Route du Rhum - the history

We look back at the previous seven editions of the French singlehanded transatlantic race

For the OSTAR, its British counterpart, the Route du Rhum is the most famous singl-handed Transatlantic race, created in 1978 by its mastermind Michel Etevenon. Thanks to a gripping initial race and its historic finish when Mike Birch's small trimaran Olympus Photo passed Michel Malinovski's large monohull Kriter V just two miles from the line to finish 98 seconds ahead after the transatlantic passage, the Route du Rhum became sealed as one of the great transoceanic events in the sailing calendar.

Unlike the OSTAR which has been chopped and changed and now has been divided into the largely Corinthian Faraday Mill OSTAR and the professional The Transat, the Route du Rhum remains resolutely on its traditional course, leaving St Malo on France's northern coast, normally at the height of the autumnal gale season and ending up at Pointe a Pitre in the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe. The event has been run every four years and in France it remains the top oceanic event, only surpassed relatively recently by the Vendee Globe.

Each Route du Rhum has ended up having it own unique character based on human adventure, weather tactics and also drama:

1978: The 'Transat of Freedom'.

This mixed up 38 pro and amateur sailors on the starting line, with an open, first across the line wins format. On that occasion Mike Birch in his 12m yellow trimaran took 23 days, 6 hours, 59 seconds, and 35 seconds to cross the Atlantic to beat Malinovski's 21m monohull. Even today people still revel at this close, match race to the finish line, a moment that launched Birch into sailing stardom as well as endorsing multihulls as the fastest racing machines on the water. On a more sombre note the race also saw the disappearance of leading French sailor Alain Colas.

1st Mike Birch - Olympus Photo
2nd Michael Malinovski - Kriter V
3rd Phil Weld - Rogue Wave

(other notables - Olivier de Kersauson (4th), Philippe Poupon (7th), Florence Arthaud (11th), retired: Bruno Peyron, Pierre Fehlmann, Marc Pajot, Yvon Fauconnier)

1982: The sea as a chess board

52 boats lined up at the start with numerous new boats (most of them multihulls) joining in. The fleet was split into five classes and for the first time each boat was equiped with ARGOS satellite tracking beacons, turning the race into a huge chess board, the skippers for the first time getting a daily ranking of their competitors. Future America's Cup skipper Marc Pajot, sailing the catamaran Elf Aquitaine (one of three boats competing that was more than 20m long) he reduced the crossing time to 18 days, 01 hour, 38 seconds, beating the twin masted catamaran Jaz by 10 hours. Jaz was skippered by present Jules Verne Trophy and Transatlantic record holder Bruno Peyron. Only 33 boats made it to the finish line in Guadeloupe.

1st: Marc Pajot - Elf Aquitaine
2nd: Bruno Peyron - Jaz
3rd: Mike Birch - Vital

(other notables - Olivier de Kersauson (7th), Yvon Fauconnier (8th), Philippe Poupon (9th), Loic Caradec (12th), Robin Knox-Johnston (14th), Loic Peyron (17th), Florence Arthaud (20th), Patrice Carpentier (26th), retired: Eric Tabarly

1986 Sailing turns into racing

The era of the maxi-multihull - 33 boats started, only five monohulls, the others comprising 13 catamarans and nine trimarans, including several foiler trimarans such as Eric Tabarly's Cote d'Or II. Unfortunately only 13 would cross the finish line. Severe weather at the start, resulted in the tragic loss of Loic Caradec, skipper of the all-conquering Royale II after his maxi-catamaran capsized. In this race the boat size had increased with 13 boats measuring over 23m and the first monohull to cross the line stood in 12th position, real time. The race was won by the immaculately prepared Philippe Poupon, racing his purpose-built Nigel Irens-designed trimaran Fleury Michon VIII. Here smaller sistership, Tony Bullimore's Apricot however was smashed to a pulp on the rocks off Brest, her skipper leaping off the rocks to safety at the critical moment. This race also displayed improvements in terms of weather routing. The MacSea (now MaxSea) software developed by Jean Yves Bernot and Brice Pryszo combines weather information with the boats' polars data allowing the singlehanded skippers to quickly explore their best tactical options.

1st: Philippe Poupon - Fleury Michon VIII
2nd: Bruno Peyron - Ericsson
3rd: Lionel Pean - Hitachi

(other notables - Mike Birch (4th), Loick Peyron (5th), Florence Arthaud (11th),


1990: Third time lucky

Florence Arthaud has not been the only woman to race in the Route du Rhum, but she has always been the most competitive. She started her fourth race with a big advantage: she had sailed many miles on her golden trimaran Groupe Pierre 1er and knew her perfectly. Howevr she had to face many breakage (including the shutdown of her radio and SatC communications devices). Going back to sailing basics, she chose her route from the clouds and the sea state until she arrived at the finish line in first place, reaching it in some 8 hours and 31 seconds ahead of Philippe Poupon and a newcomer, Laurent Bourgnon. Following the spate of disasters among the large 85ft long maxi-multihulls, the size of the multihulls had been limited to 60ft resulting in a new generation of highly competitive, more evenly matched boats, the pre-cursor to today's ORMA 60 trimarans.

1st: Florence Arthaud - Groupe Pierre 1er
2nd: Philippe Poupon - Fleury Michon IX
3rd: Laurent Bourgnon - RMO

(other notables - Mike Birch (4th), Francis Joyon (10th), Titouan Lamazou (11th),

1994. One start, two races

12 multihulls, 12 monohulls were to set sail for the Guadeloupe competing for the first time in separate classes. In the event the Open 60 monohulls from the Vendée Globe challenged the multihull leaders in the severe weather conditions. While multihull performance had taken a quantum leap in the 1980s, so this was to be the case with the water ballasted Open 60s, Yves Parlier aboard the Groupe Finot-designed Cacolac d'Aquitaine finishing third overall. Once again, the weather took its toll on the fleet with only 14 boats finishing the race. This was the first time there was no female entry in the Route du Rhum.

1st: Laurent Bourgnon - Primagaz
2nd: Paul Vatine - Region Haute Normandie
3rd: Yves Parlier - Cacolac d'Aquitaine

(other notables - Alain Gautier (4th), Steve Fossett (5th),

1998: A new reference time

In this race Swiss skipper Laurent Bourgnon on his steed Primagaz achieved the remarkable feat of a second consecutive victory setting a new course record of 12 days 8 hours - 11 days faster than in 1978, a record that still stands. Professionalism seemed to pay off, as Bourgnon's project set new standards for his trimaran's reliability, physical training and 24/7 weather routing. Thomas Coville, who replaced Yves Parlier at the last moment, came in first in the monohulls. This race also revealed for the first time the competitive talent of Ellen MacArthur, winner in the 50ft class, who fought it out for a long time with the Open 60s.

2002. Breaking records

Number of entries 58, 28 finishers. An incredible 18 60ft trimarans were on the start line of this race. While on the one hand this was a halcyon moment in the ORMA class, this soon turned to disaster when hurricane force winds decimated the fleet destroying several boats and capsizing others, mostly notable race favourite Loick Peyron's Fujifilm. Ultimately only three of the trimarans finished, led by Michel Desjoyeaux on Geant. Even he had stopped on two occasions and only one of the 60ft tris made it to the finish line without having to make a pitstop.

After the carnage, Desjoyeaux's time was 13 days, 13 hours, 31 minutes, just five hours faster than the Open 60 winner Ellen MacArthur on Kingfisher.