We will have to wait before seeing the 138 skippers of the Route du Rhum set sail for Pointe-à-Pitre in Guadeloupe. This Saturday, the organizers announced that the start of the 12th edition of the event, scheduled for this Sunday in Saint-Malo (Ille-et-Vilaine), would be postponed to “Tuesday or Wednesday” due to unfavorable weather. to navigation.
“Due to the weather conditions expected in the first hours of the race (…) in particular the passage of a very violent depression, accompanied by very heavy seas”, the organizers have decided to postpone the start to “Tuesday 8 November or Wednesday, November 9,” a statement read.
For several days, the skippers had been preparing for a difficult start to the race with capricious weather. But the navigation conditions have further deteriorated in recent hours. “Giving a start on Sunday in 20 to 25 knots of westerly wind was possible. But the latest 48-hour precise weather reports showed that the conditions were much harsher than initially envisaged, and this from the first hours of the race,” adds the press release, which also specifies that several participants have reported over the past 24 hours their “concern” about a situation they considered very serious.
In the meantime, the festivities continue in Saint-Malo with in particular a village dedicated to the race, open until 10 p.m. this Saturday but also tomorrow between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.