Arsène Ledertheil (60) France
has just bought a Biscay 36 which he is refitting for the Race. Sailing became a passion at an early stage. "I was 11 when Robin Knox-Johnston, Bernard Moitessier and Eric Tabarly were making names for themselves and they became my sailing heroes." he says. He lived 1000km from the sea, but travelled to Brittany as often as possible to get sailing lessons and devote all his spare time to the sport. In 1984, he gave up his career as an engineer to take up sailing professionally and "enjoy another life." He started by delivering boats, then campaigned a Mini Transat race yacht with a friend. He went on to compete in three La Figaro singlehanded races before graduating to transatlantic races including the Transat Lorient-St Barth and the Transat 650 events. He now has 30,000 miles under his belt, 10,000 of them singlehanded. He says of the GGR, "I love the character of the GGR overall! It sends a philosophical message to a world that is becoming more and more crazy and losing sight of fundamental values."
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