A record 86 skippers are departing St Malo, France today for the transatlantic Route du Rhum race.

Pete Goss and Richard Tolkien will be the sole Britons on the startline, both in the Class 40 class which contains 46 participants.

The race to Pointe à Pitre in Guadeloupe marks Goss’ return to solo ocean racing, after a 15-year absence since his dramatic rescue of fellow competitor Raphaël Dinelli during the 1996-97 round-the-world Vendée Globe.

Other big names in the races include Michel Desjoyeaux, winner of the last Vendée, Switzerland’s Bernard Stamm, winner of the last Velux 5 Oceans race and its previous incarnation Around Alone, and Francis Joyon, the world’s fastest single-handed circumnavigator.

See the latest issue of Yachting Monthly for more on Pete Goss and his Route du Rhum campaign.

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Photos courtesy of Colin Merry.