In short. At the official 1 am position report (Paris time) on Saturday 7 November, Corentin Horeau led the IMOCA fleet in the Route du Rhum by almost 270 miles over Sam Goodchild and Boris Herrmann. Better still, he was 6th overall, all classes included: only four Ultims and one Ocean Fifty trimaran, Basile Bourgnon's Edenred 5, were ahead of him on the road to Pointe-à-Pitre. The seven other Ocean Fifties still racing, multihulls that are supposed to be faster than his monohull, were behind. For a first Route du Rhum and a first solo season in an IMOCA, it is an extraordinary race.
A monohull among the trimarans
The official ranking published by the organisers at 1 am put Corentin Horeau (MACSF) 1,113.7 miles from the finish (Route du Rhum). Ahead of him were only the Ultims of Tom Laperche, Thomas Coville, Louis Burton and Guirec Soudée, then Basile Bourgnon, leader of the Ocean Fifty class, a little over a hundred miles away. What comes behind him is more surprising:
| Boat | Class | Distance to finish | Gap to Horeau |
|---|---|---|---|
| Edenred 5 (Basile Bourgnon) | Ocean Fifty | 1,007.9 miles | 105.8 ahead |
| MACSF (Corentin Horeau) | IMOCA | 1,113.7 miles | – |
| Wewise (Pierre Quiroga) | Ocean Fifty | 1,123.2 miles | 9.5 behind |
| Solidaires En Peloton | Ocean Fifty | 1,141.2 miles | 27.5 behind |
| Sodebo Fifty (Léonard Legrand) | Ocean Fifty | 1,166.3 miles | 52.6 behind |
| Viabilis Oceans (Baptiste Hulin) | Ocean Fifty | 1,189.2 miles | 75.5 behind |
| IDEC Sport (Alexia Barrier) | Ultim | 1,259.4 miles | 145.7 behind |
| Macif Santé Prévoyance (Sam Goodchild) | IMOCA | 1,383.2 miles | 269.5 behind |
It is worth spelling out what this means. An Ocean Fifty is a 50-foot (15.24 m) trimaran: shorter than a 60-foot IMOCA, but much lighter and sitting on three hulls, so clearly faster as soon as the wind picks up. In 2022 the first of them, Erwan Le Roux, crossed the line in Pointe-à-Pitre on Sunday 20 November (Figaro Nautisme), some twenty hours before the first IMOCA, Thomas Ruyant, who finished in 11 days 17 hours and 36 minutes. This year a monohull is racing right alongside the trimarans, less than ten miles from Wewise, and the Ultim IDEC Sport, which has won the race three times under three different names, is even behind him.
One caveat is needed: these figures are distances to the finish, the measure the provisional ranking uses. The boats are not on identical tracks and the real gaps will only be settled on the line. Even so, five days from the finish, an IMOCA slotted in between the trimarans is a rare sight.
A more southerly route and a pace that does not drop
Corentin Horeau's lead did not come out of nowhere. On Friday, race reports already gave him around 185 miles over Boris Herrmann, with a little over 2,000 miles to go (MySailing). It has since grown by about 80 miles. Over the last 24 hours MACSF covered 487 miles, an average of just over 20 knots, against 458 for Goodchild and 432 for Herrmann. At the time of the report the boat was making 22.6 knots in an east-north-easterly trade wind of around twenty knots.
The tracker shows how he built the gap. Northwest of the Azores, around halfway, Horeau dived south earlier than his main rivals, who stayed further north. He is now at 30°22' N, 49°42' W, right in the middle of the Ocean Fifty group, while Goodchild and Herrmann are two degrees further north and nearly five degrees further east. That shift most likely gave him a steady downwind breeze sooner, the conditions foiling IMOCAs like best. Since Saint-Malo he has sailed almost 2,800 miles through the water, some 380 more than Sam Goodchild, which gives an idea of the speed he has kept up.
The race has also been hard on several favourites. Jérémie Beyou, named a favourite by the organisers, turned back for medical reasons, and Italy's Ambrogio Beccaria, then fifth, retired on Friday after a fall that left him with severe back pain (France 3 Bretagne). The full list is in the Route du Rhum 2026 retirements. But Horeau took the lead by beating his rivals on speed and strategy, not by profiting from their misfortune: Goodchild and Herrmann, both seasoned IMOCA sailors, are still racing and still behind him.
A Solitaire winner, new to solo IMOCA racing
None of this was written in advance. Corentin Horeau, a sailor from La Trinité-sur-Mer with a merchant navy diploma, made his name on the Figaro circuit, the toughest of the solo circuits. He won La Solitaire du Figaro in 2023 and the French Elite offshore racing championship the same year (IMOCA). He discovered the IMOCA that year, double-handed in the Transat Jacques Vabre with Benjamin Dutreux, before winning the Finistère Atlantique in an Ultim with Armel Le Cléac'h in 2024. He also finished second in the Route des Terre-Neuvas in an Ocean Fifty with Baptiste Hulin, whom he now leads by 75 miles.
In May 2025, MACSF chose him to lead its 2028 Vendée Globe campaign and bought Yoann Richomme's IMOCA Paprec Arkéa, runner-up in the last Vendée Globe, for the purpose. Designed by Pascal Conq and Antoine Koch and built by Multiplast in Vannes, the boat is one of the most refined in the fleet (MACSF). Horeau spent the 2025 season on board as Richomme's co-skipper, and the boat was relaunched in MACSF colours on 2 April 2026 after three months in the yard. His first solo race in an IMOCA, the 1000 Race in May, ended in second place.
At the start in Saint-Malo on 1 November he was careful not to set a target. "I don't really like announcing a number," he said, before pointing out: "It's only my first solo season" (MACSF, translated from French). Six days later he is the only monohull in the top 10.
What is left to do
More than a thousand miles still separate him from Guadeloupe, including the lap of Basse-Terre, which the organisers reckon takes close to nine hours for an IMOCA and which has often reshuffled the order in the light airs in the lee of La Soufrière. Our routing puts him on the line around Wednesday 11 November in the evening, Paris time, in a little over ten days of racing, which would take him under the class record set by Thomas Ruyant in 2022. The estimate moves with every position report: follow it on the estimated arrivals page, with its range, and the reasons to treat it with caution are explained in our article on how reliable finish times are.
With a 270-mile cushion, a breakage is a bigger threat than his pursuers. But if MACSF holds together to the end, the 2026 Route du Rhum will have revealed a new name in the premier monohull class, two years before the Vendée Globe. His position, speed and lead can be followed at every report on the live tracker and the IMOCA standings. The other skippers in his class are introduced in the IMOCAs and their skippers, and his neighbours on the water in the Ocean Fifties and their skippers.
Frequently asked questions
Who is leading the IMOCA class in the 2026 Route du Rhum?
Corentin Horeau, on MACSF. At the 1 am report (Paris time) on Saturday 7 November he was 269.5 miles ahead of Sam Goodchild (Macif Santé Prévoyance) and 270.7 ahead of Boris Herrmann (Malizia 4).
Is Corentin Horeau ahead of the Ocean Fifty trimarans?
Ahead of all but one. At the same report he was 6th overall, behind four Ultims and Basile Bourgnon's Ocean Fifty Edenred 5, and ahead of the seven other Ocean Fifties still racing, led by Pierre Quiroga's Wewise, 9.5 miles back.
What boat is Corentin Horeau sailing?
The IMOCA MACSF, formerly Yoann Richomme's Paprec Arkéa, runner-up in the 2024-2025 Vendée Globe. It was designed by Pascal Conq and Antoine Koch and built by Multiplast in Vannes.
Is this his first Route du Rhum?
Yes. It is also his first solo season in an IMOCA, after winning La Solitaire du Figaro in 2023 and finishing second in the 1000 Race in May 2026.