when Titouan Lamazou won the first Vendée Globe

Titouan Lamazou crossed the finish line of the Globe Challenge, a solo, non-stop round-the-world race, yesterday, at 12:04:50 a.m., in Les Sables-d'Olonne, at the helm of his monohull “Ecureuil- of Aquitaine-2”.

The adopted Béarnais completed his circumnavigation, covering 24,900 miles at an average of 9.48 knots, in 109 days, 8 hours, 48 ​​minutes and 50 seconds. Never before has a sailboat completed a circumnavigation of the world so quickly. For two years, Olivier de Kersauson and his trimaran “Un Autre-Regard” held the record in 125 days and 19 hours. Lamazou will have to wait 14 hours and 30 minutes – the time “returned” by the jury to Loïck Peyron, his last rival, to compensate for the time spent assisting Philippe Poupon – to be officially declared winner of the first edition of the test.

After remaining for hours in the calm, “Ecureuil d'Aquitaine” left yesterday, at the end of the afternoon, with a vengeance. Straight towards victory, at seven knots, pushed by a favorable breeze while the cold was slowly falling on the quays of the port of Sables-d'Olonne, and the crowd was waiting. A final long straight line; long from Yeu to Les Sables. Direct as the end of a marathon runner's walk. Titouan, alone for four months, 25,000 miles under the keel, saw the earth approaching at first like a gray halo in the dark blue of nightfall punctuated far ahead by a line of tiny electric stars.

Since the start of the day, the skipper has slowly seen his horizon become populated. The seagulls have become helicopters, the gulf dolphins have become speedboats and sailboats, and the great movements of the swell have become the sound of engines.

An endless arrival!

He saw the coast slowly approaching, too slowly since the hope of arrival in the middle of a day as sunny as spring had already faded away. The hope of a walkabout, although, after all this time spent on the water, the encounter with the world is almost as worrying as the approach of a bank of stones. The hope perhaps finally of a meeting between friends and family. The victory is certainly nice, the return home too.

But this return home, this reunion, we will have to wait for them again. Minutes as long as hours, like days. “Ecureuil-d’Aquitaine-2” is “stuck”. He is no longer moving forward. Not the slightest breath of wind. All those who are in the port, on the boats which have started the guard of honor for Titouan, want to breathe with all their lungs so that he finally crosses this damned finish line.

Endless! So much so that at 11:30 p.m., it was finally announced that he had arrived. Error… We will have to wait another half hour, 34 minutes and 50 seconds exactly, for Titouan to officially cross the line. At 12:04 a.m. this Friday, March 16, in the morning. Then it's delirium. Flashes, bursts of laughter, applause, cheers. And Titouan who snorts like a spaniel emerging from water and who, finally, delivered, smiles and salutes glory.

Titouan, sailor, painter, writer: dreams and realities

We know the sailor – at least we think we know him – but what do we know about his life, his dreams, his other talents? Painter as much as sailor, poet of adventure, Titouan is a builder of dreams, one of those men for whom life is a mosaic of passions. Titouan Lamazou was born in Casablanca thirty-five years ago. Artist and adventurer, Titouan pushes the sense of perfection towards the absolute: he has a taste for adventure, the sun, travel and blue expanses. He is a painter and writer. Titouan enjoys life. A Fine Arts student at 15, he painted his first seascapes. And as the sea fascinates him, he casts off for the harsh boat school… Mousse, crew member, skipper, Titouan learns the trade. He sails with Fauconnier, Tabarly, Poupon. While completing his first world tour with them, Titouan devoured the books of Jack London, Stevenson, Gerbault, Moitessier. At the age of 18, he made his first transatlantic race aboard a modest 5.50 m JI. But if the passion for the sea and travel takes him and will never leave him, Titouan does not abandon his brushes. He took portraits on the terraces of West Indian cafés in the 1975s… He illustrated Tabarly's books (and in particular “the Guide to the Maneuver”) in 1977. Titouan combined all his passions: he traveled (to Greenland, Morocco), he sails and he paints… He even successfully tries his hand at photography. From the 1980s, he exhibited in Paris, Marseille, and of course in Pau, the birthplace of his family. Indeed, Titouan has the Béarnese heart and blood. But Titouan has not exhausted his talents. He began writing in 1982 and published, in 1985, “The Treasure of the Atlas”, an adventure novel… This year, “A Berber Winter” and “Tomorrow, I will all be dead” have just been published. So, with the title of world champion in his pocket, how does Titouan see the future now? “Move again and again,” he says. “I can imagine myself on a 22-25 meter catamaran, created by the entire Écureuil team. It would be both my house and my workshop. The central nacelle would be organized around a huge drawing board. The means of communication would be sophisticated. Destination: warm waters. I can see myself in the West Indies or in the Pacific. Because, for now, I especially want the sun! » Portrait published in the “special Titouan Lamazou” notebook, published by “Sud Ouest” on December 4, 1990.