Top: the most famous ocean-racing photo of all time… Mike Birch on his little 33ft tri reaches past race leader Michel Malinovski’s Maxi Kriter V approaching the finish line to win the first Route du Rhum by 98 seconds. Birch and multihull designer and builder Walter Greene (above) rolled through many projects together and Birch frequently worked at Greene’s yard in between engagements on the water. Peerless judgement… after a few days’ sailing with Birch, in 1978 Voiles et Voiliers art director Christian Février made the decision to put the little-known Canadian on the cover of the magazine’s Route du Rhum special. Christian knows his onions…


them into Letraset, letter by letter. At the time printing was not yet computerised! Then I went to the Gare du Nord, to mail the final document directly to our Belgian printer. A Dieu vat! Early November… Under the towering


walls of Saint-Malo I meet Mike again. Journalists are not crowding around Olym- pus. Daniel Charles, the great yachting his- torian, Stéphane Mannier from TF1 and I are the only fervent supporters of Mike. He is unhappy about lengthening his


hull to the 11m minimum set by UNCL. ‘This damn prosthesis at the back is costing


44 SEAHORSE


me a knot.’ Over the 559 hours of his Route du Rhum the skipper of Olympus could have gained at least two days! Monday 28 November. Arrival day of


the winner. The atmosphere is electric. After 23 days of racing and an exhausting downwind duel approaching Guadeloupe Michel Malinovski’s Kriter V and Mike’s Olympus are side by side at the exit of the Saintes channel. Annoyed by the speedboats surround-


ing the two boats and the choppy waves, Mike tacked out to sea to be alone. With his numerous deliveries he knows


that the trade winds are easing towards the finish. For the monohull the wind will be on the beam. So it will be slower. But in this wind Mike is approaching 18kt. Out of nowhere the dragonfly overtakes


the big Prussian blue monohull and crosses the line ahead by 98 seconds! A new era began. After the Canadian’s


victory all the major races were to be won by multihulls. At the same time an Air France plane from Paris lands in Pointe à Pitre. In its rush it also brings… the issues of Voileswith Olympus on the cover! Bingo! In April 1979 Mike invited me to New


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