France's sailing star Loïck Peyron lived up to the name of his boat in Pointe-à-Pitre on Sunday: the 59-year-old "Happy" skipper was beaming with his banana-yellow retro trimaran when he entered the port of destination on Route du Rhum. He had every reason to do so, because the demanding race over 3542 nautical miles was a great challenge for the skipper and boat, especially in the stormy initial phase.
Big train station when Loïck Peyron arrives
Peyron completed the route in 21 days, 3 hours and 57 minutes and is fourth in the classic division Rhum Multi. For the man who won the tenth edition of the Rhum four years ago while spontaneously replacing the injured Vendée Globe winner Armel Le Cléac'h on "Banque Populaire", it was clear this time that it was not a new record will go.
Quickly to the finish line: Loïck Peyron on "Happy"
Welcome to Guadeloupe, Monsieur Peyron!
Everyone wants to hear how Peyron experienced the challenge on "Happy"
Peyron had something else in mind - the discovery of slowness, the revival of traditional seamanship. With the sister ship of the historically first Rhum winner "Olympus" by Mike Birch, built in 1981 and refurbished himself, he wanted to show that with good seamanship you can also be competitive with old boats and that you can sail the Atlantic with sextant and sailing skills. The likeable Peyron did an excellent job of that. His role model Mike Birch won the premiere of the Route du Rhum in 1978 after 23 days at sea. Despite the setbacks at the beginning, the Frenchman convincingly undercut this time with old-school sailing art and a lot of fighting spirit.
The hardships of three weeks at sea did not leave Peyron unaffected. Even so, the darling of French sea sailing was on the best of things when he arrived
To enjoy the anniversary video again, which shows Peyron's record triumph of 2014