Route du Rhum - Open 60 form guide

We look at who will finish where amongst the class 1 monohulls

While the most serious competition in the Route du Rhum will be between the 60ft trimarans, an intense battle will be taking place between groups of the 17 Open 60s starting for Guadeloupe today.

If recent form is anything to go by then Roland Jourdain's Sill Plein Fruit is the boat to beat. Bilou's red flier won the two handed Transat Jacques Vabre last year and the Regate de Rubicon fully crewed race this year. However in the Europe 1 STAR and the Vendee Globe Jourdain was beaten by Ellen.

Bilou has many more miles under his belt than Ellen. He was part of Eric Tabarly's crew on board the maxi Cote d'Or in the Whitbread during the 1980s with the likes of Michel Desjoyeaux and is a highly experienced trimaran and Figaro sailor - in short he has all the credentials to be a race winner in this fleet.

Kingfisher is looking nothing short of immaculate. Our only reservations about the potential of Ellen this time round is the amount of time she has spent on board recently given her many many commitments such as promoting her new book. Similarly Mike Golding's Ecover, recently rerigged following her dismasting at the Larmour Plage IMOCA Grand Prix, is looking in top condition and Golding is hungry for a long await win in this class.

These three boats will all be in contention for the lead but the decider is likely to be the conditions. Despite Golding's best endeavours Ecover, a Groupe Finot design, is not as good upwind as Kingfisher or Sill and the weather for the first few days shows that the boats will be battling into the teeth of a wind that will fluctuate between southwest and northwest.

Dominique Wavre is probably the most experienced sailor in this fleet having taken part in countless Whitbread round the world race, as well as the last Vendee Globe. But his boat is heavy and despite having the most massive rig of all the Open 60s have never really shown her true potential.

A number of the other boats which took part in the Vendee Globe are also entered. This includes Figaro sailor Sebastien Josse, racing the former Sodebo of Thomas Coville which finished 6th in the last Vendee Globe. Another potent combination is Jean-Pierre Dick on board Virbac. This is the old PRB which in the hands of Michel Desjoyeaux, won the last Vendee Globe. Dick is currently having a new Open 60 built, the first drawn by Farr Yacht Design. Also not to be discounted is older Figaro sailor Joe Seeten aboard Arcelor Dunkerque which is the sistership to Mike Golding's Ecover.

There is a slightly mixed group in the middle of the fleet between some more modern boats such as the old Fila, sailed by 24 year old Antoine Koch, which does not appear to be particularly well prepared or funded, and Loic Pochet, who has the old Petit Navire (this boat was originally built with a canting mast - like Sodebo - until this was banned under the class rules). They will have a good race against some of the better prepared older boats such as Miranda Merron's UUDS and ocean racing veteran Didier Munduteguy's 60eme Sud.

The Daily Sail form guide

Boat name	Skipper	Nat	Boat speed	Skipper experience	Prep	Total
Kingfisher	Ellen MacArthur	GB	9	9	9	27
Sill	Roland Jourdain	Fr	9	9	9	27
Ecover	Mike Golding	GB	9	9	9	27
Temenos	Dominique Wavre	Swi	8	9	9	26
Virbac	Jean-Pierre Dick	Fr	9	6	8	23
VMI	Sébastien Josse	Fr	7	7	8	22
Garnier Belgium	Patrick de Radiguès	Belg	6	7	8	21
Arcelor Dunkerque	Joé Seeten	Fr	7	7	7	21
UUDS	Miranda Merron	GB	5	7	8	20
60° Sud	Didier Munduteguy	Fr	6	8	6	20
Tir Groupé-Montres Yema	Mike Birch	Can	5	8	4	17
Ciment Saint-Laurent Océan	Georges Leblanc	Fr	5	6	6	17
L'Héautontimorouménos	Antoine Koch	Fr	6	5	5	16
La Rage de Vivre	Loïc Pochet	Fr	6	5	5	16
Millimages-Gédéon	Patrick Favre	Fr	6	5	4	15
Dinan Pays d'Entreprises	Frédéric Lescot	Fr	5	5	5	15
Furtif	Elie Canivenc	Fr	5	2	3	10

Open 60 history

Boat name	Designer	Built	Notes
Furtif	Artech	2002
Kingfisher	Owen/Clarke/Humphreys	2000
Virbac	Groupe Finot	2000	Ex PRB, 1st 2000 Vendee
Sill	Lombard	1999
Temenos	Groupe Finot	1999	ex Union Banque Privee
Ecover	Groupe Finot	1998	Ex Team Group 4
VMI	Groupe Finot	1998	Ex Sodebo, TJV winner
Arcelor Dunkerque	Groupe Finot	1998	Ex Somewhere
La Rage de Vivre	Bernard Nivelt	1998	Ex Petit Navire
L'Héautontimorouménos	Groupe Finot	1997	Ex Fila
Garnier Belgium	Groupe Finot	1996	Ex Aqutaine Innovations
UUDS	Groupe Finot	1992	Ex Bagages Superior, Café Legal
Dinan Pays d'Entreprises	Bouvet/Petit	1992	Ex-Fujicolor III, This Time, Alphagraphics
Millimages-Gédéon	Harle	1991	Ex Vendee Entreprises, Groupe Sofap/Helvim
60° Sud	Phil Morrison	1990	Ex Enif
Tir Groupé-Montres Yema	Briand	1989	Ex Fleury Michon, UUNet,
Ciment Saint-Laurent Océan	Adrian Thompson	1989	Ex Hunter's Child