Although he set foot on an IMOCA boat for the first time on April 4, 2022, Guirec Soudée already has many miles on his tally. 670 days at sea alone, nearly 60,000 miles spent sailing or rowing around the world, this is the experience that one of the newcomers to the 2024 Vendée Globe can boast.
originally, a 5 year world tour
at the age of 22, Guirec Soudée leaves his native Brittany aboard Yvinec euros, the boat that bears the name of his village, an 11.80 m ballasted dinghy. During a stopover in the Canary Islands, he met Monique, the redheaded hen who will share his 5 years of adventure.
"Monique kept me company and allowed me to have fresh eggs, we know that food is problematic at sea", says the sailor.
He crossed the Atlantic without any means of communication before reaching Greenland where he wintered for 130 days, frozen in the ice.
"Without means of communication, we are cut off from all contact with the earth. I love this osmosis, this harmony with nature. We are forced to fend for ourselves."
This first part of the trip leads to many damages that we have to manage with a temperature of 60°C, and without the possibility to fill our bellies while fishing.
He then crossed the Northwest Passage at the age of 24 euros and was the youngest navigator to have achieved this feat, even though it was not a goal in itself. He managed as best he could to reach the Pacific, without precise cartography, by sailing through the ice. On the program, 33 days of crossing, punctuated by heeling, slowing down, a lot of fatigue and even hallucination!
Finally, Guirec reached Alaska, Canada and San Francisco. He wanted to cross the Pacific via Polynesia, but Monique was persona non grata in the French islands. The solution of Panama remained, but this choice proved too "easy" for the young navigator. So he decided to head south, towards Cape Horn.
"After the passage of the Equator, we arrive in the Roaring 40s, the 50s e Howling and 60 e Breakers. There are big depressions. My boat was laid up. When I arrived at Cape Horn, I wanted to stop in Ushuaia, but technical problems forced me to divert to Antarctica. Everything was frozen. There was ice everywhere. You tell yourself you're never going to make it, but you end up going over the edge little by little."
On the way back up the Atlantic, while sailing off Georgia, a big wave knocked his boat down again, which finally righted itself. Damage forced him to divert to South Africa again.
"After 130 days at sea alone, we are happy to be back in civilization. When you have lived such moments, to find yourself facing real life, it is not always obvious nevertheless. I like the wide open spaces, being alone."
Nevertheless, he finally found his native Brittany after a trip up the Atlantic and completed his journey after 45,000 miles and 5 years of travel.
"I left at 21 and came back at 26."
This story has given life to several books : a children's book, a photo book and a euro story to share this adventure "quite personal" .
"Living with my family in Yvinec, my little Breton island, has forged my character. It made me. At 7 years old, I had my first boat. I was very independent, my parents gave me a lot of freedom. I went to sea in the morning and came back in the evening. I was mature very quickly. When you live like that, it's difficult to find yourself sitting in a chair in front of a desk. I had to make my own way."
A new challenge, rowing this time!
In February 2021, Guirec Soudée will take on a new challenge: to row east-west across the Atlantic from the Canaries.
"After my world tour, I did a lot of interventions to tell my journey. But I wanted to go back to the adventure. The Covid put a stop to my projects. I had the opportunity to buy a rowing boat (editor's note: one-design ocean rowing boat, 8 m long and 1.6 m wide, designed by Jean Claude Viant and built in plywood) and two months later I set off on a transatlantic rowing race between the Canaries and the Caribbean following the trade winds. It wasn't the most complicated thing."
During his journey, he reads Gérard d'Aboville's book, L'Atlantique à bout de bras, which makes him want to continue his journey.
"I had time to continue, I had understood how my boat worked. I had to do it now, when you put things off, it's hard to come back to it afterwards."
Three months later, he left Cape Cod, Massachusetts (US) to reach Brittany. The journey was complicated and the sailor did not know what to expect.
"There were waves and I had the wind in front of me, but enough supplies so I was fine."
But after having recovered the Gulf Stream euros warm current along the United States euros he faces his first tropical storm. His oarsman flips over and water begins to seep through the porthole that he unfortunately left open to get some air.
"The water was coming into the boat and I had no air. I was still in the cabin. I had to get out of my boat. Straddling the overturned hull, I saw myself "leaving". Righting the boat filled with water seemed impossible. But thanks to a floating anchor and after 6 hours of hard work, it was righted. I emptied it with a bucket and was able to get back into a safe position. But I had no means of communication. I couldn't reassure my family or get the weather. I said to myself: I am alive, I am going on, but I cannot give any more news. I imagined my funeral in Brittany and what would happen when I landed a few months later."
However, once again, the sailor lives well this cut with the world. He is almost happy to cut himself off from the mainland, the constraints of the sea
While sailing "the old fashioned way", he managed to save a portable VHF with which he contacted the freighters he met on his way.
"I would explain the situation to them and they would offer to pick me up. It wasn't easy, but I got there."
However, 10 days before his arrival, an east wind made him go back for 24 days. Provisions were dwindling, he was forced to pump water constantly and he had no gas to prepare food.
"It was hard, but I ended up returning to Brittany after a 107-day crossing. The adventure ended well. I was very lucky and above all I have a lucky star."
