Farewell, friend
It has been a strange month with the loss of master mariner and oceanic racing legend Mike Birch and then America’s Cup Challenger Peter de Savary – two yachtsmen who could not have been more different yet both put a big stamp on the sport. Birch, ironically, passed away just before the start of the 2022 Route du Rhum, a race he helped put on the map with an astonishing victory in the first edition in 1978. The most modest and softly spoken member of a groundbreaking generation of multihull pioneers, Birch kept his friends close… none more so than peerless photographer and multihull enthusiast Christian Février who also played a big part in the historic story that led directly to today’s 900-mile per day Ultim oceanic greyhounds
Michael Birch entered the legend of sailing in 1976 with his first participation in the British Ostar – on a Val, a tiny 9.75m-long trimaran designed by Dick Newick. An innkeeper in the Turks and Caicos in
the Bahamas offered him $500 to name his boat after his restaurant… The Third Turtle. With this sum, added to the proceeds of the sale of his monohull Josephine, named after his wife, Michael was able to finance the construction of his little trimaran on the island of Martha’s Vineyard in Newick’s own boatyard, building his new craft alongside Rory Nugent and Walter Greene who were building a sister tri- maran to the same design. In Plymouth that year there were 125
boats at the Ostar start. Mike Birch arrived third in Newport, 24 hours after Eric Tabarly (Maxi monohull) and Alain Colas (236ft three-masted schooner). The 58-hour penalty imposed by the
race committee on Colas’s Club Méditer- ranée, for receiving outside assistance during a stopover in Newfoundland, bene- fitedMike, who was finally ranked second. He also won the Jester Trophy, reserved for the smallest class. Greene finished eighth. In France the mainstream press showed little interest in Mike’s astonishing performance. It was Eric Tabarly who was the undisputed winner of the race. Mike was already 45 years old. On his
return from the USA he rejoined Joséphine and their two young children, Robert and Sarah, spending some time living in Dart- mouth in Devon. Mike is a yacht delivery skipper. After working for Peter Hayward, who ruled the
42 SEAHORSE
yacht delivery industry for many years, he became a yacht engineer. Before all of this he was a car mechanic. Further back, living in his native British
Columbia, the soon to be master mariner was a herdsman. Hence his ease on horse- back. Some journalists were unwise enough to describe him as a rodeo enthusiast. This would send him into a rage. ‘I’ve never been to a rodeo in my life,’ he would later confide to me. ‘For me, a horse is a working tool. And you have to know how to respect it.’ He had met Joséphine during a delivery.
She excelled in cooking and often found herself on watch with him. One night, alone on deck, Mike fell overboard. Mirac- ulously, he managed to hang onto a sheet. He then tapped against the hull to alert his partner, who was cooking inside. But to no avail. Mike felt his strength failing. In extremis, Jo finally understood the knock- ings on the hull. She rushed outside and hoisted him onto the deck. From that night on Mike will always wear a harness at sea. It was Walter Greene and his wife
Joan’s participation in the Tour of the British Isles in July 1978 and their fine result that changed Mike Birch’s fate. They finished fourth overall out of 71 starters. And first in their class.
The two of them had built their famous
little 10.67m trimaran, named A Capella, and intended to leave it in England. Before returning to their yard in Yarmouth, Maine, they phoned Mike. ‘I hear that a new solo race is being prepared in France. To celebrate West Indian rum, from what I understand. Would you like to do it on our A Capella? I’ll lend you the boat. And if you win something we’ll share!’ In France, indeed, Florent de Kersauson,
sister of Trophée Jules Verne-winner Olivier, and Bernard Haas, Paris-based pro- moter of the Caribbean rum industry, have been working together on a new race project between France and the West Indies since 1975. They called it the Route du Rhum. They had trouble finding an organiser. Michel Etevenon, an advertising execu-
tive who has already helped a few sailors, is turning a deaf ear. In the office I rented from him at the time he confided in me one evening: ‘I want to help the sailors. Organ- ising a race is another matter altogether.’ Finally, he agreed in 1978 to launch the
race! Etevenon had already secretly regis- tered the Route du Rhum trademark shortly before the start in November of that year. But he was very careful not to tell his co-creators…
ALL PHOTOS BY CHRISTIAN FEVRIER
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126
