Cat champion to join iShares in Hyères
June 5, 2008 by OC Events | 0 comments
Fred Le Peutrec will join the iShares Extreme 40 team as their local celebrity sailor at the forthcoming iShares Cup event in Hyères, France from 13-15th June.
Fred Le Peutrec will join the iShares Extreme 40 team as their local celebrity sailor at the forthcoming iShares Cup event in Hyères, France from 13-15th June.
The Frenchman from Vannes, Brittany, will be at the second fixture of the 2008 iShares Cup calendar alongside British skipper Hugh Styles, boat captain Hugh Fletcher, 19-year-old bowman Adam Piggott and Dutch trimmer, Gerhard Van Geest.
The Frenchman is eagerly anticipating his first experience on board the Extreme 40s and racing in front of a home crowd, “It will be great to compete as part of the iShares team, especially at home in France. I’m sure we’ll get a lot of support and I am really looking forward to experiencing these amazing boats after all I’ve heard about them.”
Catamaran champion and offshore legend Fred Le Peutrec will join the iShares Extreme 40 team in Hyeres
© iShares Cup
Raised in the Olympic school, Fred has a wealth of sailing experience, which includes an eleven year stint as helmsman for the French Tornado sailing team. During this period, he picked-up sixth place at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, third and fourth places at the 1992 and 1998 World Championships respectively and captured the Tornado French Championships title an impressive four times.
Considered by many as one of the finest helmsmen around, Fred is a renowned and talented tactician with many offshore campaigns to his name. He enjoyed victory in The Race for the giant ‘Club Med’ as helmsman in 2001 and was then selected to skipper the 60 foot trimaran ‘Bayer’ from 2002-2003.
He went on to skipper the 60 foot trimaran ‘Gitana 11’ to three victories between 2004 and 2006 and finished second in the ORMA World championships and the double handed ‘Jacques Vabre’ transatlantic race in 2005.
Most recently, in 2007, Fred was helmsman of the 105 foot trimaran ‘Groupama 3’ on their Jules Verne round the world attempt, where he secured a North Atlantic Record of four days, four hours.
iShares Skipper, Hugh Styles added, “To have Fred taking part in the iShares Cup with us is fantastic. I’ve known him for years, he’s a high calibre sailor and will fit in really well with our crew. Hopefully he’ll have some good local knowledge too which will give us an added advantage, not to mention the local support he will no doubt attract.”
