After only 7 days at sea, 54 year old French Sailor Loïck Peyron has broken the race record in what is considered one of the most gruelling races on earth, the Route Du Rhumb.

In a 103ft trimaran, he averaged almost 23 knots over the week, which to be exact was 7 days and 15 hours. Through horrendous seas, with little experience on the boat and of course, all by himself, Peyron emerged from behind the helm with a telling statement.

“I was scared”

After leading from the start, Maxi Solo Banque Populaire VII set a cracking pace on the 4,199nm race, stretching to an overall lead of 140nm by the finish line over around the world record winner Spindrift 2, skippered by Yann Guichard. Spindrift 2 is the worlds largest trimaran, and until now was considered the fastest too.

“I never imagined that I would win a Route du Rhum on a boat like this.” Said Peyron after the race. “A race like this is never simple and that is what is so exciting and incredible about it. It is also very stressful for the boat to withstand such high speeds in bad seas. I was able to sail the boat well but was scared.
"This is what the multihull game is all about. You have to constantly manage the boat. One night I fell asleep at the helm and nearly capsized the boat. This is a great victory; possibly one of the nicest and breaking the record is the cherry on top of the cake.”

It was certainly a different race to what he expected 2 months ago! Restoring a much smaller trimaran, a sistership to ‘Olympus Photo’ which won the first Route Du Rhum in 1978, Peyron planned to enter the race. When the original skipper of Maxi Solo Banque Populaire VII, Armel Le Cléac'h pulled out only two months before the start, Peyron stepped aboard to command the 103ft monster to victory.

Congratulations to Loïck Peyron for making the journey in the first place, and of course breaking the Route Du Rhum race record. He says he’ll be back in four years time, with the ‘little yellow trimaran’ from the 70’s to do it all again.

Check out some footage of the remarkable boat with it’s former skipper from back in 2012. Usually crewed in races with a crew of 8, the boat can be stripped down for solo racing, where it just looks strange to see so much boat being handled by one guy!