Olivier de Kersauson
Encyclopedia
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
sailor and sailing champion.
Kersauson was the seventh child in a family of eight. While he was the only Kersauson not to have been born in Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
, he was born on 20 July 1944 and brought up near Morlaix
Morlaix
Morlaix is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.-Leisure and tourism:...
in a “provincial Catholic aristocracy with compulsory mass” as he calls it. Very early on, Olivier de Kersauson was to break away from his family. Without being inattentive, he was a pupil who did not settle in well to school life with the priests at boarding school. He passed through eleven schools altogether. After his final school exams and getting up to a lot of things, always on the coast, he began studying economics.
At the age of twenty-two, he met Eric Tabarly
Éric Tabarly
Éric Tabarly was a notable French yachtsman.A former officer in the French navy who is often considered the father of French yachting....
in Saint Malo. Shortly after, Eric invited him to do his military service on board. This opportunity stretched into eight years during which he was Tabarly’s mate.
Together, they put on their boots and waterproofs, swallowing up the miles aboard the Pen Duick
Pen Duick
The Pen Duick yachts are ocean racing yachts from the 1960s and 1970s. They were built for French yachtsman Éric Tabarly, and he had a hand in each design....
s. Very quickly, Olivier de Kersauson developed a passion for multihull
Multihull
A multihull is a ship, vessel, craft or boat with more than one hull.-Description:Multihulls include: Proas, which have two differently shaped or sized hulls with lateral symmetry; catamarans, which have two hulls with longitudinal symmetry; and trimarans, which have a main hull in the center and...
s in which he became a pioneer. He was, in particular, the first to build a multihull of composite material, Ribourel, then a trimaran
Trimaran
A trimaran is a multihulled boat consisting of a main hull and two smaller outrigger hulls , attached to the main hull with lateral struts...
with long floaters, Poulain
Poulain
Poulain is the French word for foal and may refer - as a surname - to:*Amélie Poulain*Chocolat Poulain...
, at the helm of which he set in 1989-1990 the single-handed round the world speed record.
From 1992 onwards, he spent his time working towards the Jules Verne Trophy
Jules Verne Trophy
The Jules Verne Trophy is a prize for the fastest circumnavigation of the world by any type of yacht with no restrictions on the size of the crew provided the vessel has registered with the organization and paid an entry fee. A vessel holding the Jules Verne trophy will not necessarily hold the...
, the round the world crew record
Around the world sailing record
The first around the world sailing record was, logically, set by the first person who circumnavigated the world: Juan Sebastián Elcano and the remaining members of Ferdinand Magellan's crew who completed their journey in 1522. The first solo record was set by Joshua Slocum in the Spray .Most races...
. Wearing the livery
Livery
A livery is a uniform, insignia or symbol adorning, in a non-military context, a person, an object or a vehicle that denotes a relationship between the wearer of the livery and an individual or corporate body. Often, elements of the heraldry relating to the individual or corporate body feature in...
of Lyonnaise des Eaux - Dumez, in 1994, he raced around the world against Peter Blake
Peter Blake (yachtsman)
Sir Peter James Blake, KBE was a New Zealand yachtsman who won the Whitbread Round the World Race, the Jules Verne Trophy – setting the fastest time around the world of 74 days 22 hours 17 minutes 22 seconds on catamaran Enza, and led his country to successive victories in the America’s Cup...
. At the helm of his catamaran
Catamaran
A catamaran is a type of multihulled boat or ship consisting of two hulls, or vakas, joined by some structure, the most basic being a frame, formed of akas...
Enza, the New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
er and his six-member crew managed to go around the world in 74 days and 22 hours, while the five Frenchmen took 77 days and five hours. Remaining determined, he made some improvements to his boat and wearing the livery of Sport Elec, took off again around the world. On 8 March 1997, Olivier de Kersauson and his six-man crew left Brest
Brest, France
Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...
. They were to return triumphant 71 days, 14 hours, 22 minutes and 8 seconds later, improving by more than a week on Peyron’s first time.
In 2001, he named his giant trimaran Geronimo
Geronimo (yacht)
Geronimo is a french trimaran designed to break great offshore records. It was skipped by the French yachtsman Olivier de Kersauson.It was launched on saturday the 29th september 2001 in Brest, France by Marie Tabarly.- Dimensions :* Launched : 2001...
, "because Geronimo never gave up." It was at the helm of this boat that Olivier de Kersauson took the Jules Verne Trophy
Jules Verne Trophy
The Jules Verne Trophy is a prize for the fastest circumnavigation of the world by any type of yacht with no restrictions on the size of the crew provided the vessel has registered with the organization and paid an entry fee. A vessel holding the Jules Verne trophy will not necessarily hold the...
for the second time in 2004 (63 days, 13 hours, 59 minutes).
In January 2003, Kersauson claimed that his boat was attacked by a giant squid
Squid
Squid are cephalopods of the order Teuthida, which comprises around 300 species. Like all other cephalopods, squid have a distinct head, bilateral symmetry, a mantle, and arms. Squid, like cuttlefish, have eight arms arranged in pairs and two, usually longer, tentacles...
.