Frédéric le Peutrec
Before getting involved in sailing, this young Parisian got to know the sea during holidays spent on the island of Houat. He began sailing catamarans, first a Hobie Cat 14, then a Dart 18. He was bitten so badly by the multihull bug that his studies (business studies, then architecture) lost out in favour of an Olympic preparation in the Tornado class, one of the fastest and technically advanced performance catamarans.
Sailing honours
On Gitana 11:
- A compléter par Tiphaine avec les événements de la saison 2006
- 2nd in the Transat Jacques Vabre 2005
- 3rd in the Cap l'Orient GP 2005
- 4th in the Port de Fécamp GP 2005
- 4th in the Vigo GP 2005
- 2nd in the Marseilles Metropole GP 2005
- 2nd in the Corsica GP 2005
- 3rd in the IB-Group Challenge 2005
- 3rd in the Marseilles Metropole GP 2004
- 1st in the Corsica GP 2004
- 3rd in the Port de Fécamp GP 2004
- Withdrew in the Quebec/Saint-Malo Transat 2004 after colliding with a floating object
- 9th in the Transat 2004
- 5ème5th in the La Trinité/mer GP 2004
Three French squad selections soon followed, one for the Olympic Games, as Frederic Le Peutrec focused solely on top international-level competition. He took part in numerous sport catamaran raids, where he met many ocean racing multihull skippers (Bruno Peyron, Philippe Poupon, Florence Arthaud, Loïck Peyron…). The “boys from La Baule” played a major role in Fred's entry into the world of ocean-racing, namely Yves Pajot, then Jean Maurel, with whom he made one of his first transatlantic crossings on the ex-trimaran Elf Aquitaine (which has since become Gitana IX). After the Atlanta Games in 1996 where he narrowly missed out on a medal with crew member Franck Citeau, Frederic turned his attention to ocean-racing multihulls.
A skilled strategist, Fred was welcomed on board Fujicolor II as tactician. One of the first sailors to cross over from the Olympics, his seamless adaptation to the ocean-going multihull scene contributed to Loïck Peyron's domination of almost all of the Grands Prix for three seasons. His talent at the helm made him an obvious choice for Marc Guillemot, likewise for Grant Dalton in his victorious participation in The Race on Club Med. When the Bayer company called upon Jean Maurel to manage a new multihull project, several candidates were on the list, but Frederic Le Peutrec was the natural choice as skipper in view of his skill, his openness and the fact that he is easy to get along with. Fred spent two years flying the colours of Bayer CropScience, before taking over the helm of Gitana 11 in 2004.
In 2005, he steered Gitana 11 to second place in the Orma Championship courtesy of a superb second place in the Transat Jacques Vabre alongside Yann Guichard.
A compléter par Tiphaine avec les infos de la saison 2006.