One of the fathers of the Route du Rhum is no longer: Louis Claverie-Castetnau, former director of the Darboussier factory in Pointe-à-Pitre, died in France, at the dawn of his 100th birthday. years. Convinced by the idea of a solo sailing race, to promote the rum sector, he convinced his colleagues from other sugar refineries in the archipelago to get involved in the project; it was in 1978. Thus was born one of the most emblematic nautical events, the 12th edition of which took place in 2022.
The funeral of Louis Claverie-Castetnau will be celebrated in family privacy, next Friday (July 5, 2024), in the Saint-Etienne church in Lurbe-Saint-Christau, a small town of 200 souls, located in the Pyrenees department. Atlantics, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region.
The man died yesterday (June 30), the year he turned 100.
Louis Claverie-Castetnau, an agricultural engineer by training, is the former director of the Darboussier sugar factory in Pointe-à-Pitre.
He is also one of those without whom the Route du Rhum, a solo transatlantic sailing race, would not exist.
Indeed, in 1975, the general secretary of the sugar and rum producers’ union of the Antilles, Bernard Hass, was looking for a promotional idea to promote the rum industry. He then approached the brother of the sailor Olivier de Kersauson, Florent, who imagined this crossing between France and the producing islands. The sailor’s sponsor joined and took charge of approaching the Antilles rum producers.
Those from Martinique will not follow up, unlike Louis Claverie-Castetnau. It was the latter who, in 1976, excited by the project, convinced the managers of all the sugar refineries in Guadeloupe (except one) to be involved.
The first transatlantic race linking Saint-Malo to Pointe-à-Pitre was organized in 1978; it is held every four years. For the 12th edition, which started on November 6, 2022, 138 sailors were in the running.
Among the actions of Louis Claverie-Castetnau, for the benefit of the reputation of Guadeloupean rum, we can also speak of the “Golden Pan“, a prize rewarding the best recipe concocted using this beverage.
Louis Claverie-Castetnau, who was born at Christmas in 1924, will therefore be buried in the town where he was born.
His legacy left to Guadeloupe continues its journey, in the form of a crossing of the Atlantic Ocean, by daring skippers, to the glory of a flagship product of the archipelago.
