Most adventures in the last decades were done by French. The Rallye Paris-Dakar with Thierry Sabine as a founder for example or the first ascent of Annapurna or Makalu. But there is one field of activity which is much more dominated by French; sailing. There is no Ocean Race without a fearless sailor. From the OSTAR to the Vendee-Globe, the Route Du Rhum or the Mini Transt. All of them where driven by French and one of them is an outstanding character, Loick Peyron.
Yesterday we had the chance to meet him in the Casino at the Bayerischer Yacht Club in Starnberg. The BYC invited him as a Partner of BMW Yachtsport and the sailing community around Munich follows that exclusive invitation.
The audience was impressed by his stories. His sailing vita is really stunning. He startet with a Atlantic crossing with 19. Since that point he did all the offshore races you can imagine. Some of them with a crew and most of them solo. This year he will celebrate his 60th birthday.
Of course the most German question came from the public; why you are never wearing a life-belt? Loick didn´t get the point, but the he explained how it is to work on such a boat and ended with a save answer: yeah, at the end, it´s save, wear a life-belt. Everything´s said.
Another question was, how he handles the loneliness at sea. His answer an gesture was as same cool as before. There is no loneliness. If there is no wind you have to plan and sleep. If there is wind you have to push the limit and if there´s too much wind, you have to fight. You see, it´s not getting boring.
Above that he´s not just one of the best sailors ever, and a personal hero of mine, we also have the same respect of the pirates of the carribean. That´s funny cause I´m just interested in that pirates attitude. In a world of monarchy and a powerful church a pirates ship was kind of a democracy. I was looking at my pix when Loick startet his feelings about pirates and I thought, whoowhooo there´s another one who thinks like me. He added the fact, that these ships were a crew of people who were not there voluntarily. It was a good running crew and a captain with credibility and respect. Perhaps the first democracy in the modern age. At least the evening was much too short for all his stories and experiences.
The BYC and BMW Yachtsport were great hosts at that evening. Thanks for that and always fair winds.
