Lorient and the pontoons of La Base looked resplendent as they greeted Charles Caudrelier home on this sunny Saturday afternoon. Beaming from ear to ear, the sailor thanked the many enthusiasts who had come along to welcome him back. “Thank you for coming! I’d have preferred to be arriving on the other side of the Atlantic for sure, but I think it’s important to be able to put things into perspective… Making landfall in Lorient, my thoughts go out to Armel and all his team,” admitted the skipper of the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild, before reflecting on the damage suffered aboard his boat last Tuesday. “Three weeks before the start of the race, I got Covid and since then I’ve been hobbling along a bit with quite a lot of fatigue. I wasn’t operating at full capacity aboard and the night that the damage occurred, I was trying to get some rest as we had a fair number of manoeuvres to perform as we sought to negotiate the front rolling through. Everything was going fairly well because, despite not being in great condition myself, the boat was nicely set up and quick. Except to say that at one point, I sensed that she wasn’t operating as she had been. The port foil was no longer pushing. My first thought was that I hadn’t trimmed her right, but once I stuck my head outside, even though it was dark, I very quickly spotted that the trailing edge of the foil had pulled out, dragging with it the hydraulic wiring harness, which enables the foil to be adjusted. We soon realised that this damage put an end to any hopes of victory so we decided it would be wiser to turn back rather than press on with a boat that wasn’t performing at her best.”
07.11.2026
Charles Caudrelier and the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild safely back in Lorient.
As Guadeloupe prepares to welcome Tom Laperche as the outright winner, Charles Caudrelier and the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild safely returned to their port of registry in Lorient, Brittany, early afternoon this Saturday. The skipper of the five-arrow racing stable was forced to retire from the race some forty-eight hours after the start as a result of major damage to the flying maxi-trimaran’s port foil. In a nod to history, Gitana 18 moored in the Breton port just minutes after Gitana 17*, the boat on which Charles Caudrelier took victory in the Route du Rhum – Destination Guadeloupe four years earlier.
Gitana 18, potential yet to be tapped
Launched some eight months before the start of the Route du Rhum – Destination Guadeloupe, the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild represented a significant human and technical challenge for the members of Gitana Team, as the skipper explained: “Gitana 18 is a highly innovative boat that is fresh out of the box. This handful of very intense days spent at sea, out on the racetrack, have already taught us a great deal, but we know that there’s still a long way to go before we can harness her true potential. It’s important to highlight the fact that, aside from the breakage on the port foil, there was no other damage to report. Given the complexity of the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild, I’d really like to congratulate my team and say a big thank you to them.”
“The result is obviously not what we were hoping for, but like Charles, I too would like to congratulate the whole of Gitana Team once again. We have been working flat out for the past two years and more, from the build to preparations for this first major race. The team has always stepped up to the plate, especially over the past few weeks, to enable Charles to set sail with every chance of success. We’re right at the beginning of the story with this new boat, with a huge amount of work ahead of us and a lot of things still to discover. This challenge continues to drive every one of us forward,” concluded Cyril Dardashti, director of the racing stable.
Despite returning to Lorient, it is not yet time to haul Gitana 18 out. Indeed, the team is keen to make the most of a few more test sails before tucking the latest addition to the Gitana fleet away for her winter refit.
Tom Laperche, an outstanding race
In a matter of hours, Tom Laperche is set to realise a childhood dream. Like Charles Caudrelier four years ago, the young sailor will add his name to the multihull champions in one of the most prestigious solo transatlantic races and follow Gitana Team’s skipper into the hallowed circle of outright winners of the legendary Route du Rhum.
“Tom and I had a chat this morning as I wanted to congratulate him before he made landfall. He has utterly dominated the race, at the front of the pack from beginning to end, and he has sailed a superb race. He has been quick the whole time. What’s impressive is that he knows how to set a fast pace and remain fully committed throughout. I was able to witness that fairly close-up during the Arkea Ultim Challenge in 2024. Tom is young, absolutely brilliant and a quick learner and his boat has reached maturity. To my mind, he was the natural favourite. If I’d had to bet on someone, it would have been him. As such, I’m not surprised by either him or his boat. A wonderful and much deserved victory is on the horizon. Massive congratulations to him!”
The latest ETA suggests that the new reference time set by Charles Caudrelier in 2022, in a time of 6 days 19 hours 47 minutes and 25 seconds, will tumble: “I’m not surprised or angry to see that my record is poised to fall!” smiled the sailor. “The boats have progressed a great deal and although the weather conditions were difficult, they were faster than they were four years ago. Prior to the start, the routing software gave us a sub-6-day time. There are still a few hours to play for over this course!”
*Gitana 17 has been renamed Actual Ultim 4 and is now skippered by Anthony Marchand. The sailor also had to retire from the Route du Rhum after a technical incident related to the boat’s central rudder.