Pointe-à-Pitre (AFP) – French skipper Tom Laperche won the Route du Rhum on Saturday, posting a record time in his first attempt at the prestigious trans-Atlantic yacht race.
Issued on: 08/11/2026 - 04:51
The 29-year-old took his Ultim multihull SVR Lazartigue across the finish line in Pointe-à-Pitre at 10:31 pm local time after six days, 13 hours and 27 minutes at sea.
He beat the previous record, set by Charles Caudrelier in 2022 by about six hours and 20 minutes.
As he approached the finish buoy in the Guadeloupean night, Laperche celebrated with a barefoot leap onto the trampoline net of his trimaran while waving to his technical team on a following craft.
Having headed the fleet alone for several days, he skilfully handled the perilous circumnavigation of Guadeloupe, multiplying manoeuvres because of a headwind that prevented him from sailing directly towards the Basse-Terre buoy.
Thomas Coville (Sodebo) and Louis Burton (Armand Thiery), meanwhile, were expected to complete the podium on Sunday in Pointe-à-Pitre.
'A childhood dream'
Laperche, a sailing prodigy who spent most of his teenage years on the water, had never before taken the start of the famous solo race, which set sail from Saint-Malo last Sunday in its 13th edition.
It had been a childhood dream of the sailor from Morbihan, whose father, a dentist, finished fourth in the race in the Multi 50 category in 2010.
Laperche started as favourite at the helm of SVR Lazartigue, a boat designed in the stables of Charente sailor François Gabart.
Launched in 2021 and winner of the Transat Café L'Or in 2025, the big blue trimaran was considered, along with Armel Le Cléac’h’s Banque Populaire, to be the best-prepared Ultim in the fleet at the start of the Rhum.
Le Cléac'h was on Laperche's heels through the first third of the crossing. But he capsized and was rescued "in good health" several hours later by a Panamanian cargo ship.
Laperche received a one-hour and two-minute time bonus for temporarily diverting towards Le Cléac’h, who had activated his distress beacon.
"After the accident, the shape of the race changed a little. Risk management became much more important, relegating performance management a bit further down the list of priorities," said Franck Cammas, winner of the Route du Rhum in 2010 and a member of Laperche's routing team this year.
'Easing off'
Laperche's significant lead "made it possible to ease off in the face of the tricky obstacles still to be overcome: tropical lows, violent squalls, thunderstorms and gusts causing instantaneous jumps of 10 knots," Cammas added.
From the start Laperche sailed an almost perfect race, taking the lead in the first few miles and holding it all the way to the finish.
Behind the stars of the Ultim category, the battle continued among skippers in the other classes, who have had to deal with numerous adverse weather events even though the race set off in historically mild conditions.
© 2026 AFP
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