Four years after his first Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe in Class40 (18th), Baptiste Hulin (29) is one of the 11 sailors who will line up for the start of the solo transatlantic race aboard an Ocean Fifty on 1 November. An opportunity for Sailorz to speak to Viabilis Océans skipper, who has made Saint-Malo his home and won the Transat Café L’Or a year ago.
What did your victory in the 2025 Transat Café L’Or with Thomas Rouxel bring you?
First of all, it showed us that we were capable of winning, and that is a very powerful and positive thing for the whole team. There was already a lot of energy behind this project, but the win gave us even more. From a sporting perspective, there’s no doubt that it gives you legitimacy and confidence. That said, I haven’t forgotten that the top four finished within 45 minutes of each other. I don’t want to say that the coin happened to fall on the right side – we still had to go and win it with a final strategic option – but we didn’t finish three days ahead of everyone else. In any case, it shows that this is a very competitive class with a very even level.
You joined the Viabilis Océans project in 2024 after Pierre Quiroga, who had originally been selected. Do you feel that this victory allowed you to establish yourself fully in the Ocean Fifty class and be considered an equal among the others?
You’d have to ask the others! (Smiles) But it’s true that I arrived in a position that wasn’t particularly easy; my background was probably lighter than Pierre’s or that of some of the other skippers in the class. After that, I put a huge amount of energy into getting to grips with the boat. I built my project by broadening my horizons and seeking out experience from people who all had a lot to teach me, such as Corentin Horeau, Léonard Legrand, Yann Eliès and Thomas Rouxel. I think that approach paid off. Thomas was particularly important: we sailed together for a year, and there was a real transfer of knowledge. He continues to support me, both on the water and ashore, as he’s part of my routing team. He gives me a great deal of calm and confidence. That said, I remain very humble and cautious, I’m certainly not resting on my laurels, but I hope this was the beginning of a great story. I want to go out and win more major races.
“Almost every boat
can challenge for a podium”
That’s timely, with the Route du Rhum coming up. Can you tell us how you’ve organised your season?
We didn’t take part in the first two events of the season because we undertook a strategic reorganisation of the project (previously managed by BE Racing) and set up our own structure with Arnaud Gotreau, Viabilis’ president. We relaunched the boat on 12 June and immediately headed down to La Rochelle to install a second autopilot system. Straight afterwards, I went off for my first solo sail via the Fastnet. It was a good shakedown that gave me confidence, so I was feeling very relaxed at the start of the Dream-Cup. The race got off to a flying start, with downwind breeze, exactly what the boat and sailor like, and we quickly found ourselves in the leading pack. That was exactly the target I had set myself, because these were demanding conditions that we could well encounter on the Route du Rhum. I finished fourth, but given how little preparation we had, it felt like a small victory. After that, we kept the boat in the water all summer and tried to make the most of every possible weather window to sail in more than 20 knots of breeze. And last week, we wrapped up our preparations with the 24h Ultim. I have to admit I’m quite disappointed with my seventh place; it’s not at all what I came looking for. But it allowed us to identify clearly what needed improving in the way we operate. It was the first time we had tested our routing team in full, and I think we’ll have learned from our mistakes and won’t repeat them on the Route du Rhum. Now, the die is cast, the village opens in three weeks and we’re off!
Nine of the eleven starters will be rookies on a solo transatlantic race in Ocean Fifty. What does that say about the class?
It shows that there has been a huge amount of renewal! But it also shows that there are young sailors coming through strongly. We saw it at the Drheam-Cup. It was admittedly a race lasting « only » three days, but we were all able to maintain solo the pace and performance levels we had achieved double-handed in the Transat Café L’Or. That shows that everyone has taken a step forward in terms of confidence and that nobody is going to give an inch. Basile (Bourgnon), Pierre (Quiroga), Léo (Legrand) and Mathieu (Perraut), who were with me in the leading group, will all be serious contenders for the Rhum. And the same goes for those we may have seen a little less of, particularly the two seasoned campaigners Erwan (Le Roux) and Thibaut (Vauchel-Camus), who have much more experience than we do. Then there’s Anne-Claire (Le Berre), Erwan (Le Draoulec), Luke (Berry)… I think that almost every boat can challenge for a podium and that four or five of us can win.
“The goal is to start
another four-year cycle”
What does the Route du Rhum mean to you, having lived in Saint-Malo for five years?
It really is an event like no other. When politicians say that you can feel the excitement building in the city as the event approaches, that isn’t just a communications message, it really is the case. The city transforms. I wasn’t born in Saint-Malo (he was born in Cholet), but the village has always fascinated me. As a child, I remember seeing all those boats at the foot of the old corsair city; it was incredible. There’s an energy building and a sense of pressure rising little by little until the start, when you’re carried along by the crowds who come to cheer us on. It’s magical to experience. And I’m very happy that it’s happening at home, because it’s still my everyday environment. At such an important event, with a village that lasts almost two weeks and can drain your energy, having the extra comfort of going home in the evening and being in familiar surroundings gives you little confidence boosts. We’ll try to make the most of that.
If you had to pick one image of the Rhum from when you were younger?
The one that really blew me away was Franck Cammas’s victory on Groupama 3. I can still picture that photo of him looking really tiny at the bow of this enormous boat, originally designed for crewed sailing. I also have some more frightening memories of the 2018 Route du Rhum, with the first fronts causing a lot of damage and boats capsizing… It felt almost apocalyptic, even from ashore, and it gave you a knot in your stomach. I was still fairly young at the time and wasn’t yet imagining myself doing offshore racing, but that edition had quite a psychological impact on me.
Will you have that knot in your stomach at the start on 1 November?
All the work I’ve done over the last three years with the people around me has been precisely about overcoming that fear, that sword of Damocles of capsizing that always exists on an Ocean Fifty. Today, I can feel apprehensive – and I think that’s necessary when sailing these boats – but I’m not afraid. If we head off in heavy conditions, I’ll obviously be very vigilant, but at the same time I’ll feel calm.
Are you already looking ahead to what comes next with your partner?
When we joined forces with Arnaud Gotreau at the start of the year, the idea was not to shut up shop when we reached Guadeloupe. So the goal is to start another four-year cycle and develop the project so that cycle two is a little different; we could potentially open it up to other partners.
Would you continue with the same Ocean Fifty?
We currently have a 2017 boat which, over the last four years, has finished on the podium in every major offshore race. So I’d say that it will depend on the Rhum result : if things don’t go well and we feel that it’s no longer capable of winning races of this kind, we’ll adapt our strategy.
Photo : Adrien Cordier / Wind4Prod
