When, even before the arrival of the 2016 edition of the Vendée Globe, Louis Burton had put a purchase option on the Banque Populaire d 'Armel Le Cléac'h boat, which was ultimately the winner, there was a bit of talk on the pontoons.
Of course, the skipper of “Bureau Vallée”, 7th in the Vendée, had already made a small reputation in the industry, but nobody really saw him playing the leading roles.
Coming 3rd this year, the 35-year-old sailor has won everyone's respect.
His comeback in the South Atlantic at Christmas (he was 2000 km behind the leader), his strategic shots as he approached the Indian Ocean and more recently after crossing the equator, his determination in the final are the brands of the biggest.
Even the legendary Jean Le Cam admits to being amazed.
. @ LouisBurtonOff reunites with his family, a very emotional moment!
🥲 pic.twitter.com/tRHz6bO3pr
- Vendée Globe (@VendeeGlobe) January 28, 2021
His round-the-world trip, marked by numerous technical glitches (in particular a fire on board), was not easy.
In mid-December, he was on the verge of “setting the indicator for New Zealand”, as recalled by his partner, sailor Servane Escoffier.
“I firmly had the idea to give up, I thank those who convinced me to continue.
"
An autopilot problem caused cascading damage.
In the shelter of Macquarie Island, a small piece of land in the Pacific exclusively populated by penguins, Louis Burton was forced to climb the mast several times.
Each intervention, in the cold of the southern seas, lasts nearly three hours.
“It was no longer a race, but a moment of adventure.
"
The sailor comes out physically exhausted.
“For three days, I was completely stunned, I could not get back into it, I was collapsing from fatigue, he recalls.
And then I set off on the hunt to at least get to Les Sables-d'Olonne in the peloton.
At Cape Horn, Yannick Bestaven got stuck in the west, the game opened.
"
Louis Burton in 2010 in its offices in Gentilly, in Val-de-Marne.
LP / Guy Gios
The original Parisian, now based between Cancale and Saint-Malo (Ille-et-Vilaine) with Servane and their two children, Lino, 9, and Edith, 7, is now a recognized sailor.
Its history with ocean racing began in 2010 with the Route du Rhum.
We had met him for the first time in the offices of the event organization company, which he had opened in Gentilly, in Val-de-Marne.
File under his arm, crazy projects in his head, Louis was then looking for sponsors.
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He then told us about the trips with friends - "friends a little struck that I take on all my adventures" - every weekend in Ostend, Belgium.
“We were retyping a boat that I had bought after the ferry from my parents.
It was only after having brought it back to Royan (Charente-Maritime) that I confessed everything to them.
My dad cried, my mom said it was rubbish, but took me to buy all the safety gear!
"
The taste of travel in the blood
It was Michel, his father, of Welsh origin, who passed on his passion for the sea to him. “Each summer, he rented a house for the whole family on Île aux Moines, remembers Louis' brother Nelson. .
We went on cruises regularly and at 5 years old, it was compulsory sailing school!
"
“My father loved adventure.
In 1968, he had toured the Arabian Peninsula in a 4L and then started sailing.
When we were young, when we were at the start of the Route du Rhum, I couldn't understand why he wasn't one of the skippers, ”Louis told us.
Louis Burton in 2010 before the start of the Route du rhum.
The Parisian / Philippe de Poulpiquet
Owner of a publishing house, Michel allows his son to find his biggest sponsor for the Route du Rhum 2010 - Bureau Vallée - three weeks before the start.
The adventure is launched.
Louis is very scared, especially when, in the middle of the night, his monohull hits a trawler.
Suddenly he sees himself dying, but comes out without too much damage and ends up arriving in Pointe-à-Pitre, after twenty days alone.
“In this race, Louis became a kind of MacGyver, a king of resourcefulness,” says Nelson.
He was not formatted in the usual sailing schools, but that does not especially mean that he is a wanker.
He certainly has an atypical career - he started with 3 francs, 6 sous, I accompanied him everywhere, we slept in the boat - but Louis is above all a die-hard man.
"
"Nice guys who were going to finish last"
Nelson and Louis will be doing the 2011 Transat Jacques-Vabre together. Louis should have done it with Servane Escoffier, who had become his partner, but she was expecting their first child.
The skipper had succeeded in convincing his sponsor, Bureau Vallée, to invest in an Imoca (the biggest boats in the Vendée Globe) that he had secretly spotted.
“At the start, we weren't interested in many people,” recalls Nelson, “we gave the image of nice guys but who were going to finish last.
But Louis is a real competitor.
Its Vendée Globe proves it.
“I have remained the same sailor as at the time of the Route du Rhum 2010, he underlines.
I simply learned to know these machines, to adjust them, to steer them, to anticipate the maneuvers more.
"
Louis Burton on October 22 on his boat “Bureau Vallée 2” just before the start.
LP / Jean-Baptiste Quentin
It was a tough race.
Louis lost his watermaker, which forced him to save on drinking water, then the music files he had downloaded before leaving.
“I had my phone left, so for a month I listened to Aznavour on repeat”.
Every Sunday, he had Lino and Edith on the phone, his two children who have never left him since his return.
“He is a father who is very close to his children,” underlines Servane.
They are full and waiting on arrival.
“Michel Burton, the father, is no longer there to watch his son finish the Vendée Globe like a hero.
“Since he left us, I kept his knife, I had it in my pocket during the whole race, I thought about him every day, I saw him in the stars, I imagined what he would have said to me on the phone so that I wouldn't get discouraged, so that I cling to others.
He must be super proud!
"Proud to know that Louis will return there in four years" to aim for victory ".
