Route du Rhum 2026: how to explain the black streak which has affected the skippers in recent days?

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In the middle of the night, on particularly rough seas, the skipper films his Route du Rhum. He does not know that at the same time, one of the great favorites of the race, Armel Le Cléac'h, has just capsized off the coast of the Azores. In his last message before the accident, Tuesday, he recounted his sailing conditions. “The sea is quite… quite bumpy. It’s not easy to stand up straight,” noted the skipper Maxi Banque Populaire XI. His technical team meets in a crisis unit, and several boats are diverted to provide assistance. It was a Panamanian freighter who came to his rescue after 13 hours stuck in his trimaran.

"We stayed in contact with him all day. We had a few messages which reassured us about his health. Now, Armel will arrive in the United States. We will organize to go and welcome him and we can't wait to see him again", comments Sébastien Josse, technical director of Team Banque Populaire.

Nine abandonments out of 115 boats

One more abandonment at a battered start to the Route du Rhum. After Violette Dorange's collision at the very start of the race, Quentin Le Nabour lost his mast and all hope of victory. “It would have been short, but it wouldn’t have spared us,” laments Skipper Bleu Blanc Planète Location in a video. A dark series that affects the favorites; Francis Joyon, Charles Caudrelier… The skippers still in the race are looking for a parade to brave the elements. “The idea is to round this depression from the north to have some downwind and try not to get trapped by its center,” explains Mathieu Claveau, skipper Inhérent-Phare 40.

After only three and a half days of competition, nine boats out of 115 have already given up. Tom Laperche traces his furrow and consolidates his lead this evening.