In January 2021, the remarkable Frenchman Guirec Soudée climbed atop his 26-foot boat, Romane, to address the waiting 2,000-strong crowd having just rowed across the Atlantic Ocean from Cape Cod in the US to Brest in France. The gruelling, 181-day journey was completed solo and unassisted, but it was far from the first time Guirec had undertaken such a monumental voyage.
At 24 years old, Guirec became the youngest sailor to cross the Northwest Passage between the Atlantic and Pacific solo, part of an around-the-world voyage that lasted from January 2014 until December 2018. That five-year, 72,000-km journey comprised crossing the Atlantic three times, visiting Antarctica, and getting stuck in ice in Greenland for 130 days en route to the North Pole. Though there was some human interaction – such as for work stopovers to top up his funds, or for repairs to his yacht, Yvinec – all sailing was done solo and unassisted. Well, solo except for his pet hen, Monique.
“Monique helped a lot as a companion because you have somebody to talk to and she made me laugh often,” Guirec tells Verve. “Crossing the Atlantic in a rowing boat was so different without her. I was cut from any satellite communication, which was real loneliness. During difficult times, where you think you might become crazy, you find company from any living being – I talked to everything from birds to fish to turtles! I’m very enthusiastic for interacting with animal beings.”
“I learned a lot about finding solutions on my own. It’s a blessing to be disconnected, to find ways of finding answers when help is not so easily available.”
What lay ahead included storms, capsizing in the furious fifties, and sleepless, hallucination-inducing weeks due to a malfunctioning autopilot. Trapped in Greenland’s ice floes for four months, temperatures plunged to -60°C with windchill, and there were occasions when he considered abandoning his near-overwhelmed ship. Days into his icy predicament, Guirec received a message that his father, Stany – who himself sailed across the Atlantic a couple of times – had suffered a fatal heart attack. There was no way for Guirec to get home, so he chose to channel his grief into mental strength.
“I learnt too many things to list, but most importantly, that perseverance, endurance, and optimism are key to reaching your dreams,” he says. “I learnt that nature is beautiful. She can be very furious, or very gentle. We have to respect nature so that she will allow us to use her playground.”
Refusing to be crushed like his boat so very nearly was, stranded Guirec turned his secluded sliver of Greenland into his own playground, climbing ice cliffs, kitesurfing, and exploring vast snowy expanses with Monique for whom he had fashioned a tiny sledge.
“Monique knew when I was down, and I knew whenever she felt down also,” he recalls. “We were a support for each other. She is so generous – and the fact that she kept laying eggs in the most freezing conditions was a sign she knew about the importance of her mission!”
I ask Guirec how the experienced changed him, but he doesn’t believe that it really did. We experience personal growth through various stages of our lives anyway, he argues, and the voyage simply served as a high school to prepare him for adult life.
“I learned a lot about finding solutions on my own. It’s a blessing to be disconnected, to find ways of finding answers when help is not so easily available.”
How did you come to meet Monique?
“I’d always wanted to leave with a pet but didn’t want to take the family dog because it’s not fun for a dog to be kept onboard a boat. I thought about a hen before leaving Brittany because I also thought having fresh eggs could be very precious, but people warned me that a hen wouldn’t lay eggs if stressed. So, I left alone. I later made some friends while in the Canary Islands who gave me Monique before I set sail across the Atlantic. Monique is a very special hen, she laid eggs from the very first day and was very at ease on the boat. She even caught flying fish on the deck while sailing! She is very unique, and we adopted each other quickly.”
Did she ever fall overboard? And can she swim?!
“I was very afraid that she would fall overboard. Many times, in rough conditions, she would run to the front deck, and after a breaking wave I was sure she’d gone in, but I’d turn around to see her at the rear. She’d come back, feathers soaking wet, sliding from side to side. I tried to teach her how to swim in the Caribbean. She managed to propel forwards a little, so I say that she can swim, but in truth, if you leave her too long, she sinks.”
Guirec named his boat after the tiny island, Île Yvinec, off the coast of Brittany, where he grew up “barefoot fishing and windsurfing”. “My dad’s house was the only one on the island,” he recalls. “I got my first fishing boat at seven years old and would take it out in all weather conditions. This island made me who I am today.”
When he first set sail in January 2014, the then 21-year-old Guirec only intended to cross the Atlantic – though he’d always dreamt of going further. Yvinec was not only larger than any boat he’d previously helmed but was in such a state of disrepair that some sailors advised him not to use it; the radio was broken, and Guirec lied to his parents about having a phone and a beacon. The yachtsman later admitted to having “no idea what I was getting in to”.
How did rowing across the Atlantic compare to your around-the-world trip?
“They were so different. Rowing is like swimming, I think. When you sail, you can tack and still go upwind, even if it takes time, but with rowing you’re nothing when elements are against you. You must deal with frustration a lot. But the feeling when you arrive exactly where you wanted to arrive, is indescribable.”
What inspired you to do it?
“The idea was to cross east to west, from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean, simply as a means of experiencing a new way of crossing the ocean. But heading westwards, I read Gerard d’Aboville’s book, Alone. He was the first to row across the Atlantic and Pacific solo, and it was a revelation for me. I thought that there was no meaning in going one way without getting back to Brittany by myself. So, I decided to cross from Cape Cod to Brittany, 41 years exactly after Gerard d’Aboville.”
The training must have been tough?
“I was not so prepared! I trained to make sure I would row right without hurting my back. A friend of mine who had already done it helped me train, but he said that what is most important is what is in the mind. I knew I was not the kind of person to become depressed or to abandon the voyage or become scared during adverse conditions. Mental strength along with good physical condition is the best combination.”
Was it difficult to be away from Monique for so long?
“I missed her indeed because I had nobody to talk to or interact with. But I was also happy not to have her onboard this time. A rowing boat has zero comfort and is way too dangerous for a hen. I wouldn’t have been able to have her outside, she’d have fallen overboard on the first day!”
Guirec’s next major voyage promises to be another epic one with the purchase of a monohull sailing yacht in preparation for the Vendée Globe 2024, the prestigious non-stop around-the-world race for solo sailors. But in the meantime, there’s newfound fatherhood to keep him on his toes.
“I’ve recently become dad to a little baby girl,” he beams. “And that’s my biggest adventure yet!”
Find out more about Guirec and his projects, including his book, The Hen Who Sailed Around the World, at guirecsoudee.com
