This Wednesday, November 16, at 04h33, the skipper crossed the Tête à l'Anglais at 38 knots. But as expected, the downslope of the passage under the island slowed him down to 1.5 knots. He finally crossed the Basse-Terre buoy at 07h44. Charles Caudrelier reached Pointe-à-Pitre in archimedean mode, sailing close-hauled with 10 knots of wind and a speed of 15 knots. With a crossing of the line at 10 h 02 minutes 25 seconds French time, he won this 12th edition of the Route du Rhum. He also beat the record for the 2018 edition held until then by Francis Joyon with a new time of 6 days, 19 h 47 m 25 s. In total, his race was marked by 14 tacks and 17 gybes.
The first words of the skipper
I'm not even that tired. Even though it was an exhausting race I managed to find my rhythm. The first 24 hours were hard. But I had the energy! I wanted to win the race for my team, for this boat... I've been dreaming about it since I was a kid and I've never been able to do it. It was frustrating. Three years ago, I was offered this dream.
It is worth noting the folly of this family who built this boat with Cyril Dardashti. They built a flying boat and had the audacity to choose Guillaume Verdier. It was unthinkable and on top of that a Maxi. I was at the start of the Rhum, I saw it and I thought it was crazy.
This victory is a team effort! Franck had the experience of these multihulls, I thank him. Without him, I wouldn't have had such a high-performance boat. He left me his place and I thank him. He could have won this race too. All year long, the team works hard on the boat, because it is a complicated boat. They are constantly improving it. It's like a Formula 1 team, I'm the driver.
It was an almost perfect race. I didn't have a single problem with the boat. I am living a crazy happiness. I wanted to do this race, but in these conditions it's crazy and on this boat too! I'm also doing it for my mother, whom I lost and who had this dream more than me.
A masterly start
The start of the Route du Rhum 2022 was finally given on Wednesday 9th November 2022 at 14:15. Charles Caudrelier and the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild set off at the head of the Ultim fleet upwind in a twenty-knot westerly flow. After just over an hour of racing, Charles Caudrelier was still in the lead as he rounded the Cap Fréhel mark 17 miles further on. He was also noticed by the speed of his tack, which was made about eight minutes ahead of Armel le Cléac'h. The race committee lodged a complaint against the skipper for stealing the start line, but he quickly contested this decision, which was sanctioned by a 4-hour penalty.
In the end, Charles Caudrelier chose to continue along the coast and the outskirts of Bréhat, followed by François Gabart, in order to unload. The night was punctuated by changes of tack and by a stomach upset by food poisoning, leading to some nonsense, as the skipper explained on Thursday 10 November. In the morning, a good part of the fleet had already passed the tip of Brittany after a tricky exit from the English Channel. Once again the skipper of the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild was the first to pass the island of Ushant on Wednesday 9th shortly before midnight and to tip over into the Bay of Biscay. On Thursday morning, he had a 16-mile lead over his pursuer Thomas Coville.
Trade winds that make you wait
The next day, still in the lead while sailing off the Iberian Peninsula, he had a 26.3 mile lead over François Gabart and 45.4 miles over Thomas Coville. After studying the GPS positions of the trimaran with the five arrows, the race jury cancelled Charles Caudrelier's penalty.
While he was hoping to finally reach the trade winds and downwind conditions on the fourth day of racing, he had to deal with upwind conditions and a new front. The routing cell favored a southerly option to try to slip under the edge of the Azores high, but the timing was tight and the door closed.
"Last night was difficult. Yesterday, we set off downwind with François Gabart, after a very physical front passage for me with a series of two very close tacks. Unfortunately, during the night, the wind left us, and we had to head west again to finally find a new front. This morning, it was a war with a very twisted wind, changing in strength and direction. François had the wind to go straight, while I had to change tack again and again. But the main thing is that the last one paid off!"
François Gabart's power grab
For the first time, this Saturday, November 12, it is François Gabart on SVR-Lazartigue who is at the head of the fleet. Only 4 miles behind the new leader, Charles Caudrelier, the sailor is hoping to negotiate the combined passage of the front and the Azores to regain his position.
Tired by this new front, with a series of difficult maneuvers, the sailors are not sleeping much. While they were planning to head south to catch the trade winds, they had to change their plan and head west again while preparing to face strong upwind conditions. While mastering high speeds, 32.88 knots on average!
"The second front came at us faster than expected. It doesn't matter, we'll do it again! I've been sleeping less since François Gabart was next to me. Maybe that's why I made a mistake before the front. Maybe we should have gone straight for the cut. But it's nice to have someone next to me. It's immediately more exciting to have a boat side by side, it keeps the days busy, it puts some action! I took advantage of a few lengths to rest yesterday, and fortunately, because last night I didn't sleep."
The return to the head of the fleet and a lot of fatigue
This second frontal passage split the Ultim class into three groups, as Armel le Cléac'h made his return to the race after repairing his daggerboard in Lorient. Up front, Charles Caudrelier is once again leading the fleet neck and neck with François Gabart, with Thomas Coville a little further back in their wake.
Charles Caudrelier declared on Sunday, November 13: "It's a bit of a war out there. The wind is very unstable. You have to be careful. It's not yet a dream. It's still disturbed and rather tense. I'm looking forward to take off my oilskin. The wind is very unstable and it's not really downwind yet. At the moment, there are 20 knots, with big gusts to 30. Every time I want to go to sleep, there are two more. It's hot! We have been fast these last few hours. We tried to slow down the boat more than to speed it up. Speeds have risen to 48-49-50 knots. Before the Azores, François (Gabart) had come back on me in the light airs. He was going straight ahead while I was not able to! I tacked 4-5 times and at one point I said to myself "come on, I'm leaving". He took a slightly less aggressive option and in the end it was almost the same
A little respite before the finish line!
After a few gybes, the Ultim finally caught the NE'ly trade winds on Monday 14th November. It is now time for the final sprint, a long port tack towards Guadeloupe! To keep the best trajectory and not leave any door open to his pursuer, Charles Caudrelier has shifted back during the night to reduce the lateral gap with François Gabart, which explains the miles conceded by the sailor. At the 12:00 am rankings, there were less than 500 miles to go, with a lead of 88.3 miles over SVR and 172.8 miles on Sodebo Ultim 3. In order to prepare himself as well as possible for the arrival, which will take place at night in Guadeloupe, and a tricky rounding of Guadeloupe, Charles Caudrelier took advantage of this mild weather to rest.
