Route du Rhum: Armel Le Cléac'h capsizes, Beyou retires, Boris Herrmann climbs to second

Three capsizes in the opening days

The 13th Route du Rhum, a solo race from Saint-Malo to Pointe-à-Pitre in Guadeloupe, started on Sunday, 1 November, with 115 skippers in six classes. Within three days of the start, three large trimarans had capsized in rough conditions, and the list of retirements kept growing. One report gives the course as 3,452 nautical miles, while another gives 3,542. The fastest boats are expected in Guadeloupe at the weekend, with the Imocas due the week after.

Le Cléac'h capsizes in the Ultim class

Armel Le Cléac'h, 49, a former Vendée Globe winner, was second in the Ultim class aboard the 32-metre Maxi Banque Populaire XI when his boat capsized at about 05:30 Paris time on Wednesday, 4 November. The race organisation said the boat turned over around 550 nautical miles northwest of the Azores and that he was not injured. He stayed inside the upturned hull, triggered his distress beacon and remained in contact with the technical team ashore. Rescue operations led by CROSS Jobourg and MRCC Boston were under way, and organisers said everything was being deployed to reach him quickly. It was his second capsize in this race, after a 2018 incident.

Joyon, Perraut and other withdrawals

Francis Joyon, 70 and the 2018 winner, capsized in the Celtic Sea at about 15:00 on Monday, 2 November. The freighter Maersk Colombus picked him up at 23:00 that evening, and race management said he was well and would be taken ashore in Ireland. Matthieu Perraut's Ocean Fifty Elvest capsized on Tuesday evening, 400 nautical miles north of the Azores. Race management said he was well, awaiting rescue, and had immediately made contact. Charles Caudrelier, the defending champion, retired on Tuesday after serious foil damage. Jérémie Beyou, one of the favourites in the Imoca class, withdrew that afternoon for medical reasons, and race management said in its statement:

“Since Jérémie's health does not allow him to continue sailing under race conditions, he is currently on his way to the Azores.”

Armel Tripon retired with a rudder problem and Fabien Delahaye with an injury. Violette Dorange and Romain Pilliard collided, both were unhurt, and they made for the emergency harbour at Roscoff.

Herrmann and the Ultim lead

Boris Herrmann, 45, from Hamburg, is racing the new Malizia 4 in his first solo race with the boat. After the third night he was second in the Imoca class, chasing leader Corentin Horeau on MACSF, and he has coped well with the rough conditions. His team is also using the race to prepare for The Ocean Race, which starts on 17 January 2027, while his longer-term goal is a third Vendée Globe start in 2028/2029.

In the Ultim class, Thomas Coville of Sodebo took the lead from Tom Laperche of SVR Lazartigue at the 08:00 checkpoint on Wednesday, after sailing a more southerly track that appears to have helped him. Coville was 1,854 nautical miles from the finish in Guadeloupe, with less than one nautical mile separating him from Laperche. Laperche, 29, said:

“The wind was really unstable and we could not string together the good averages.”

Laperche has not said his last word, and the gap at the front remains very small.