Guirec Soudée: from a backwards lap of the world to the Ultims
Among the eight Ultims in the Route du Rhum 2026, one is a late arrival. Guirec Soudée confirmed his entry on 17 September, six weeks before the start (Figaro Nautisme). Yet the sailor from Tréguier is no unknown: he is fresh from a feat nobody had achieved in a multihull.
94 days against the flow
On 23 December 2025, Guirec Soudée left Ushant for a solo, non-stop circumnavigation from east to west, against the prevailing winds and currents of the Southern Ocean. He rounded Cape Horn on 14 January 2026, Cape Leeuwin on 18 February and the Cape of Good Hope on 6 March, and returned to Ushant on 28 March. Time: 94 days 21 hours 58 minutes, against 122 days 14 hours for the previous record, set in 2004 by Jean-Luc Van den Heede on a monohull. He became the first to complete this backwards lap of the world solo in a multihull, although he had never sailed an Ultim alone before setting off (Route du Rhum).
From Monique to the IMOCA
Born in 1992, Guirec Soudée first made his name with an extraordinary adventure: years of sailing on his small boat Yvinec with Monique, a red hen taken aboard in the Canary Islands, including a winter locked in the ice off Greenland. The story became a children's book, The Hen Who Sailed Around the World (Bateaux.com, Hachette).
He then moved into racing: the 2022 Route du Rhum in an IMOCA, Freelance.com, finishing 25th, then the 2024-2025 Vendée Globe, 23rd (Wikipedia). This 2026 Rhum is his second, and his first in an Ultim (ICI Armorique).
Liamm, an Ultim steeped in history
His trimaran, renamed Liamm ("link" in Breton), is the oldest of the eight Ultims entered. It was built in 2014 by Multiplast in Vannes on the basis of Géronimo, Olivier de Kersauson's trimaran, whose floats and crossbeams it reuses. Its history crosses the race's (Wikipedia FR, Ultim MACSF):
| Name | Skipper | Highlight |
|---|---|---|
| Sodebo Ultim' | Thomas Coville | retired from the 2014 Rhum after a collision with a cargo ship |
| Sodebo Ultim' | Thomas Coville | solo round-the-world record in late 2016, 49 d 3 h |
| Mieux | Arthur Le Vaillant | 6th in the 2022 Route du Rhum |
| MACSF | Guirec Soudée | backwards round-the-world record in 2026 |
Liamm is also the name of an endowment fund that works for patients in public hospitals in Armor, Brittany, for which Soudée is an ambassador.
"Do the best I can"
Against newer boats, which he calls "real war machines", Guirec Soudée does not promise victory. His goal: "do the best I can", push Liamm hard when conditions allow and stay in the game (ICI Armorique).
His rivals are presented in the Ultims and their skippers. Thomas Coville, who raced this same boat, is back on Sodebo Ultim 3: see Sodebo, from a 40-day lap of the planet to a solo Rhum. Van den Heede's boat, the ex-Adrien, is also on the start line, in Vintage Mono: see a second life for legendary boats.