After all, Roland Jourdain and Loïc Escoffier and their Kats crossed the line first and second in the "Rhum Multi" class at the weekend. You know the names, don't you? Of course, Jourdain, also known as "Bilou", is probably one of the most successful ex-Imoca skippers of recent decades. Two Route du Rhum victories, two Transat Jacques Vabre victories, twice third in the Vendée Globe. An ex-rock star with a few more wrinkles. At 58, he is out of the top circus, but manages a highly successful Imoca racing team (Kairos). And has dedicated himself to sustainability in boat building and racing, trying to critically scrutinise the "ever faster and ever higher" ambitions of the scene.
With his supposed victory at the weekend, he secured himself a place in the annals of racing history, as he would have been only the second skipper to win the Route du Rhum three times. Alongside Franck-Yves Escoffier, the father of runner-up Loïc Escoffier. Unfortunately, when Jourdain's boat was later inspected, it turned out that the engine seal had been broken by the race organisers in St Malo. The resulting time penalty of 90 minutes pushed Loïc Escoffier to the place in the sun and he was declared the winner, securing his father's sole place in the sailing history books for the time being. A tragic episode for Jourdain.
Only for a brief moment in the history books
If this seems like a "gift" victory for Loïc Escoffier, you don't know his story, because hardly anyone has fought so hard to be on the starting line of this year's Route du Rhum. Just four months ago, he spectacularly capsized in his 50-foot Marsaudan series cat at the Drheam Cup not far from Fastnet Rock. The pictures of the skipper's rescue by the British Sea Rescue Service went around the world.
For months afterwards, he and his team fought to get the salvaged cat ready to race again - and succeeded. And they did it just two years after his brother and Open 60 skipper Kevin Escoffier had to be rescued by Jean Le Cam when his Open 60 sank in the Indian Ocean. Not quite the typical average sailing family. So Loïc's victory is by no means completely undeserved.
Or actually it was. Someone else was supposed to be on the podium. The Belgian Gilles Buelkenhout. The sailing architect from Belgium led the Rhum Multi class for so long and was only 300 miles from the finish line with a lead of over 100 miles - when he capsized in a squall. Uninjured, he managed to save himself in the centre hull of his 40-foot Benoit Cabaret/Martin Fischer design and was rescued. This tri is a real hot stove, which he simply had built privately without any rule constraints, including T-foils and bent main foils that can lift the boat a huge distance out of the water. A brutal carbon rocket, but anyone who remembers the capsizes in the larger 50-foot Tri class and also earlier in the Orma 60 knows that a 40-footer really is the proverbial ride on the cannonball. The boat is just as wide as it is long, and you have to watch out like hell in the waves.
Buelkenhout was rescued from a freighter en route to Rotterdam, and apparently the tragic story of the Belgian's capsize moved the captain so much that he offered to turn round and drop the skipper off in Guadeloupe, where he arrived safely on Sunday and was awaited by his family. It may bring tears to your eyes.
It's stories like these that simply burn themselves into the memory, not necessarily the racing in the "normal" Rhum Multi and Mono classes, which are a bit of a gathering place for skippers and boats who simply want to fulfil a personal dream. Nevertheless, there are still plenty of celebrities on board. Third place went to Marc Guillemot, another ex-Imoca and Orma 60 tri-rock star ...
The lifelong dream of a "Rhum" victory comes true
Or let's take the Rhum Monohull class. This was won by Jean-Pierre Dick, who finally fulfilled his dream of winning the Route du Rhum after ending his career as one of the top Imoca skippers a few years ago. He has already won the other big Transat race, the Jacques Vabre, twice. What's exciting is that he sailed a boat in the race that he had built for himself immediately after leaving the Imoca scene: a somewhat tamed 54-footer, quasi Imoca, but with a very cool gimballed navi station and designed as a (very) fast cruiser. He has been sailing the boat regularly for years with friends and family, often in the Caribbean, and also as a participant in the ARC. Even normal customers can charter on the boat.
The absolute eye-catcher boat of this year's Route du Rhum has a very touching story: Philippe Poupon's trimaran "Flo", painted in shiny, glittering gold. The boat is actually a French national treasure. In 1990, the Frenchwoman Florence Arthaud was the first woman to win the race with it, at that time still at the start as "Pierre 1". The French then literally fell at the feet of the charming sailing enthusiast. She became a sailing icon as "Flo".
When she tragically died in a helicopter crash a few years ago, Philippe Poupon, himself a piece of French sailing history, decided to make a documentary film about Florence together with his wife, with whom he was good friends in private.
He remembered the old "Pierre 1er" boat. He searched for the boat all over the world, found it in the Philippines and bought the rotting Tri. He brought it to France and refitted it in Michel Desjoyeaux's shipyard, including the golden paintwork in which the boat shone when the Frenchwoman won.
His participation in the race had something deeply spiritual for him, as he said before the race: "I'm sure Florence will be with me somewhere out there on my crossing. At 9 o'clock this morning, he crossed the finish line off Guadeloupe in seventh place. Florence would have been proud of him ...
It is also stories like these in the "Everyman" fields that make the Route du Rhum something very special.
