Route du Rhum

The Route du Rhum is a solo transatlantic race sailed every four years between Saint-Malo, in Brittany, and Pointe-à-Pitre in Guadeloupe. The idea dates from 1975, when Bernard Hass of the Caribbean sugar and rum producers' union and Florent de Kersauson looked for a way to boost the rum industry. Michel Etevenon, who announced in December 1976 that he wanted a major French race with no size limit, carried the project forward. The company Promovoile was set up on 14 March 1978 to run it.

The first edition started in November 1978 with no separate classes: all boats raced together, and Canada's Mike Birch won on the trimaran Olympus Photo. Length-based classes appeared for the second and third editions, then from 1990 size groups separating monohulls from multihulls. Since 2006 the race has been run by OC Sport Pen Duick (Groupe Télégramme).

The course follows a great-circle distance of about 3,510 nautical miles. The start line lies west of the Pointe du Grouin off Cancale, with a mark off Cap Fréhel to be left to starboard; competitors must round Guadeloupe by the north and west before finishing off Pointe-à-Pitre. The 2006 and 2010 editions carried the La Banque Postale name; since 2014, with the Guadeloupe region as main partner, the race is called Route du Rhum - Destination Guadeloupe.

Starters rose from 38 in 1978 to a record 138 in 2022. Florence Arthaud (1990) remains the only woman to win overall and Laurent Bourgnon (1994, 1998) the only two-time overall winner. Current classes are Ultim, Ocean Fifty, IMOCA, Class40 and the Rhum Mono and Rhum Multi categories. The 2022 edition was marred by the deaths of two people when an organisation support boat capsized shortly before the winner arrived. Charles Caudrelier, aboard Maxi Edmond de Rothschild, set the race record of 6 days 19 h 47 min 25 s. The 13th edition is planned for November 2026.