
2006
	1	Franck-Yves Escoffier	Crêpes Whaou	11d 17h 28'11"
	2	Éric Bruneel	Trilogic	13d 14h 58'35"
	3	Victorien Erussard	Laiterie de Saint-Malo	16d 18h 29'54"
2010
	1	Lionel Lemonchois	Prince de Bretagne	15d 04h 50'48"
	2	Lalou Roucayrol	Région Aquitaine - Port Médoc	15d 12h 30'14"
	3	Loïc Fequet	Maître Jacques	15d 14h 28'26"
2014
	1	Erwan Le Roux	Fenêtre A Cardinal	11d 05h 13'55"
	2	Lalou Roucayrol	Arkema-Région Aquitaine	11d 21h 29'10"
	3	Gilles Lamiré	Rennes Métropole-Saint Malo Agglomération	12d 10h 44'37"
2018
	1	Armel Tripon	Réauté Chocolat	11d 07h 32'40"
	2	Erwan Le Roux	Fenetrea-Mix Buffet	12d 01h 09'12"
	3	Thibaut Vauchel Camus	Solidaires en Peloton Arsep	12d 09h 18'44"

40' Monohull standings

Year	Pos.	Sailor	Yacht	Time
2006
	1	Phil Sharp	PSR	18d 10h 21'01"
	2	Gildas Morvan	Oyster Funds	19d 08h 52'00"
	3	Ian Munslow	Boland Mills	21d 09h 45'31"
2010
	1	Thomas Ruyant	Destination Dunkerque	17d 23h 10'17"
	2	Nicolas Troussel	Crédit Mutuel de Bretagne	18d 02h 40'15"
	3	Yvan Noblet	Appart City	18d 06h 38'17"
2014
	1	Alex Pella	Tales II	16d 17h 47'08"
	2	Thibaut Vauchel-Camus	Solidaires en Peloton	17d 04h 33'03"
	3	Kito de Pavant	OTIO - Bastide Médical	17d 05h 07'03"
2018
	1	Yoann Richomme	Veedol-AIC	16d 03h 22'44"
	2	Aymeric Chappellier	Aina Enfance & Avenir	16d 11h 16'15"
	3	Phil Sharp	Imerys Clean Energy	16d 13h 01'50"

Rhum Category 2010-2014

Year	Pos.	Sailor	Yacht	Time
2010
	1	Andrea Mura	Vento di Sardegna	19d 09h 40'30"
	2	Luc Coquelin	Pour le Rire Médecin	20d 13d 15' 36"
	3	Julien Mabit	monopticien.com	22d 07h 42'56"
2014
	1	Anne Caseneuve	ANEO	17d 07h 06'03"
	2	Andrea Mura	Vento di Sardegna	20d 02h 19' 36"
	3	Robin Knox-Johnston	GreyPower	20d 07h 52'22"

Rhum Multi

Year	Pos.	Sailor	Yacht	Time
2018
	1	Pierre Antoine	Olmix	15d 21h 15'5"
	2	Jean-François Lilti	Ecole Diagonale pour Citoyens du Monde	18d 07h 47'45"
	3	Etienne Hochedé	PIR2	19d 00h 18'06"

Rhum Mono

Year	Pos.	Sailor	Yacht	Time
2018
	1	Sidney Gavignet	Café Joyeux	16d 10h 18'5"
	2	Sebastien Destremau	Alcatrazit-FaceOcean	17d 07h 25'44"
	3	Luc Coquelin	Rotary-La Mer Pour Tous	22d 08h 24'12"

External links

• (in French), Official Homepage of the Route du Rhum
• (in English), Photos of boats