Louis Duc crossed the finish line of the twelfth edition of the Route du Rhum - Destination Guadeloupe on Thursday 24th November at 14 hours 34 minutes and 07 seconds local time (19 hours 34 minutes 07 seconds metropolitan time). He finished 27th in the IMOCA class with a race time of 15 days, 05 hours, 19 minutes and 07 seconds.

The Norman sailor sailed the 3,542 miles of the course between Saint-Malo and Pointe-à-Pitre at a speed of 9.70 knots on the great circle route (the direct route). The skipper of Fives - Lantana Environnement actually covered 4,047.13 miles at an average speed of 11.08 knots. He arrived in Pointe-à-Pitre 3 days 11h 42mn 42' after the winner of the IMOCA Class, Thomas Ruyant (LinkedOut).

Louis Duc's first words on the pontoon

"I broke some halyards but the hook piece got stuck up there. Two days ago, the sail ripped and it was a big rag hanging in front. When I arrived, under Basse-Terre, I went up the mast, I cut it, but not all the way up. It makes little garlands in the shrouds to arrive, it's nice!

It wasn't me who made a daring choice, it was the others who went south! My initial idea was to follow the great circle route. The aim was to get past the lows and to make rapid gains in the west. My mistake was that I didn't go north enough. I wanted to be too cautious and I wasn't going fast enough. I didn't understand this choice of route well enough because I ended up in the small ridge of high pressure that followed. Basically, I had three days of glory and three days of despair!

Then I started to have a lot of little problems. The lazy-bag broke in 40 knots of wind, which caused pockets in the sails and with the pressure of the water, the mast track exploded. So I couldn't hoist my mainsail any more. It's a cascade of problems. A small thing always ends up in a big disaster. I was forced to stop for a few hours downwind of Terceira Island in the Azores to tidy up all the loose rigging. I left with miles behind the others. Looking back, it's true that after two days of racing, I wasn't 100% on the boat. It's a shame because in the end, I was quite happy with my trajectory. It was still fun! When there are problems, there's bound to be pleasure afterwards. And above all, you're happy to arrive but you quickly want to go back.

The choices we made this year were to keep second-hand equipment, to put on something new next year. In fact, before a Route du Rhum, you need new equipment. You can't be lax about these things. It's a lesson. It was great training for the Vendée Globe, because they say that the Globe is a pain in the ass every day, and I'm there! It was very instructive, even if, from a sporting point of view, it was far from what I was hoping for, even if the objective was to finish. This is my third Route du Rhum and it never goes as planned. Having said that, I've taken a step forward, I've gained miles, a qualification for the Vendée Globe, and that was one of my challenges this year. We've taken a step forward, that's something to be proud of."