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A race open to all boats
Founded in 1978 by Michel Etévenon, the first edition of the Route du Rhum was modeled after the OSTAR, the premier transatlantic race from England, which had been held every four years since 1960. The Route du Rhum is held in late May, and that year, the maximum length of the largest boats was limited to 56 feet. The decision was made following Alain Colas?s participation aboard Club Méditerranée, a 72-meter-long monohull.
The Rhum race follows a unique route, starting in Saint-Malo and ending in Pointe-à-Pitre. The solo sailors must navigate the English Channel and then the Bay of Biscay in the middle of fall, before crossing the Azores High or skirting it from the south.
Since then, the Route du Rhum has been considered an ?open? race, as it brings together monohulls and multihulls, vessels over 25 meters long and sailboats barely 12 meters long. Over the years, it has been organized into several categories to classify multihulls, small trimarans, fast cruising monohulls, 60-footers, IMOCAs, Multi50s, and more. In 2002, some boats were assigned a specific class rule and thus became a category in their own right. More recently, in 2006, the Class40s joined the race as a category, followed by the Ultimes in 2010.
Preserve the original boats
To preserve the original spirit of the race, which brought together all types of boats, the organizers created the ?Rhum? category, now known as Vintage. It brings together these legendary sailboats, some of which were designed specifically for the first edition of the Route du Rhum. Thus, the class includes both professionals and amateurs aboard fast cruising yachts, old prototypes from the last century, trimarans, catamarans, and monohulls. The only requirement for entry into this class is a minimum length of 39 feet (11.88 meters).
- VINTAGE MONO
The Vintage Mono class brings together the monohulls that left their mark on the early decades of offshore racing. Designed before the advent of state-of-the-art composite materials and modern electronics, they evoke an era when the sturdiness of the build, the quality of the preparation, and the skipper?s decisions made all the difference.
These sailboats competed in the early editions of the Route du Rhum and remain closely tied to the history of this transatlantic race. Built of polyester, aluminum, or plywood, they still handle challenging sea conditions, true to the spirit of long-distance ocean crossings. Their presence on the starting line, alongside the newest boats, serves as a reminder of the evolution of naval architecture and offshore racing.
- VINTAGE MULTI
The Vintage Multi class includes the multihulls that marked the dawn of modern ocean racing. Catamarans and trimarans of this generation broke new ground by demonstrating the potential of light weight and speed on long-distance crossings.
Having competed in the early editions of the Route du Rhum, these multihulls illustrate the technical choices made by naval architects before the advent of foils and next-generation composite materials. Built from marine plywood, aluminum, or first-generation composite materials, they reflect a period of constant experimentation, when solutions were often developed and refined directly by the skippers and their crews. Seeing them take to the sea again today allows us to appreciate how far the design of racing multihulls has come, while preserving the spirit of the first great oceanic adventures.
