After big questions and hours spent scrutinizing weather reports, the ax fell. The start of the 12th Route du Rhum is postponed. It will not take place this Sunday at 1:02 p.m., as planned, the race management announced this Saturday morning after a meeting held behind closed doors with the organizers of OC Sport Penduick and the different classes of boats.
This is a first in the history of the most legendary single-handed transatlantic race which has so far always left on time.
The organizers are considering postponing the departure on Tuesday or Wednesday next.
The weather conditions do not allow a serene and safe departure skippers. “A decision confirmed in particular by the passage of a very violent depression, accompanied by very strong seas blocking the route from the first night and leaving no escape for the sailors to leave the English Channel.“, explain the organizers in a press release. According to the forecasts in the English Channel, large gusts of wind and hollows of up to seven meters are expected in the sea, in an area already very dangerous due to the presence of many rocks.