They will have to wait until Wednesday, in the warm, before setting sail. Postponed on Saturday due to very complicated weather conditions, the start of the Route du Rhum will take place on Wednesday November 9 at 2:15 p.m., the organizers announced. The 138 skippers will leave from Saint-Malo (Ille-et-Vilaine) and will start at the Pointe du Grouin. “The weather is better. It remains committed, but it is completely acceptable, ”explained Francis Le Goff, race director, at a press conference this Sunday.
The 138 skippers entered were initially due to start on Sunday, but the very degraded weather conditions announced off Brittany from Monday had led to a postponement, a first in the history of the race. Many skippers had expressed their fears of seeing the start maintained on Sunday. Some of them had already announced that they would have come to take shelter just after the start if the latter had been kept on Sunday.
The start village will close on Sunday evening
On Wednesday, the situation should be calmer for the skippers. “The weather conditions promise to be very manageable with a westerly wind of around fifteen knots (just under 30 km/h). The situation will be favorable for exiting the Channel,” detailed Francis Le Goff.
The event village in Saint-Malo, which has welcomed hundreds of thousands of people since its opening on October 25, will still close at 5 p.m. this Sunday, said Joseph Bizard, general manager of OC Sport, in charge of the organization.
The Route du Rhum, a famous solo transatlantic race, has departed every four years since 1978 from Saint-Malo to Pointe-à-Pitre in Guadeloupe. The Ultimes, the fastest sailboats, in the fleet hope to cross the Atlantic in about a week.