Route du Rhum: We take you to the coolest race village in the sailing world!

When the Race Village opens in the morning, there are already long queues of spectators waiting impatiently for the gates to open. Nevertheless, the atmosphere is relaxed, the stewards are friendly and you get the feeling that sailing fans and locals are simply celebrating the coolest sailing event that the European regatta circuit has to offer for non-active sailors. Anyone who hasn't seen the Ultim Tri live, and what German sailing fan who doesn't spend all their holidays in Brittany hasn't, will be completely blown away after the first few metres on the pier. These. Boats. Are. Simply. MONSTROUS! The dimensions of the Tris are simply beyond imagination. These gigantic chunksfly sometimes up to four metres above the water surface at almost 50 knots? While ONE man steers the boat alone? At night? In a cow storm, as the launch currently suggests? It's hard to believe.

The question that immediately springs to mind is: What does it look like on the inside? How is such a monster actually sailed in everyday life? How are the foils adjusted? Do you have to adjust them permanently?

No problem, we'll just take you with us. YACHT was allowed to take a look at Francois Gabart's new tri "SVR Lazartigue" and Thomas Coville's "Sodebo Ultim", with the skipper of the latter even spontaneously joining in and telling us what it's like to sail such a boat.

And as if that wasn't enough, we later had the chance to take Benjamin Dutreux for a spin on his Open 60 "Guyot", with which Offshore Team Germany will be taking part in the Global Ocean Race in three months' time. A visit on board one of the ladies in the field was just as exciting: the German-French Isabell Joschke showed us her "MASCF" and explained how her sailing style differs from that of the men. Those who meet her for the first time are deeply impressed by the petite, almost ethereal-looking skipper, but involuntarily ask themselves: How does she manage to control such a monster boat? She also says what to expect from the other ladies in the starting field, because for the first time in a long time they have really sharp swords in their hands: after years on older boats that have been pimped as best they can, the Brit Sam Davies has a brand new boat for the first time, the Manuard design "Initatives Cœr". And the Swiss Justine Mettraux has just taken over Jérémie Beyou's ex-"Charal" with her "Teamwork", currently probably the second-fastest Open 60. So this year the Route du Rhum could have the female skippers' stamp on it!

In the YACHT-tv report you can see our impressions from the Race Village in the beautiful old town of St.-Malo in Brittany.