The incredible story of the Route du Rhum, the queen of transatlantic regattas

The destination is Pointe-à-Pitre, in Guadeloupe, 3,542 nautical miles – 6,562 km – from the start: a sprint through the Atlantic towards the finish line, as it was imagined over forty years ago, at the end of the 1970s, by Michel Etevenon.

From its first edition and from the victory of Mike Birch on his small trimaran against Michel Malinovsky on a much larger boat, the Route du Rhum is a reflection of the technical and technological beauty of transatlantic sailing. A regatta that has its roots in the desire to show off every type of boat and specialty: this is about a sport that is varied and spectacular in all its forms.

The credit goes to a Parisian advertiser who does not appreciate the limit to the maximum size of boats in the English Transat of 1976: the imposition of 56 feet for transatlantic races does not suit him. So, in May 1978, on the pages of L'Équipe – one of the most important sports newspapers in the world – Michel Etevenon officially presented the route of the Route du Rhum, the first French transatlantic solo race, which would start from Brittany.

Already the first edition led this race to immortality, thanks to the legendary victory of Mike Birch, who won with a minimum gap of 98 seconds on Michel Malinovsky, after an exhausting race that lasted 23 days at sea.

Not only that, Florence Arthaud, a very young French girl who four years earlier, at the age of 17, had ended up in a coma following a car accident, also participated that year: she had stayed six months in the hospital and it had taken her two years to recover completely. Her participation seemed impossible just a few months before the start. Instead, she fought till the finish line and arrived eleventh, after 27 days of navigation: a performance that gave her the nickname of ‘little bride of the Atlantic', even though she did not like it. She arrived before Philippe Poupon and Laurent Bourgnon, landing in Pointe-à-Pitre exhausted and deprived of electronics and communication systems after crossing the Azores.

Well, because there is also this technological aspect. The fourth edition, which took place in 1990, marks a turning point also from the point of view of boats. It is the edition in which trimarans – now hegemonic in solo racing – impose themselves. New technologies appear: boats are mainly made of carbon, they change in weight, rigidity and resistance, encompassing all new and phenomenal features. It is also the year in which the Global Positioning System, GPS, appears, which allows each sailor to know their position in real time and to be aware of the weather and optimal routes.

Despite this, however, the sea and the wind are the protagonists hitting the fleet and athletes: Jean Maurel's Elf Aquitaine III is dismantled, while Laurent Bourgnon's boat at some point drifts apart.

To get into the history of solo racing and sailing, the Route du Rhum, in a word, is a key step. Sailing through the waves of the Atlantic Ocean in the middle of autumn is a challenge for few. But the technical and technological improvement of the transatlantic sail is proving to be able to push the limits of the sailors who try their hand at this race a little further – edition after edition. The crossing record was set in 2018 by Francis Joyon on IDEC Sport, in 7 days, 14 hours, 21 minutes and 47 seconds, thus improving the previous record, set in 2014 by Loïck Peyron on Maxi Solo Banque Populaire VII with a time of 7 days, 15 hours, 8 minutes and 32 seconds.

This year Ambrogio Beccaria is also looking for space among the protagonists, on his Class40 boat 'Alla grande', ready to make history on a race that is steeped in history.

He will be among the many sailors who are aboard the Class40 – the largest fleet of this edition. The number of Class40 registered on the race grows with each edition, perhaps because the rules to follow for boats are simple and strict but leave designers ample freedom to express their ideas. But still today the Route du Rhum – Destination Guadeloupe is the queen of transatlantic solo regattas, with its diversity of classes and mix of types.