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Marlink to taste the Magic of the Rhum

Marlink is proud to sponsor the skipper, Jean-Sébastien BIARD, who is participating in the legendary transatlantic race, “La Route du Rhum – Destination Guadeloupe 2022”.

– La Route du Rhum – Destination Guadeloupe, with its 138 competitors, will set off on this Wednesday, 9 November, on a course of 6,500 km to Pointe-à-Pitre in Guadeloupe.

Jean-Sébastien Biard, 50 years old amateur sailor, is about to set off on a journey of nearly three weeks across the Atlantic with the smallest boat of the race. He is competing in the “Mono Rhum” category and is the only participant to conquer this ocean race with a series-produced pleasure boat with no specific modifications to cater to high speed and extreme weather conditions. His objective is to tackle the 1982 record of 24 days of crossing for this type of boat.

Marlink accompanies Jean-Sébastien Biard, boat #18 JBS Déménagements, with satellite communications to ensure his safety in harsh and extreme conditions during this transatlantic race. Marlink has equipped his boat with a Certus broadband terminal to download weather data via GRIB files, a satphone for emergency calls, and Iritrack for real-time tracking and two-way communications with his HQ.

We met the skipper and his team during the parade on 29 October, checking the good functioning of the satcom equipment and briefed Jean-Sébastien on the use of the terminals.

IRITRACK TO FOLLOW THE BOAT IN REAL-TIME

Here, you can follow the progression of Jean-Sébastian BIARD boat #18 in the race. Iritrack is tracking the boat in real-time and his position is displayed on the map every 5 minutes.

IRITRACK E-VIEWER following the trace of #18 Jean-Sébastian BIARD

Follow the boat here!

ABOUT THE ROUTE DU RHUM – DESTINATION GUADELOUPE

The Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe is regarded as the queen of solo transatlantic races. For 44 years, the race has joined Saint-Malo in Brittany, France, to Pointe-à-Pitre in Guadeloupe. This transatlantic course at a total distance of 6,500 km has become legendary by gathering a diverse mixture of professional skippers and amateurs to take on the challenge of the Rhum in different classes of sailing boats every 4 years. The 12th edition which starts on Wednesday 9 November 2022 from Saint Malo in France is set to see a record with 138 boats spread across six classes: Ultim 32/23, IMOCA, Ocean Fifty, Class40, Rhum Multi, Rhum Mono.

Official Tracking of the race: https://carto-prod.routedurhum.com/fr/index.html