Olivier de Kersauson

Olivier de Kersauson , also Viscount Olivier de Kersauson de Pennendreff (born July 20, 1944 in Bonnétable in the Sarthe department ) is a French sailor and writer.

Olivier de Kersauson in Brest , July 2008.

Life

Olivier de Kersauson is the 7th child of a noble family with 8 children, his ancestors are among the most important families in ancient French naval history since Louis IX. (France) . His brother Florent de Kersauson founded the Route du Rhum together with Bernard Hass . Olivier de Kersauson started sailing early on the coast of Morlaix , then changed the area to La Trinité , where he became helmsman on the Cambronne of Jean-Marie Le Pen . In 1967 he completed his military service in the Navy, where he was used on the schooner Pen Duick III . This boat was run by Éric Tabarly , who became his model. Tabarly put him as the preferred helmsman on several Pen Duicks because of his "Herculean strength, commitment and humor". He remained closely associated with Tabarly until 1974, after which he successfully began an independent career.

At the beginning of 1980 he began his first attempts at sailing with multihulls, in 1986 he had his first 23-meter trimaran Poulain built, followed in 1992 by Charal , a trimaran of 27 meters, with which he won the 1994 Jules Verne Trophy under the boat name Lyonnaise des Eaux-Dumez participated. In 1997 he wrested the record with Sport Elec Peter Blake, which has since been renamed, and then held it for five years. With Géronimo , a 34-meter trimaran that was launched in 2001, he won the Jules Verne Trophy again after three attempts in 2004 .

His sharp and cynical language as well as his culture and his talent for improvisation prompted Philippe Bouvard to include him in the well-known in France radio show Les Grosses Têtes ( RTL France) in the 1980s, in which he took on the role of a bad-tempered, sensitive and misogynistic admiral that the audience immediately voted their favorite. In 1995 he took part with Patrick Sébastien in the Osons ( TF1 ) program, which is known for scandals . In 2008 his book Ocean's Songs Chronicle of His Life and Essay of Maritime Landscape was published.

Victories

• 1989 record du tour du monde en solitaire in 125 days, 19 hours and 32 minutes on the 23-meter trimaran Poulain .
• 1997 on Sport-èlec, a 27.4 meter Jules Verne Trophy trimaran in 71 days, 14 hours and 22 minutes.
• 2004 on the boat Géronimo Jules Verne Trophy in 63 days, 13 hours and 59 minutes.
• July 2005 Australia , The Challenge , 17 days 12 hours 57 minutes.
• Transpac from Los Angeles to Honolulu in 4 days 19 hours 31 minutes.
• In 2006 he beats the sailing record on the San Francisco - Yokohama route in 14 days, 22 hours 40 minutes and a few weeks later on the same route (4482 nautical miles ) in 13 days, 22 hours and 38 minutes.

Fonts

• Atlas des îles abandonnées , Flammarion, 2010
• Bretagne, regards partagés , La Martinière, 2010
• Ocean's Songs , Le Cherche-Midi, 2008
• La Bretagne vue de la mer , together with Michel Bellion (illustrations), Le Cherche Midi, 2003
• Retour au port , éd. Michel Lafon, 2002
• Les ports du monde , éd. Flammarion, 1999
• Les côtes bretonnes vues du ciel avec Paire, éd. Glénat, 1998
• Tous les océans du monde: 71j, 14h, 22 ', 8 " , Le Cherche-Midi, 1997
• Vieil Océan , Flammarion, 1997
• Macho mais accro , with Georges Wolinski (illustrations), Le Grand livre du mois, 1996
• T'as pas honte? , with Georges Wolinski (illustrations), Le Cherche-midi, 1995
• Dresseurs de métal , with Dominique Leroux, Henri Brisson and Catherine Cornic, Dialogues éd., 1995
• Homme libre ... toujours tu chériras la mer! , with Jean Noli, éd. Fixot, 1994
• Mémoires salées , Le Grand livre du mois, 1985
• Fortune de Mer with Jean Noli , Presses de la Cité, 1979

Honors

• Prix ​​André de Saint-Sauveur de l ' Académie des sports en 1989.
• 1994 Officer of the Legion of Honor
• Order of Merit of the Sea

Web links

• Christening of Olivier de Kersauson's new catamaran in 1986
• Olivier de Kersauson website
• Radioscopie de Olivier de Kersauson Ina Archives Télé
• [1] Interview with Kersauzon 1976