Loïck Peyron is a French navigator born in December 1959 in Nantes. He learns sailing from his father, alongside his two brothers, Bruno and Stéphane. Sailing is a family passion among the Peyrons. At the age of 12, he attended the launch of Vendredi-13, at the helm of which he will participate in the English Transat and is already dreaming of being an experienced sailor. From then on, he challenges himself to achieve impressive speed performances and already knows that he will be a runner of the seas. At 19, he made his first solo crossing of the Atlantic.
Numerous prize lists
In the 1990s, he took the helm of the trimaran Fujicolor and won numerous races. He won the ORMA Trophy four times: 1996, 1997, 1999 and 2002. Thereafter, he never stopped sailing, testing different boats, multihulls, but also monohulls, and forged a good reputation in the world of ocean racing. He also became the skipper of Banque Populaire V which at the time was the largest trimaran in the world.
He has won the English Transat three times, sailed around the world four times and crossed the Atlantic 48 times, 17 of them solo.
In 1999 and 2005, he won the Transat Jacques Vabre. In 1992, 1996 and 2008, he won the English Transat. In 1990, he won the 2 th place du Vendée Globe Challenge, wins 5 multihull world champion titles and 16 Orma Grand Prix victories. In 2001, he was second in The Race, in 2010, he was co-director of Alinghi in the America's Cup, in 2011, he won the Barcelona World Race. In 2012, he won the Jules Verne Trophy record in 45 days, 13 hours, 42 minutes and 53 seconds. Finally, in 2013, he will be co-Headman of Artemis on the America's Cup.
A connoisseur of the Route du Rhum
Loïck Peyron is not on his first attempt of the Route du Rhum. He has already participated in six editions of the legendary Saint-Malo start race: 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998 and 2002. On all these participations, he is obliged to withdraw three times the race because of mechanical problem does not exceed the fifth position on these other participations.
This year, he was supposed to take the helm of Mike Birch's mythical yellow trimaran but he replaced Armel le Cléac'h, who injured his hand this summer and had to withdraw. He will therefore be the skipper of Maxi Solo Banque Populaire VII, formerly Groupama 3, aboard which Franck Cammas won the 2010 edition.
