Alexia Barrier Chases Another First at the Route du Rhum
Weeks after skippering the first all-female non-stop circumnavigation, French offshore sailor Alexia Barrier is back at sea — this time as the only woman racing solo in the ULTIM class at November's Route du Rhum–Destination Guadeloupe, aboard the legendary IDEC SPORT-CIC.
Alexia Barrier isn’t done making history. In January 2026, the Paris-born sailor skippered the first all-female crew to complete a non-stop round-the-world voyage aboard a maxi-trimaran, establishing the first all-female Jules Verne Trophy reference time — 57 days, 21 hours, 20 minutes — despite a jammed mainsail hook, a fishing net that fouled and delaminated a foil off Cape Leeuwin, a Southern Ocean storm that finished off the mainsail, and autopilot loss on the final Atlantic leg. That’s not all. Barrier has also logged 200,000-plus nautical miles of offshore racing — roughly the equivalent of ten laps of the planet — including 18 Atlantic crossings, and completed the grueling 2020-21 Vendée Globe in 111 days. Now, the French offshore sailor is preparing for another first as the only woman racing solo in the ULTIM class of the Route du Rhum–Destination Guadeloupe this November.
Barrier will race aboard the legendary IDEC SPORT-CIC, a 105-foot (31.5-meter) trimaran capable of speeds in excess of 37 knots and one of the fastest ocean-racing multihulls ever built. The same hull has won the Route du Rhum three times, racing under three different names and skippers over the years — Groupama 3 (Franck Cammas, 2010), Banque Populaire VII (Loïck Peyron, 2014) and IDEC Sport (Francis Joyon, 2018). It also held the outright Jules Verne Trophy record for the fastest non-stop circumnavigation of the globe from 2017 until January 25, 2026, when Thomas Coville broke it aboard Sodebo Ultim 3 — just one day before Barrier’s own crew completed their women’s reference-time lap. In total, 117 solo sailors are registered to race in six classes, with a handful of wildcard entries still possible: Ultim, IMOCA, Ocean Fifty, Class40, Vintage Multi and Vintage Monohull.
The 3,542-nautical-mile transatlantic Route du Rhum starts November 1 in Saint-Malo, France, and finishes in Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe. The fastest ULTIM trimarans — perhaps Barrier on IDEC SPORT-CIC — are expected to reach Guadeloupe in about four to six days, depending on weather conditions. The event’s finish transforms Pointe-à-Pitre into a celebration centered on the Bas du Fort marina, extending to Basse-Terre, with race villages, concerts, Caribbean food, local artisans and festivities running November 5–15, 2026 (Basse-Terre’s own village runs the first weekend of arrivals, November 5–8). www.routedurhum.com
Carol Bareuther has written for ALL AT SEA since 2004.
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