Sailing: Loïck Peyron completes the fairytale aboard Happy

Loïck Peyron, is a French yachtsman. Peyron completes the fairytale aboard Happy. On a perfect sunny Sunday afternoon off Pointe-à-Pitre, the French sailing hero Loïck Peyron completed his personal tribute to transatlantic racing pioneers Mike Birch and Eric Tabarly when he brought his small yellow trimaran, Happy, through the finish line of the Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe. His time for the 3,542-nautical mile course was 21 days, three hours and 57 minutes which was well inside Birch’s 23-day effort in 1978, although Peyron was quick to point out that his time is not a record.

Forty years after Canadian Birch ignited the legend of the Route du Rhum when he won the inaugural race by just 98 seconds on the 12-metre yellow trimaran, Olympus, Peyron sailed his 37-year-old Olympus sistership, Happy, through the finish line to huge applause. Loïck Peyron has achieved it all in sailing – race wins, world records, remarkable feats of seamanship.

In November 2014, he won the Route du Rhum single-handed transat on Banque Populaire VII maxi trimaran. He set the new record, travelling from Brittany to Guadeloupe in 7 days 15 hours 8 minutes and 32 seconds (22.93 kts average speed) and beating Lionel Lemonchois 2006 record by 2h 10mn 34s.

The Route du Rhum is a transatlantic single-handed yacht race, which takes place every 4 years in November. The course is between Saint Malo, Brittany, France and Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe. The first competition, won by Canadian Michael Birch in his boat Olympus Photo by a margin of 98 seconds over second-placed Michel Malinovsky in Kriter V was held in 1978, and was marked in tragedy by the disappearance of Alain Colas during the crossing.

 

Report ©OC SPORT-PEN DUICK/SEA EVENTS – November 25, 2018