The French-Swiss navigator Laurent Bourgnon disappeared on Wednesday, June 24, 2015, while he was scuba diving at Toau Atoll, located near Fakarava, about 400 km from Tahiti in the Tuamotu Archipelago. He was on a private cruise aboard his boat, with several passengers.
Laurent Bourgnon, twice winner of the Route du Rhum in 1994 and 1998 and also the brother of Yvan Bourgnon. This great sailor, an adventurer at heart, has a fine record of ocean sailing: La Baule-Dakar (1991), Quebec-Saint-Malo (1992) and the Transat Jacques Vabre (with the American Cam Lewis, in 1995). He has also been twice world champion in ocean racing (1994 and 1995) and has tried his hand at car racing by completing several rally-raids.
Navigator and adventurer at heart
Laurent Bourgnon was born on April 16, 1966. He left for a family cruise in the Caribbean at the age of 4 for a 2-year trip and repeated the operation at the age of 13 for a 3-year trip. In 1986, he was 20 years old and made his first Atlantic crossing on a Hobie Cat 18, which was used more for club sailing than for ocean crossings. On his return, he decided to start competing. In 1988, he won the Solitaire du Figaro as the youngest participant and on the oldest boat in the race. In 1989, he launched himself on the Lorient Saint-Barth-Lorient, double-handed and on a Tour of Europe on the 60' catamaran ex 33export. In 1990, he finished 3rd in the Route du Rhum and in 1991, he won the Europe Open UAP race. The same year, he won the La Baule-Dakar, even though he had a broken float. In 1992, he won the Transat Québec-Saint-Malo with a crew. In 1993, he won the Route du Café and was crowned world champion of ocean racing skippers.
1994 was the year of all records for the Swiss sailor. He won the Twostar, an English double-handed transatlantic race with the American Cam Lewis, and then set the record for the single-handed crossing of the North Atlantic on Primagaz in 7 days, 2 hours, 34 minutes and 42 seconds. The record is still to be beaten in 60' multihull. He achieved the feat of arriving only a few hours after the skippers who were in crew. He won the Trophée Clairefontaine, obtained his first victory in the Route du Rhum, set the record for the longest distance sailed in 24 hours single-handed on Primagaz with 540 nautical miles and was once again crowned world champion of ocean racing skippers.
In 1995, he won the Transat Jacques-Vabre double-handed with Cam Lewis, won the Europe race, obtained the record: Marseille-Cartage (Mediterranean) and again the title of world skippers' champion (as in 1997 and 1998). In 1997, he won the Transat Le Havre - Cartagena with his brother Yvan and the Fastnet. In 1998, he won his second Route du Rhum. In the following years, until 2003, he continued to set records and in 2004, he designed an economical motor catamaran, the Sunreef Power. This sailing enthusiast and great champion surprised everyone with this change of boat.
In 2008, the boat is presented in Cannes. Laurent Bourgnon and his family then left on board Jumbo for a round-the-world trip with his family. Since then, the navigator was installed in Polynesia.
