Route du Rhum: Shooting star "Juju" Mettraux is here, three female skippers rock the top ten
Tatjana Pokorny
· 22.11.2022
The name Justine Mettraux is by no means new to the sailing scene. The 36-year-old Swiss woman, who grew up on Lake Geneva with four brothers and sisters, has already attracted attention in the Ocean Race on several occasions and will do so again from January. But now the unagitated power woman has just shaken up the Imoca scene at her first attempt. At her debut in the Route du Rhum, she shone with seventh place. This makes her not only the best Imoca skipper in this twelfth edition of the Transat, but also the best international top performer behind the six French men who finished ahead of her.
"Juju" Mettraux completed the 3,542 nautical miles of the Route du Rhum in a strong time of 12 days, 13 hours, 26 minutes and 35 seconds. She took just under 20 hours longer than winner Thomas Ruyant, who has been one of Imoca's best for years and was able to prevail with a mature boat. For Mettraux, on the other hand, it was the first Imoca solo regatta of her career in which she was able to show such a strong performance.
Cheered on from afar and at sea by French-German Isabelle Joschke, who was expected to finish in ninth place on Tuesday afternoon, Justine Mettraux has shown that she is a force to be reckoned with in the battle for top places in the Imoca class in the future. Mettraux achieved a coup with "Teamwork.net" (ex-"Charal" of Jérémie Beyou) in the recently completed race in the Azores, when she positioned herself furthest west and sailed through the islands. She defended the seventh place she achieved here right to the finish.
Growing up with multihulls on Lake Geneva, longing for the open sea as part of a team and on the road to success solo
The Geneva native learnt to sail in coastal multihull races on her home lake, honed her skills in the Figaro class, sailed to sixth place in the Volvo Ocean Race with Team SCA in 2015 and won the team circumnavigation alongside Charles Caudrelier and top Dutch sailor Carolijn Brouwer in 2018 with the Dongfeng Race Team. Over the past two years, Justine Mettraux has completed thousands of nautical miles on the Imoca of the 11th Hour Racing team, with which she will start The Ocean Race on 15 January.
"The result is very positive" Justine Mettraux
"I'm pretty knackered," admitted Justine Mettraux after her arrival in Pointe-à-Pitre, "now I know what they're all talking about when it comes to the end of this race. This is one of the biggest races you can take part in. It has a lot of history attached to it. So much has happened this time too. People had to be rescued ..." Commenting on his own performance, Mettraux said simply: "The result is very positive. And I can see that there are still issues that can be worked on for further development. And to play at the very front with the boys."
Three female skippers in the Imoca top ten of the Route du Rhum for the first time
After Justine Mettraux and Isabelle Joschke on "Macsf", Pip Hare on "Medallia" was expected to finish tenth off Guadeloupe on the afternoon of 22 November. Three female skippers would thus have conquered the Imoca top ten of the Route du Rhum. This has never happened before in the glittering history of the race. "That's cool. Pip is not far behind and it's nice to see that we are all sailing well and doing well."
For Justine Mettraux, the good result also makes up for the disappointment she suffered in the Transat Jacques Vabre: in 2021, she lost her mast in the two-handed team with Simon "Sifi" Fischer north-west of Spain. "I thought about it a lot in this race," admitted Mettraux candidly in the finishing harbour, "when you're sailing alone and the conditions are so similar, you can hardly defend yourself against it."
Boris Herrmann has his sights set on the future
"Malizia - Seaexplorer" skipper Boris Herrmann was in 24th place in the Imoca field on the 13th day of the race after a defensive race and technical problems with just under 480 nautical miles to go to the finish. The Hamburg Vendée Globe fifth-placed skipper now wants to finish the race quickly but safely in favour of his qualification for the Vendée Globe 2024/2025 and also with a view to the upcoming The Ocean Race.
Yoann Richomme with a fabulous performance
Class 40 leader Yoann Richomme is on a completely different mission on "Paprec Arkea". The Frenchman has been sailing towards the finish line of the Route du Rhum like unleashed since completing a four-hour time penalty for the early start. In this way, Richomme had already overtaken 13 Imoca skippers on day 13. By midday on Tuesday, only around 320 nautical miles separated him from the finish line. This is an almost unbelievable achievement when you compare the potential of Class 40 yachts with 60-foot Imoca foils.
Alongside his Class 40 commitment, Richomme, who has already won the Figaro twice (2016, 2019) and the Route du Rhum once (2018), is also building a new Imoca for the Vendée Globe 2024/2025. There's something in store for the competition ...
