The Race
Course
"No rest for the sailor or his machine"
Between Saint-Malo and Pointe-à-Pitre, the shortest route (by great circle reckoning: dotted line on the chart) is not always the quickest … Winds and currents represent hurdles that have to be overcome or avoided… Then there are the rivals you have to keep a check on to avoid them getting away from you. Once the ramparts of Saint-Malo have been left behind, the competitors spend their first night in the English Channel before rounding Ushant and its shipping lane. Then there is the Bay of Biscay and usually headwinds and low-pressure areas coming one after another until they reach the Azores, the gateway to the trade winds. Next up in general there is a series of tactical choices to make to get across the high-pressure area with its light winds before picking up speed all the way to Pointe-à-Pitre, as the race record is there to be broken.
Click on the red and yellow letters below to see the trade route and the record route.