Gabart's advantage
Every year, the Route du Rhum reserves its share of surprise?! And for this 40 e edition, the surprise is grande?! François Gabart was one of the big favourites of this edition and we thought he would win the race at the Basse-Terre mark, 17 minutes ahead of his pursuer... But this round of Guadeloupe decided otherwise... True to form, the island reserved for the two windless sailors and petolas for the last 30 miles to go.
François Gabart took the lead from the start, but still with Francis Joyon in his transom. A few days before the finish, he was more than 100 miles ahead of the sailor on the red trimaran, but the latter was holding on, giving nothing away to his young rival. It was when we arrived in Guadeloupe that the gap between the two was narrowing, with the erratic winds playing with the nerves of our two competitors..
François Gabart is still in the lead - despite a lot of damage - we learned on Sunday 11th November (problem with the J3 cylinder - headsail - and loss of his starboard foil and port rudder), but the miles with his pursuer are getting shorter. Thus, at 1 a.m. (French time), there is only 4 miles between the two..
©Yvan Zedda #RDR2018
A breathless finale
Between the south of the island and the finish line, Francis Joyon, shifted to shore, managed to take the ascendancy in a laughing stock. Although slowed down by a fishing net in one of his rudders, he kept the advantage.
With 2 miles to go to the finish line, the wind drops again and Macif returns to the contact slightly faster. The two opponents found themselves side by side with 3 knots of speed. After a fiercely negotiated tack, Francis Joyon won this Sunday 11th November at 23 h 21 min 47 seconds (local time) with only 7 minutes 08 seconds advantage on the blue trimaran.
An incredible gap - the smallest in the history of the race since the 98 seconds of the first edition - that brings this 40th anniversary of the race into the légende?! A remake of the Birch/Malinovski duel at 1978?!
©Yvan Zedda #RDR2018
Victory for Joyon
Francis Joyon won this 11th edition of the Route du Rhum with a race time of 7 days 14 hours 21 minutes and 47 seconds to complete the 3542 mile course at an average speed of 19.42 knots. He also set a new reference time by improving the race time of the 2014 edition (won by Loïck Peyron) by 46 minutes 45 seconds.
At 62 years old and after seven attempts, the Jules Verne Trophy holder is offering himself his first long-awaited victory in the Route du Rhum.
"I followed this last night. I even woke up at 3:30 in the morning to see where we were at. It was an extraordinary finale, with a suspense of fou?! François passed really not very far and Francis held on until the end, and managed to pass in front on the line. They both made a great course?! It's a little cruel for François who didn't give up anything, but congratulations to Francis who knew how to give up nothing all along the Route du Rhum" erwan Tabarly told us this morning on the phone.
Alexis Courcoux #RDR2018
