Transat's epic line up

We look forward to November's Route du Rhum

At a time when most eyes in the yachting community will be focussing on the America's Cup an incredibly event will be kicking off in northern France.

A record number of entries are expected to take part in November's singlehanded transatlantic race, the Route du Rhum. This classic event, as important in the French offshore calendar as the Vendee Globe, starts in St Malo and heads across 'the pond' to Pointe a Pitre in the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe.

With five months still to go until the start, an incredible 51 yachts are signed up to take part. Because of this there will be separate monohull and multihull starts - on the 9 and 10 November.

Among their number are an unprecidented fleet of seventeen 60ft trimarans. In the Offshore Racing Multihull Association (ORMA) class there are many top events such as the OSTAR and the Transat Jacques Vabre, but by far the biggest is the Route du Rhum and it is for this that a majority of new boats are built. The competition in this fleet this year will be incredible.

New skippers on brand new boats include Vendee Globe winner Michel Desjoyeaux on Geant, the equally talented Thomas Coville on Sodebo, the high rated Lionel Lemonchois on Baron Benjamin Rothschild's new Gitana X, Tornado sailor Fred le Peutrec on Bayer Crop Sciences. They will be up against ORMA fleet regulars like Alain Gautier, Franck Cammas, Loick Peyron... to name but a few.

The monohull Open 60 fleet will be no less competitive with 14 currently entered. With Transat Jacques Vabre and Regate de Rubicon wins recently Roland Jourdain is the present favourite on his red-hulled Sill Plein Fruit, but he has always to date been beaten in singlehanded events by Ellen MacArthur. It may also be the race when Mike Golding's luck comes good. 2001 Tour Voile winner Jean-Pierre Dick is also to be watched sailing Michel Desjoyeaux's former Vendee Globe winner. New to the class is Figaro sailor and former Orange crewman Sebastien Josse, racing Thomas Coville's old Sodebo monohull.

The remainder of the fleet is made up of other monohulls and multihulls in the 40-60ft range.

60ft trimarans
Yvan	Bourgnon	Rexona Men
Lalou	Roucayrol	Banque Populaire
Marc	Guillemot	La Trinitaine - Team Etypharm
Jean	Le Cam	Bonduelle
Karine	Fauconnier	Sergio Tacchini
Franck	Cammas	Groupama
Philippe	Monnet	Sopra Group
Lionel	Lemonchois	Gitana X
Loick	Peyron	Fujifilm
Alain	Gautier	Foncia
Michel	Desjoyeaux	Géant
Francis	Joyon	Eure et Loire
Jean Luc	Nelias	Belgacom
Bertrand	De Broc	Banque Covefi
Thomas	Coville	Sodebo
Frédéric	le Peutrec	Bayer CropSciences
Open 60 monohulls
Dominique	Wavre	Temenos
Ellen	MacArthur	Kingfisher
Joé	Seeten	Ex Sollac Atlantique
Georges	Leblanc	Océan
Antoine	Koch	L'Héautontimoroumenos (Ex Fila)
Non arrêté	Non arrêté	Ancien monocoque de Philippe Monnet
Mike	Golding	Ecover
Jean Pierre	Dick	Virbac
Sébastien	Josse	VM1 (Ex Sodebo)
Loic	Pochet	La Rage de Vivre
Bernard	Gallay	Ex Voilà
Elie	Canivenc	Furtif
Roland	Jourdain	Sill
Miranda	Merron	UDS
Other multihulls
Bob	Escoffier	Adecco Etoile Horizon
Jérôme	Thirriez	Passion Entreprendre
Etienne	Svilarich	Grain de Soleil
Roger	Langevin	Branec 3
Hervé	Vachee	Mille Visages
Bruno	Reibel	Mistress
Luc	Coquelin	Florys /ex Multicap Gamelin
Alain	Grinda	Fantasy-Forest
Jean François	Durand	Defi Vendéen/bateau  neuf
	Guillemot	en cours Ex CCP Sétrabio
Nick	Moloney	en cours
Karen	Leibovici
Renaud	Le Youdec	Lightning
Denis	Hugues	Gadjo Dilo
Other monohulls
Frank-Yves	Escoffier	Whaou
Vincent	Beauvarlet	Ex Côte du Québec
Didier	Le Villain	Chaleur Fioul
Pascal	Quintin	E Sat
Hervé	Cleris	CLM
Pierre Yves	Guennec	Fil Dou
Patrick	Coulombel