For a first attempt, it’s a masterstroke! Charles Caudrelier won the 12th edition of the Route du rhum, this Wednesday, on the occasion of his very first participation, shortly after 5 a.m. in Guadeloupe (10 a.m. Paris time). And he even broke the event record, completing the race in 6 days, 19 hours, 47 minutes and 25 seconds.
“It’s the victory of more than three years of work, confides the navigator, barely disembarked from his boat. I haven’t had a single problem, I’m not even tired, apart from the first 24 hours, which were tough. This race, I dream of it since I was a kid, and one day I was offered this dream. So many people believed in me! It really is teamwork. It’s a pretty strong story between us. It’s great to see happiness in their eyes. I am thinking in particular of Franck Cammas (who left Charles Caudrelier at the controls of the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild). He gave me the place very generously, he could have won this race in my place. Without him, I wouldn’t have had such a high-performance boat. That’s crazy. I lost my mom not long ago. It was also his dream, almost more than me, that I do this race. »
The 48-year-old skipper of the maxi-trimaran Edmond de Rothschild, who has led the dance since the cannon shot in Saint-Malo a week ago, had been engaged in a chase for several days with François Gabart (SVR Lazartigue). He managed to maintain the advantage in the perilous final round of Guadeloupe where, after crossing the islet of the Tête à l’Anglais, the race sometimes takes on the air of a lottery, the passage of the buoy of Basse-Terre which can last several hours depending on the winds.
François Gabart knew this well, he who, four years ago, had suffered the law of veteran Francis Joyon (Idec Sport) in the last hours of the race. “I have a good lead over François (Gabart) but I remain vigilant, said Charles Caudrelier during Tuesday’s session. I would like to keep it to go around Guadeloupe. What worries me is that François will give me a Joyon, that he will take revenge for the last time! »
This did not happen and Caudrelier, who has already won the Volvo Race twice, the crewed round the world race with stopovers, has therefore added to his record by triumphing on his first crossing of the Atlantic solo.