Basile Bourgnon is leading the Ocean Fifty class of the Route du Rhum, the solo transatlantic race his father Laurent won in 1994 and 1998, with the finish in Pointe-à-Pitre now within reach.
At Monday’s 04:00 UTC position report, the 24-year-old was 364 miles from the line aboard the trimaran Edenred 5, 20 miles ahead of Thibaut Vauchel-Camus and 41 ahead of Pierre Quiroga. His lead had fallen from 47 miles to about 11 on Sunday before he rebuilt it overnight.
It has not been a quiet crossing. In a video sent from the boat on Saturday, Bourgnon described a night with winds of up to 44 knots. “The boat was no longer racing. I was just trying to keep it upright,” he said, before showing aerodynamic fairings torn off by the sea.
Laurent Bourgnon, a Swiss sailor and one of the leading multihull racers of his era, won both his Route du Rhum titles aboard the trimaran Primagaz. He went missing during a dive in French Polynesia in 2015. Before the start in Saint-Malo, his son placed his hands in his father’s handprints on the town’s ramparts.
Basile took the helm of Edenred 5 in March after eight years with the team. “I grew up listening to stories about this race,” he said at the time. “If there’s one race I want to win, it’s the Route du Rhum.”
Erwan Le Draoulec and Matthieu Perraut have retired from the class. The leading trio is expected to reach Guadeloupe within a day.
In the Ultim class, Tom Laperche won on Saturday in a race record, with Thomas Coville and Louis Burton completing the podium on Sunday.
Route du Rhum 2026. Photo: Pierre Bouras / Edenred
Leave a Reply