Gitana 18 hit by foil damage in Route du Rhum

Charles Caudrelier’s defence of his Route du Rhum title has been thrown into doubt after the new Maxi Edmond de Rothschild suffered serious damage to its port foil in the early hours of this morning.

Caudrelier alerted his Gitana Team shore crew shortly before 5am, while sailing downwind roughly 400 miles north of the Azores in a 20–25 knot northerly and 3m seas. At the time, he was running fourth in the Ultim fleet.

The good news is that the skipper is safe and the situation is under control. With support from his shore team, Caudrelier is working to secure the damaged foil and establish the extent of the damage, while his routing team weighs up the options. There is no word yet on whether he will continue.

It’s a cruel blow for Gitana 18, the newest boat in the Gitana stable, on its first Route du Rhum – Destination Guadeloupe. Caudrelier won the last edition in 2022 aboard its predecessor.

The timing hurts too, given how quickly the leading Ultims have been eating up the miles. Race leader Tom Laperche has covered 775 miles in 24 hours aboard SVR-Lazartigue and is approaching the Azores this morning, set to pass about 100 miles east of Corvo.

Conditions at the head of the fleet have been far from gentle. Armel Le Cléac’h reported a sharp transition from southerly to northerly breeze as the leaders crossed a weak front overnight, forcing a run of energy-sapping manoeuvres.

“Since then, the wind has picked up,” says the Maxi Banque Populaire XI skipper. “We’re sailing downwind at around 30–35 knots, with a chaotic, multidirectional sea state. It’s not exactly comfortable!”

Sidney Gavignet, leading the Vintage Mono class on Cigar Rouge, put it neatly on this morning’s radio call: “The line between ‘everything is going well’ and ‘everything is falling apart’ is a very thin one.” Caudrelier has found that out the hard way.

The gaps between the leading Ultims remain narrow, and a low-pressure system near the Azores could reshuffle the order. The leaders face a choice between a series of gybes in the north-northeasterly flow, or cutting across a high-pressure ridge to reach better wind further west.

“One thing is certain: it won’t be a straight shot to the Antilles,” says Le Cléac’h. For Caudrelier, the next few hours of investigation will decide whether he’s still part of that conversation at all.

Follow the fleet on the official tracker.