Skipper NameMarc Guillemot (064pts)

About the Skipper

Breton born and bred, raised in the salt air of Bénodet, he quickly got the taste for ocean racing. At the age of 15, Marc Guillemot was already delivering boats. At the age of 18, he took part in his first major races in particular in the company of Bertrand de Broc. As a teenager, he followed in the wake of the Poupon brothers, spent al his spare time sailing then became interested in designing racing boats. Quiet and reserved, Marc Guillemot is certainly today one of that elite group of top-class ocean racers.

Before taking the helm of the Safran monohull, Marc Guillemot enjoyed a career racing multihulls and was well know for reaching high speeds aboard 60-foot trimarans. In 1984, he shattered the Atlantic record alongside Serge Madec and Jean Le Cam. In 1985, Jet Services IV, an extremely powerful 25-metre long catamaran, capsized. Jean Castenet was lost and Marc was seriously injured. But nothing could stop him. After two years of physical therapy, he set off again on Jet Services V and smashed the Atlantic record by completing the crossing in seven days, 6 hours and 32 minutes. From 1996 onwards, Marc Guillemot would achieve some remarkable performances at the helm of his trimaran La Trinitaine.

After this amazing list of successes, his return to monohull racing in 2005 would certainly leave its mark. When he admitted that he had not raced monohulls since 1994, with Eric Tabarly on board, we might have thought that his results would not be that brilliant! But the speed shown by his Safran and his ability to sail her quickly and find the right route has enabled him to achieve another long list of successes over the past few years. Marc Guillemot finished in third place in the last Vendée Globe and won the 2009 Transat Jacques Vabre.

These results mean that today his achievements are universally acknowledged by his fellow racers and by the media.

He finished 3rd in the last Route du Rhum, and he will be one of the front-runners in the forthcoming Transat Jacques Vabre, Transat B to B and the 2012 Vendée Globe.