The course
All the participants are gathered on the same starting line in Saint-Malo, with a top start at 2pm north of the Pointe du Grouinâeuros! The solo sailors must leave the Cape Fréhel buoy to starboard. The arrival is at Pointe-à -Pitre in Guadeloupe. The island must be skirted leaving it to port, the island of Tête à l'Anglais is also to be left to port and the buoy of Basse Terre must be left to starboard. The finish line is near Pointe-à -Pitre and is defined in the Sailing Instructions.
The course totals 3,542 miles.
The boats
This event is open to multihulls and monohulls, divided into several classes according to their overall length:
- ULTIMS this category includes the giant trimarans of ocean racing which measure 32 meters long and 23 meters wide. These hydrofoil racing beasts are capable of crossing the ocean in 7 days!
- OCEAN FIFTY multihulls in compliance with the Ocean Fifty rules, which are very strict. These little brothers of the Ultimates, 15 m long and wide, are high-performance trimarans, most of them equipped with foils.
- IMOCA iMOCA : Monohulls in compliance with the IMOCA rules, i.e. 60-foot Open boats with a length of 18.28 m, whose rules limit the length, width, number of appendages and sails for example. However, it leaves a lot of freedom to the architects and allows them to experiment with many innovations such as double rudders, pendulum keels, or wing masts. Introduced in 2017, foils are now fitted on all the new designs launched since then. On this Route du Rhum 2022, it will be the 3rd generation of foilers.
- CLASS40 class40 : 12.19 m monohulls in compliance with Class40 rules and which allows to gather around a program of expensive and expensive races experienced amateur racers as well as professional skippers in a common spirit of conviviality and experience sharing. The very small size of the boats also allows to have a more affordable budget to start in the racing world.
Since 2018, the Rhum Class has been divided into two: on the one hand monohulls, Rhum Mono, and on the other hand multihulls, Rhum Multi. A decision taken by the race organization to increase the number of participants and allow them a clean ranking.
- RHUM MONO the Rhum Mono category is reserved for monohulls of 39 feet or more in length and cannot be entered in any other class.
- RHUM MULTI the Rhum Multihulls category gathers all the two or three hulls boats with a length between 39 and 59 feet and not able to enter another class of the race.
A class must be composed of at least 5 boats and the total number of boats invited to participate in the event is limited. For this 2022 edition, we have reached the record of 138 registered boats!
The qualifications
Each pair, sailboat/skipper, registered in the race, must complete a qualifying course, the terms of which are agreed upon in due time with the race management. This course of observation must be carried out with the registered boat, in the same conditions of minima as those envisaged for the Route du Rhum destination Guadeloupe with a follow-up Inmarsat (International maritime satellite organization).
The navigation aid
All navigation aids are authorized, including routing, unless prohibited by the class rules. Thus, if it is forbidden by the class rules in IMOCA and Class40, routing is on the other hand authorized for safety reasons for all multihulls. The Rhum Mono category, which does not belong to any class, also allows solo sailors to benefit from weather advice after the start.
The time limit
The finish line will be closed 28 days after the Start Date/Time of the race.
The Ranking
The Ranking of the Route du Rhum âeuros destination Guadeloupe is done in real time. A real time classification in each class will be established according to the order of arrival, increased by penalties or decreased by possible bonuses.
Trophies and awards
Only the boats that have finished the Route du Rhum within the time limit will be considered for the trophies and prizes. The amount and the distribution of the prizes and trophies offered by the sponsors of the race will be indicated in the race instructions.
20% of the registration fees are reallocated by the organizer of the Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe to prizes and trophies and distributed to the different skippers:
The winners of each class are also rewarded with a financial prize. Each class then decides how to distribute the remaining money among the different sailors. For example, in Ultim, only the top 3 win, in Class40, it is the top 10, while in Ocean Fifty, everyone is rewarded.
