Masters of the Seas - A portrait of Vincent Riou + Video

by Leslie Greenhalgh on 30 Oct 2014 42 year-old skipper Vincent Riou was born in a small South Finistère fishing village called Loctudy, where he still lives today. 'I’ve always lived by the sea and it’s always been part of my environment since childhood. I can’t say if I would have been a commercial sailor or fisherman if I hadn’t become an ocean skipper, but I would most certainly have done something close to the sea, if not on the sea.'

'There are so many great moments at sea, some selfish moments which are so hard to describe and share, incredible landscapes, incredible seas – all these places that IMOCA and race sailing have allowed me to visit. I think my best memories are there, on my great trips to the Southern oceans, crossings from amazing virgin places that I’ve experienced throughout all the race circuits.'



Vincent starting sailing competitively on dinghies during his teenage years and caught the competition bug. After five years in the Figaro circuit from 1995 to 2001, Vincent moved into the IMOCA 60 series which he has been sailing in constantly over the last 10 years or so with the success that we all know, particularly his victories in the Vendée Globe in 2004-2005 and the Transat Jacques Vabre in 2013.

'IMOCA is a class that works well around the Vendée Globe but which still needs to develop. Little by little we’re working on putting together a real circuit with the Ocean Masters World Championship to make the series exists every year in the sailing world, through the great races like the Route du Rum and the Transat Jacques Vabre, and I hope around new races in the future.'

In his own words, Vincent has a cool and calm personality. He strives for serenity and tries to keep a certain distance with his extraordinary experiences. 'The road is often full of obstacles and you have to be able to step back and balance the various components in order to maintain freshness and motivation.'

He describes himself as: 'a fighting sailor and racer', but also as 'an ordinary guy'. 'When I’m not sailing, I look after my family and home. I do what my nearest and dearest want to do. Fortunately we all share a love for nautical activities, so I do it with pleasure.'

This year Vincent Riou is taking part in the Route du Rhum with high ambitions. 'What I like the most in my job is the competition. I love the contact with the sea, the elements, but the day I stop competing, I’m not sure that I’ll go and live on a boat. I’m a man of the land and happy to be on land.'

'What I love the most is the performance of our boats, the machines, the technological aspects and most of all the richness of solo competitions which demands such versatility. You have to master so many parameters, from the boat’s performance, to strategy, to weather, to security. It’s a very complete and complex Ocean IMOCA website