About sailingThe Route du Rhum sailing raceSailing offshore races
Last updated on 11/06/2026 at 01:00 AM
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.
Map showing the course of the Route du Rhum sailing race
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.
Boat categories
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
Recent winners
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!
