The Route du Rhum is a solo transatlantic sailing race departing from Saint-Malo (France) to reach Pointe-à-Pitre (Guadeloupe), covering a distance of 3,542 nautical miles along the shortest path, also called the great-circle route.

This race has been held every 4 years since 1978, with a start usually at the beginning of November: the most recent edition, the 12th in its history, took place in 2022.

The different categories of sailing boats evolve over time to take into account new size standards for yachts produced as a result of technological advances. At the same time, category names also evolve to reflect the characteristics of the yachts that belong to them.

Two main families of yachts participate in the Route du Rhum: monohulls on one hand, and multihulls on the other, categorized according to their overall length. The current categories are now:

• Ultim 32/23 or formerly Ultime: maxi-multihulls with an overall length of 100 feet or more - previously 60 feet - with no size limit
• Ocean Fifty or formerly Multi 50: multihulls of 50 feet in length
• IMOCA: monohulls of 60 feet in length, compliant with IMOCA rules
• Class 40: monohulls of 40 feet in length, compliant with Class40 rules
• Rhum Multi and Rhum Mono or formerly Rhum: multihulls with an overall length of 64 feet or less - previously between 39 and 60 feet - that do not fit into any of the categories defined above; similarly for monohulls with an overall length of 39 feet or more

Estimated race times are 6 to 9 days for the Ultim category, 12 to 14 days for IMOCA and Multi 50, and 16 to 23 days for Class 40 and the Rhum class.

In previous editions, the following categories were represented:

• for monohulls: IMOCA, Class 1, Class 2, Class 3, and Class 40
• and for multihulls: ORMA, Class 2, and Class 3

The first edition of the Route du Rhum race took place in 1978 and saw Mike Birch win aboard his small 12-meter yellow trimaran, the « Olympus ». At the time, he crossed the finish line with only a 98-second lead over his pursuer after more than 23 days at sea!

• 1st Multihull ORMA: Lionel Lemonchois (Gitana 11) in 7d 17h 19m 06s
• 1st Monohull IMOCA: Roland Jourdain (Sill et Veolia) in 12d 11h 58m 58s

• Ultime Class: Franck Cammas (Groupama 3) in 9d 03h 14m 47s
• IMOCA Class: Roland Jourdain (Veolia Environnement) in 13d 17h 10m 56s
• Multi 50 Class: Lionel Lemonchois (Prince de Bretagne) in 15d 04h 50m 48s

• Ultime Class: Loick Peyron (Banque Populaire VII) in 7d 15h 08m 32s
• IMOCA Class: François Gabart (MACIF) in 12d 04h 38m 55s
• Multi 50 Class: Erwan Le Roux (Fenetrea-Cardinal) in 11d 05h 13m 55s
• Class 40: Alex Pella (Tales 2 Santander) in 16d 17h 47m 08s
• Rhum Class: Anne Caseneuve (Aneo) in 17d 07h 06m 03s

• Ultime Class: Francis Joyon (Idec Sport) in 7d 14h 21m 47s
• IMOCA Class: Paul Meilhat (SMA) in 12d 11h 23m 18s
• Multi 50 Class: Armel Tripon (Réauté Chocolat) in 11d 07h 32m 40s
• Class 40: Yoann Richomme (Veedol - AIC) in 16d 03h 22m 44s
• Rhum Class:
  • Multihull: Pierre Antoine (Olmix) in 15d 21h 15m 05s
  • Monohull: Sidney Gavignet (Café Joyeux) in 16d 10h 18m 05s

• Ultim 32/23 Class: Charles Caudrelier (Maxi Edmond de Rothschild) in 6d 19h 47m 25s
• Ocean Fifty Class: Erwan Le Roux (Koesio) in 10d 21h 35m 52s
• IMOCA Class: Thomas Ruyant (LinkedOut) in 11d 17h 36m 25s
• Class 40: Yoann Richomme (Paprec Arkéa) in 14d 03h 08m 40s
• Rhum Class:
  • Multihull, Rhum Multi: Loïc Escoffier (Lodigroup) in 16d 06h 37m 23s
  • Monohull, Rhum Mono: Jean-Pierre Dick (Notre Méditerranée - Ville de Nice) in 16d 05h 57m 51s

Catch all the latest news from the Route du Rhum and follow the progress of the race day by day !