The sanction which threatened Charles Caudrelier, the leader of the Route du rhum, and risked creating a great discord in the race, was lifted by the jury on the night of Thursday to Friday, November 11. The skipper of the Maxi-Edmond-de-Rotschild for having crossed the starting line too early, Wednesday in Saint-Malo. He risked a four-hour penalty which could have allowed his pursuers, François Gabart and Thomas Coville, to overtake him.
” It’s good news !Caudrelier said Friday morning. I didn’t understand what had happened at the start because I had taken a margin and there were boats ahead. » The threat of sanction, and the suspense that went with it, lasted for long hours because the race jury only met after landing in Guadeloupe, where the finish of this 12e edition of the Route du rhum.
“We were 50 meters from the line”
To win their case, Caudrelier’s team, Gitana Team, provided the marshals with the GPS data of the Maxi-Edmond-de-Rotschild at the time of departure, Wednesday in Saint-Malo. ” We sent the GPS track of the Maxi-Edmond-de-Rothschild throughout the start phase, as well as the positioning of the Yellow Brick beacon provided by the organization, explains in a press release Cyril Dardashti, director of Gitana Team. The two agree and show that we were fifty yards from the starting line at 2.15 p.m. when the gun was fired. It’s a relief for Charles as for the whole team. He can now devote himself solely and fully to his race. The day promises to be lively and important. »
Aboard his boat in the Ultimes class, the maxi-trimarans with foils, Caudrelier had taken the lead in the race from the very first moment. As it was impossible for a boat that had made a false start to turn around to recross the line under the mass start conditions (138 participants) of the Route du rhum, the penalty consisted of stopping its advance for four hours, a enormous handicap in such a close race.
Galfione stops in Brest
According to the latest scores, given Friday at 11 a.m., Caudrelier is leading the fleet led by the Ultimes, closely followed by François Gabart (SVR-Lazartigue) and Thomas Coville (Sodebo).
Armel Le Cléac’h (People’s Bank-XI), a serious contender for victory until damage on Thursday afternoon, arrived at 11 p.m. in Lorient to try to repair his drift and set off again. Former pole vaulter Jean Galfione (Serenis Consulting), entered in Class40, had to stop in Brest following an accumulation of technical problems.
The race is however over for Damien Seguin (Beetle): during the night, his Imoca was hit by a freighter and dismasted. The skipper is unharmed and has not requested immediate assistance.
The main part of the fleet was heading south to avoid a depression coming up from the Azores, marked by sustained winds with gusts of up to 45 knots and heavy and disorderly seas.
Among the Imoca, 18-meter monohulls, Charlie Dalin (Apivia) is now ahead of Louis Duc (Fives – Lantana-Environment), the only one to have chosen the northern option facing the depression.