1978 was the very first edition of the Route du Rhum. And it is a former rodeo rider who is the first hero of this legendary race. On November 28, 1978, Mike Birch makes sailing historywinning the race aboard his little yellow trimaran “Olympus“. The Canadian navigator rode the powerful monohull of Frenchman Michel Malinovsky to the wire to win with a lead of only 98 seconds, after more than twenty-three days of racing. Two years earlier, the man who was also a car mechanic and conveyor de yachts had already caused a sensation by finishing its first transatlantic race on the heels of Éric Tabarly.
The skipper died at his home in Brec’h in Morbihan. “He had been diminished for several months. He died very quietly last night in his sleep,” said his wife, France Birch.
mike birch had participated six times in the Route du Rhumthe last time was in 2002.