Caudrelier wins 2022 Route du Rhum and sets Ultim record to Guadeloupe

The 2022 Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe, the solo transatlantic race held every four years, started from Saint-Malo, in Brittany, on 6 November 2022. The headline class was the Ultim, the largest ocean-racing trimarans, about 32 metres long and able to lift out of the water on foils.

The winner was Charles Caudrelier, sailing Maxi Edmond de Rothschild, a foiling trimaran of the Gitana team. He crossed the finish line off Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, in about 6 days, 19 hours and 47 minutes. That beat the previous record for the race, set by Francis Joyon in 2018 at more than seven and a half days. Thomas Coville, on Sodebo Ultim 3, was among the leading skippers in the same class.

The result mattered because it showed how far foiling technology had pushed the speed of solo ocean racing. It also confirmed Caudrelier as a leading Ultim skipper, and it set the benchmark that later editions of the race would be measured against.