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NEWS
French 54-year-old wins Route du Rhum
Loick Peyron almost capsizes, admits being scared but wins solo race in record timeThirty-two years after the first of his seven attempts, French ocean racing star Loick Peyron (54) has won the Route du Rhum, sailing solo 3542 nautical miles to destination Guadeloupe from Saint-Malo, France, in his 31.5m (103ft) Ultime trimaran Maxi Solo Banque Populaire VII in a record 7d 15h 8m 32s.
His elapsed time is a new outright record for the course passage, which was first raced in 1982, breaking the 2006 reference time set by Lionel Lemonchois (7 days 17 hours and 9 minutes) by 2hrs 10mins 34secs.
Peyron sailed the 3524nm theoretical course at an average of 19.34 knots. In reality he sailed 4199nm at an average of 22.93 knots.
Skipper of the 14 man 2011-2012 Banque Populaire crew, which holds the outright Jules Verne Trophy sailing non-stop around the world record, Peyron has a long-standing special affection for La Route du Rhum.
After all, it is the Transatlantic race which launched his solo ocean racing career as a 22 year old. Until today he had finished fifth twice and was forced to abandon three times in the ORMA 60 trimarans in 1990, 1994 and 2002.
At the age of 54, his Route du Rhum triumph is another new summit for the sailor from La Baule, Brittany, who turns his hand with equal skill to all disciplines of sailing from foiling Moth dinghies to the giant multihulls, as well as the America's Cup.
Ironically, he was only enlisted two months ago to replace skipper Armel Le Cléach'h who injured his hand.
"I never imagined that I would win a Route du Rhum on a boat like this," Peyron admitted. "I was able to sail the boat well but was scared. This is what the multihull game is all about. You have to constantly manage the boat. One night I fell asleep at the helm and nearly capsized the boat. This is a great victory; possibly one of the nicest and breaking the record is the cherry on top of the cake."
Edited text above courtesy of ISAF, www.sailing.org.
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Written byBoatsales Staff
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