News Around the World
Yoann Richomme wins the 2018 Route du Rhum in the Class40 on what was pretty much his class debut. Richomme has followed a more ‘informal’ career path than many of his contemporaries, something that must confuse more than a few of them. The one thread running through that career is Charles Caudrelier, who spotted the young French sailor when he left the Southampton Yacht Design course and who has been in the background ever since. Richomme dropped into the Class40 between Figaro campaigns only after he ‘bumped into’ an owner who was looking for help building a new boat; he then dropped back into the Figaro fleet again last year to win (again) against an intimidatingly competitive Solitaire fleet on the new Figaro 3 which he had already played a role in creating
FRANCE In the footsteps of giants Early in February the Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team confirmed leading French sailor Yoann Richomme as skipper of their new VO65 Class campaign for the 2021-22 edition of The Ocean Race. Richomme joins the campaign to lead the charge into the The Ocean Race having enjoyed an illustrious career that has seen him crowned champion of La Solitaire du Figaro twice, most recently in 2019, a victory that built on his 2018 win in the Route du Rhum. Based out of Lorient, today the spiritual home of French ocean
racing, 36-year-old Richomme follows in the footsteps of French winning Ocean Race skippers Franck Cammas and Charles Caudrelier. Both Caudrelier and Bruno Dubois, who joined forces to spearhead Dongfeng’s 2017-18 race win, are advisors to Paulo Mirpuri and the Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team, and picked out Richomme as the perfect sailor to lead the campaign into the next race. Dubois explained: ‘I knew right away that Yoann was top of my list for the next race. ‘His recent race wins speak for themselves. From his base in
Lorient, now he is racing or training on the water for around 200 days each year. He has the natural feel for how to make a boat fast and also the technical skill to make best use of the data and manage his team. He is without a doubt the most exciting sailor on the market right now.’ Seahorse had a long talk with Yoann…
Seahorse: A few words about your commitment to sailing? Yoann Richomme: We always had a boat in the family. My grand- father had one, and we all went cruising each summer in Brittany. When we moved to the USA for a few years my father took his boat with him – later in 1999 we sailed the boat together back to Europe. That was my first ocean sailing experience but I did not start
racing until later at university. I studied naval architecture in Southampton where we set up a student team for the Tour de France à la Voile that we continued for four years (2003-2006) in the Mumm
18 SEAHORSE
30s with good results in our category. It’s still one of my most formative experiences. SH: Soon you begin to be a professional sailor... YR:Yes, I started out doing a lot of boat preparation. I did coaching, I sold sails, and so on… But my passion is racing. The question is how to make a living from your passion. SH: Couldn’t you have become a naval architect when you left Southampton like some of your famous compatriots? YR: I’m not sure because I wasn’t very assiduous (laughs)… I wasn’t passionate about naval architecture. I was interested, I thought it was great, but I didn’t go into the naval architecture business. SH: A second victory at the Solitaire du Figaro last year… YR: My first solo participation was in 2010. I did all the Solitaires except for 2017 and 2018. Last year I won it on the new Bénéteau one-design – playing a big part as I wrote the design brief for the Figaro Class. It was in April last year that Charles [Caudrelier] was hired by the Gitana team and so offered me his Figaro 3 for the race. Despite late preparation victory was still possible because for everyone in last year’s race the boat was new. SH: And the Figaro 3? YR: Bénéteau wanted a boat that stood out from the previous one. Which it does! The foiler option came naturally. In the end I like this boat. She suffered from lack of refinement to begin with and she would have gained from being lighter, but overall she is a good production boat. SH: The year before you took your first oceanic victory in the Route du Rhum and again in a boat and class you came into very late… Your move to the Class40 was a one-off. Why didn’t you continue? YR: The project was made possible thanks to a Class40 owner who wanted a new boat for the following season – and I would charter this boat for the Rhum. We had the choice between two boats, either a Mach40 ‘keys in hand’, or construction of the new Lift 40 at Gepeto shipyard – which is what we chose. He was chartering the boat to me. But later he found a good
ALEXIS COURCOUX
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
