Route du Rhum 2026: course, classes and the record to beat
The Route du Rhum – Destination Guadeloupe starts from Saint-Malo on Sunday 1 November 2026. Every four years it puts professional sailors and amateurs on the same start line, alone on board, for an Atlantic crossing to Pointe-à-Pitre.
The course
The theoretical distance is 3,542 nautical miles (about 6,560 km). Between Brittany and the Caribbean the route is free: each skipper picks a track according to the weather. They first have to get out of the English Channel and across the Bay of Biscay, often rough in November, before finding the trade winds that carry the boats west.
The finish has a twist: before crossing the line in Pointe-à-Pitre, competitors sail around Basse-Terre, the western island of Guadeloupe, leaving it to port. That last stretch, in the lee of the island's mountains, is often decided by a few hours.
The classes
The fleet is split into several classes, each with its own ranking:
| Class | Boats |
|---|---|
| Ultim | Giant trimarans, the fastest boats in the fleet |
| IMOCA | 60-foot monohulls, the Vendée Globe boats |
| Ocean Fifty | 50-foot trimarans |
| Class40 | 40-foot monohulls, the largest fleet |
Two categories of the race's own, Vintage Multi and Vintage Mono (formerly Rhum Multi and Rhum Mono), are open to multihulls and monohulls outside the class rules.
The record to beat
The record belongs to Charles Caudrelier, who won in 2022 on Maxi Edmond de Rothschild in 6 days 19 hours 47 minutes and 25 seconds. Before him, Francis Joyon (IDEC Sport) won in 2018 and Loïck Peyron (Banque Populaire VII) in 2014, both in the Ultim class.
Following the race
The course, marks and past winners are on the Route du Rhum page of the globe. The offshore race calendar lists the next starts, and IMOCA offshore races covers the other races open to the 60-footers.