The smallest budget of the starters, the navigator Éric Péron arrived in Brest on Wednesday in fifth and last position in the Arkéa Ultim Challenge, at the end of an eventful journey completed with courage and talent.
The skipper of Adagio passed the mark at 2:44 p.m. under the sun, bringing an emotional conclusion to the first solo round-the-world race on trimarans, won on February 27 by sailor Charles Caudrelier.
“It’s a great relief, I kept myself busy all morning so as not to think about it too much, I was rather calm and then everything came back suddenly,” he said in tears in front of the on-board webcam on his boat, a few seconds after crossing the line.
His sailboat, the old Geronimo d'Olivier de Kersauson, was the most tested in the fleet, but also the slowest, by far.
From ocean to ocean, he suffered from breakages, the weather and the hellish pace imposed by his competitors, without giving up.
“We have all the assets to definitively establish this event”
During his 66 days at sea, punctuated by a stopover in South Africa to repair a damaged rudder, Éric Péron regularly shared his struggles in videos on YouTube where he recounted the daily life of a solo sailor.
“Little by little, day after day, the adventure happened like this,” he said on Wednesday once ashore.
I tried to tell as much as possible with the videos, I made it my mission to share.
»
A versatile sailor, Péron, 42, had already distinguished himself solo on the Figaro circuit, then as a crew member in the Volvo Ocean Race and finally in a trimaran in the Ocean Fifty class (50-foot multihull).
Long looking for a partner to finance his registration for the Ultim Challenge, he signed with Adagio last September before launching his sailboat the following month.
Also read: Arkéa Ultim Challenge: Charles Caudrelier or the triumph of wisdom
Two months later and after only ten sea trips, he was at the start of his first world tour on the pontoons of Brest, facing five other giants.
After Anthony Marchand, Armel Le Cléac'h, Thomas Coville and Charles Caudrelier, all present on Wednesday for his arrival, he has now also joined the closed circle of sailors who have completed a solo round-the-world trip on a multihull.
Many others could imitate them.
After the arrival of Éric Péron, Joseph Bizard, the general director of OC Sport Pen Duick, world leader in the organization of offshore races, announced that he hoped to have “even more competitors” for the next edition.
🔱 He DARED to go around the world in Ultim on an old generation boat!
And will you dare to let go of everything tomorrow and come welcome him to Brest? #aucb #pasdepiscine #adagio #tdm #arrivee #brest #pasdaquaponey pic.twitter.com/JVdazXEeyb
— Eric Peron (@Eric_Peron) March 12, 2024
“A project like this always takes time to progress, but now that we have proven that it is possible, we have all the assets to definitively establish this event in the history of our sport,” he said. -he thinks.
Afterwards, the heart of the reactor remains the athletes, so we have four years to be ready on D-day, to bring even more competitors and competitors.
We are planning with between 7 and 10 boats for the next departure.
»
Final ranking:
1. Maxi Edmond de Rothschild (Charles Caudrelier) 50 days 19 hours 7 minutes and 42 seconds (arrived February 27)
2. Sodebo Ultim 3 (Thomas Coville) 53 days 1 hour 12 minutes and 40 seconds (arrived February 29)
3. Maxi Banque Populaire XI (Armel Le Cléac'h) 56 days 8 hours one minute and 31 seconds (arrived March 3)
4. Actual Ultim 3 (Anthony Marchand) 64 days 1 hour 38 minutes and 21 seconds (arrived March 11)
5. Adagio (Éric Péron) at 66 days 1 hour 14 minutes and 27 seconds (arrived March 13)
Abandonment: SVR-Lazartigue (Tom Laperche)