The start of the Route du Rhum will be given on November 6, 2022 from Saint-Malo towards Pointe-à-Pitre in Guadeloupe. 138 solo sailors will be on the starting line. Among them a majority of enlightened amateurs, some of whom will do their first Route du Rhum. This is the case ofHervé Thomas, a Breton who lives in Rennes and who launched Wednesday September 28 in Saint-Malo his boat “Bleu-Blanc” He will compete in class 40 which includes boats less than 14 meters in length.
Fisherman’s grandson
At 56, this former fishmonger in the Rennes region, whose grandfather was a fisherman in Lesconil in Finistère, knows the sea well, having sailed since his childhood. A passion then fully satisfied as a teammate of Saint-Malo skipper Franck-Yves Escoffier. For the Route du Rhum, he has found a main sponsor the Mayenne company Bleu-Blanc, specializing in the rental of construction equipment, approached at random meetings “I informed Philippe Jan, the boss of Bleu-Blanc of my intention to first do the Transat double-handed Jacques Vabre, then the Route du Rhum“explains Hervé Thomas”he watched me do the Transat Jacques Vabre, he said ok, now I’m following you“. Hervé Thomas will not say what the financial participation of the Bleu-Blanc company is.
© Radio France
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Loick Guellec
Defeat Usher
But the skipper also wanted to promote corporate sponsorship for the benefit of the fight against Usher’s disease, a genetic disease that progressively robs children of sight and hearing. Research is carried out by the Institute of Neuroscience of Montpellier. The popular success of the Route du Rhum should make known the fight of a couple from Rennes Didier and Brigitte Rouillac. “For me this participation is essential“says Brigitte Rouillac president of the Vaincre Usher endowment fund”this is the goal of our family because there is a lot of loneliness in the families affected.
There is hope in research and this hope is magnificent – Brigitte Rouillac
Donors, from corporate sponsorship, will have their names inscribed on the mast of Hervé Thomas’ boat.
LEARN MORE : the Route du Rhum for genetic research