Route du Rhum: Thibaut Vauchel-Camus, this Guadeloupean who dreams of offering victory to his island


Martin Lange (special envoy to Saint-Malo)

The 138 skippers of the Route du Rhum are getting ready to leave Saint-Malo for several weeks of navigation, destination Guadeloupe. Only twelve Guadeloupe sailors have taken part in the mythical race since 1978, but this year there are seven, a record. Among them, Thibault Vauchel-Camus, who dreams of bringing the cup home.

Will Guadeloupe be crowned for the first time in the mythical Route du Rhum? It is in any case the ambition of Thibault Vauchel-Camus. On his trimaran in the port of Saint-Malo, the skipper continues to meet with partners and the media. But when it comes to talking about Guadeloupe, his eyes light up. “The Route du Rhum, I discovered it when I was a kid there or I saw the finishes. And with all the magic of the finish, the emotion, the moment, the relationship with feat that has been accomplished,” he recalls.

A third Route du Rhum

A few decades later, “TVC” now lives in Saint-Malo. A sort of link between Brittany and the West Indies, as he likes to recall. And on Wednesday, he is preparing to start his third Route du Rhum. They are seven Guadeloupeans this year. It’s a record. But he is clearly coming for the win. “I grew up there, I discovered sailing there. Competitive sailing, I discovered it there. I am a visceral lover of Guadeloupe and of being able to try to offer that to Guadeloupe, for me, it’s a real pride”, explains the navigator. The pride also of showing young West Indians that sailing, as frightening as it is, can offer great stories.



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