Several navigators have a special place in the history of the discipline and mike birch was one of those. The Canadian navigator, born in Vancouver in 1931, died this Wednesday at his home in Brec’h (Morbihan) at the age of 90as we learned The Telegram. A very sad news for all water sports enthusiasts, since the navigator is a true legend, he who will remain the whole first to win the mythical Route du Rhum transatlantic racewhich connects Saint-Malo and Guadeloupe.
Decreased for several months, the latter is “died quietly tonight in his sleep”, as indicated by France Birch, the wife of the navigator, with whom she has lived for forty years, in remarks reported by AFP. The latter had also planned to repatriate him to Canada at the beginning of the summer of 2021, in vain. Mike Birch will obviously leave a big void in his family, and his niece Aline Simard wanted to speak after this announcement. “He was an extraordinary man. He was extremely discreet and simple. He kept this simplicity until the end”she told AFP, visibly very moved and in shock.
First winner of a mythical race, for only 98 seconds
It was therefore in 1978 that the legend of Mike Birch was born, he who decided to participate in the first edition of the Route du Rhum. Then totally unknown to the general public, he will bluff everyone and ends up winning after more than 23 days of racing, he wins after an absolutely crazy comeback on Michel Malinovski’s blue monohull and wins the edition with only 98 seconds ahead! At 47, he became a known and recognized personality in the world of navigation and he participated in 6 other editions of the Route du Rhum, before retiring in 2002.
Before becoming a navigator, Mike Birch had several lives. Born in Vancouver, he worked for a long time in a gold mine before becoming an oil worker. He will continue ahead cowboy as well as sailor and even mechanic in England. “I went from job to job because I didn’t want to do the same thing every day, I wanted to be free”he said nicely to the Telegram in 2018.