Two hours after today’s start of the Route du Rhum- Guadeloupe transatlantic race, Violette Dorange’s IMOCA Initiatives Coeur came together with Romain Pilliard’s 60ft trimaran Use It Again.

Both skippers are unhurt, though the boats will require repairs and have headed to a nearby port.

The Route du Rhum started today from St Malo in Brittany, northern France.

French skipper Violette Dorange aboard her Imoca monohull Initiatives Coeur before the start of the 13th Route du Rhum – Destination Guadeloupe (Photo by Loic VENANCE / AFP)

IMOCAs and Multihulls

The Route du Rhum is unique in having 115 solo skippers racing across six different classes in both monohull and multihull – and they all start on a single line.

Although the start line is sectioned with, for example, the giant 100ft Ultims the furthest offshore, it means the entire fleet races the initial stages of the course together.

Video of the incident on the French 3 news channel feed shows Initiatives Coeur reaching to leeward and faster than Use It Again, before sailing directly into the trimaran. Neither boat was thankfully at full speed, but neither skipper was able to take avoiding action before the two boats hit.

The collision resulted in damage to a Use It Again float, and the foil starboard of Initiatives-Coeur. A video by Pilliard on social media shows visible damage on the top of his hull, and a hatch appears to be missing. Both boats are heading to Roscoff.

French skipper Romain Pilliard sailing Use it again after the start of the 13th Route du Rhum – Destination Guadeloupe. (Photo by Loic VENANCE / AFP)

The Initiatives-Coeur team social media team posted:  “Both skippers are fine but both boats need repair. They are currently enroute to Roscoff, where the Initiatives-Coeur team is waiting for them to repair the IMOCA and provide assistance to Romain Pilliard, hoping he can resume his race as soon as possible.”

Violette Dorange had been 3rd in the early stages of the race. She is one of the most popular skippers on the circuit, and although aged just 25 years old already has a full Vendée Globe behind her. She has taken over skippering Initiatives Coeur, after Sam Davies retired from solo ocean racing.

Romain Pilliard is a highly experienced ocean racking skipper taking part in his third Route du Rhum. His 60ft trimaran Use it Again was Ellen MacArthur’s record breaking Kingfisher/B&Q and is part of Pilliard’s commitment to a circular economy approach to his race campaign, racing in the Vintage Multi fleet.

Huge crowds of spectators watch the start of the 13th Route du Rhum – Destination Guadeloupe solo transatlantic sailing race (Photo by Vincent OLIVAUD / Route du Rhum 2026 / FACTSTORY)

Route du Rhum 2026 start

Otherwise, the 2026 Route du Rhum got away cleanly in near-perfect conditions of bright sunshine and light winds that saw enormous crowds line the shore to wave the fleet off on their 3,500-mile course to the French Caribbean.

Unlike the brutal start this race is often famed for, today’s conditions were a mild 8-11 knots for the start, the fleet first racing past the iconic Cape Fréhel before pointing their bows to the open ocean.

Going into the first night of the race, the fleet is racing in building 20-knot north-easterlies.

In the Ultim fleet, an early lead has been taken by Tom Laperche on SVR-Lazartigue, marginally ahead of Armel Le Cléac’h on Maxi Banque Populaire XI.

The top five foiling Ultims were all up to 35-plus-knot boat speeds, the brand new Maxi Edmond de Rothschild with defending race champion Charles Caudrelier is 5th, but  sailing at over 36 knots.

Pre-race favourite Sam Goodchild headed the IMOCA fleet on Macif Sante Prévoyance, ahead of Italian Ambrogio Beccaria on Allagrande Mapei.

Before the start, Goodchild commented: “If I could win the Route du Rhum, it would be my greatest victory. But you can also have a great race without winning. My goal is to enjoy myself and especially to be proud of my performance when I reach the finish line.”

Loïc Venance / AFP / Route du Rhum – Destination Guadeloupe

Critical gybe point

The north-easterlies will see the fleet remain further north than usual, however by the time the leaders are south of Fastnet Rock thhe wind is forecast to shift toward the east, bringing a key gybe to stay onto the rhumbline.

The Ultims are expected to pass the Fastnet Rock in the middle of the night for the Ultims; while the IMOCAs, Ocean Fiftys, and other fast multihulls should be at the gybe point by tomorrow morning.