The IMOCA sailors – key contributors to global oceanographic science
The Vendée Globe is not only an exceptional human and sporting adventure. Behind each race also lies a major scientific contribution, often unknown to the general public.
•••Age | 32 (1/3/92) |
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Top performance | 6th of Vendée Arctique in 2022 |
Joined Imoca on | 2022 |
Team | Freelance.com |
Base | Concarneau (FRANCE) |
Barely 30 years old, Guirec has already acquired a solid experience of the sea and a remarkable notoriety in the maritime and adventure sports world. At the age of 21, the young Breton undertook a 5-year round-the-world sailing trip through the 2 poles, during which he spent 130 days locked up in the Greenland ice without assistance, without communication, in complete autarky.
He then spent several years sailing the different seas of the globe and became the youngest sailor in the world to sail the Northwest Passage, before reaching Cape Horn and the South Pole. In 2021, he set himself a new challenge: a double solo Atlantic crossing by rowing boat, from East to West, then from West to East, still without assistance. In total, Guirec will have spent more than 670 days alone (or almost) at sea during his oceanic journeys.
In 2022, Guirec is starting a new ambitious adventure: to participate in the most prestigious and well-publicised ocean races in the world. This is what he will do with his boat (the IMOCA with which Benjamin Dutreux finished 9th in the last Vendée Globe), which will bear the name and colours of Freelance.com, during competitions such as the Route du Rhum - Destination Guadeloupe and then the Transat Jacques Vabre in 2023, The Transat CIC in 2024 with the Everest of the seas in his sights: the next edition of the Vendée Globe in 2024/25.
To achieve this, Guirec Soudée has set about building an experienced team, with Sébastien Audigane in particular as boat-captain, who is currently preparing Freelance.com in Port-Bourgenay with Eole Performance, Benjamin Dutreux's company. After the Guyader Bermuda 1000 Race in May, the team moved to Kairos Sailing Team, the structure of the experienced Roland Jourdain in Concarneau in Finistère.
To achieve this, Guirec Soudée has put together an experienced team, with Sébastien Audigane as boat-captain, who will accompany him throughout the preparation of his 60-foot boat and will race the 2023 season with Corentin Douguet.
2020 - 2021: 2x Atlantic crossing by rowing boat
Name | FREELANCE.COM |
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Sail number | FRA 22 |
Architect | Bruce Farr Yacht Design |
Construction | 2007, Offshore Challenges Sailing Team, Cowes, Royaume-Uni |
Former names | ESTRELLA DAMM, BT, Veolia Environnement, Hugo BOSS, Neutrogena, Adopteunskipper.net, Safran, Spirit of Yukoh IV, Water Family, OMIA - Water Family |
Length | 18,28 m |
Beam | 5,85 m |
Draught | 4,50 m |
Weight | 8,4 tonnes |
Mast height | 29 m |
Mast type | Classic mast |
Foils | No |
Sail area max. | |
Upwind | 296 m2 |
Downwind | 700 m2 |
The Vendée Globe is not only an exceptional human and sporting adventure. Behind each race also lies a major scientific contribution, often unknown to the general public.
•••The 2020 edition of the Vendée Globe has generated unprecedented interest. As a result, the organisers decided to increase the number of places at the start to 40 for the 2024 edition. 44 skippers applied for this 10th e…
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