Lionel Lemonchois on the Route du Rhum

by Gitana Team - Bénédicte Etienne on 7 Oct 2006 The somewhat unconventional career path followed by Lionel Lemonchois has endowed him with a wealth of experience to go with his uncommon humility.

From the Mini Transat to the Maxi Cata, the man has become a fixture on the sailing circuit and someone whose services skippers clamour to secure. On 29 October, he will set out, in his favoured solo discipline, on the Route du Rhum / La Banque Postale at the helm of the trimaran Gitana 11.

A rare talent

From the back streets of Caen to round the world in 50 days, Lionel Lemonchois’ career path has been nothing if not original! He has toiled on every ocean on the planet and has tried his hand at a whole host of diverse jobs and activities! You couldn’t get two worlds much further apart than laying parquet flooring and skippering an Orma trimaran, and when you throw in his experience diving for shells in Les Roqués, delivering racing boats, skippering a day-charter catamaran in Polynesia, building a Mini Transat, preparing and captaining a boat in the Vendée Globe, making round the world record attempts, completing DIY projects.

It’s clear that this is a man packed with resources and surprises, but who still manages to remain a model of modesty and discretion. On his journey between podiums and galleys, it is this eclecticism that has allowed Lionel, who was born at Bayeux in Normandy 46 years ago, to learn that a sailing race is above all about major preparation work, enormous motivation, maintaining a high octane rhythm and surpassing oneself.

When Lionel Lemonchois reels off the skippers and crewmen whom he has sailed with over almost thirty years, this veritable who’s who of sailing underlines his versatility and ability to adapt to the specific characteristics of the big blue! For spending over two weeks as part of a crew at sea requires not only technical ability, but also a well-rounded and flexible nature, an ability to listen and a capacity for self-examination, not to mention awareness and flawless determination.

François Boucher, Frédéric Guérin, Jimmy Pahun, Halvard Mabire, Isabelle Autissier, Catherine Chabaud, Karine Fauconnier, Cam Lewis, Yvan Bourgnon, Philippe Monnet, Bruno Peyron, Pascal Bidégorry, Dominic Vittet, Franck Cammas, Bertrand de Broc, Loïck Peyron… as well as many lesser known crewmen; can all testify to his qualities as a human being and a competitor. The entire sailing community, from constructors to architects, preparation team members to crewmen, master-sailors to riggers, all thoroughly appreciate his blend of serenity and determination, carefully chosen words, wry smiles, sparkling glances, thirst for discovery and hunger for distant horizons.

From the Mini Transat to the Route du Rhum

For Lionel Lemonchois, the competition bug bit in the Antipodes, when the coconut trees and coral reefs of Bora Bora were not enough to sate his appetite for the ocean: in 1988, he decided to finish the construction of a 6.50 sailing boat to take part in the Mini Transat , from Concarneau to Fort de France!

Although already a gifted craftsman, he had not yet built a boat and was also working within a fairly limited budget. This 1989 event, when he launched his prototype only fifteen days before the start, remains engraved as one of his most cherished sailing memories: crossing the Atlantic alone, armed with only a watch and a sextant… What’s more, he is one of a rare group of sailors to have taken part in this event 4 times and has not ruled out doing it again one day! From that time on, Lionel Lemonchois continuously took part in races, obtaining some creditworthy results.

And in 2000, he won the Transat AG 2R with Karine Fauconnier. Such results did not however prevent him from also continuing to prepare boats. There are no jobs beneath Lionel Lemonchois, for he truly loves boats, people and the sea! Although he dallied with the Vendée Globe alongside Catherine Chabaud and Isabelle Autissier, it was eventually the multihull circuit that captured him. After two seasons on the Orma and The Race circuits onboard Team Adventure, he was headhunted in 2001 to take over the helm of Gitana X, Benjamin de Rothschild’s new trimaran.

After two seasons with the Gitana Team, he departed for horizons new in the shape of an attempt at the crewed round-the-world record, the Trophée Jules Verne on Orange II, a Transat on a monotype, a Jacques Vabre won alongside Pascal Bidégorry… A man with an insatiable appetite for the sea and the ocean, his calm and modest nature on land disguises considerable charisma and rare sensitivity. Equally comfortable as part of a crew, duo or solo, Lionel Lemonchois now finds himself at the helm of a cutting-edge trimaran that’s tailor-made for the Route du Rhum.

One man, one boat!

On his return from a solo training exercise in late September at Port-la-Forêt alongside Michel Desjoyeaux (Géant), Franck Cammas (Groupama-2) and Antoine Koch (Sopra Group), the Gitana 11 skipper for the Route du Rhum is single-minded about the path to be followed before the start on 29 October:

Gitana 11? She’s a superb boat for this event. If I had to choose from the fleet of trimarans capable of doing the Route du Rhum, I would pick Gitana 11! She’s one of the best-suited boats to this course: she’s a very sound trimaran on the ocean, powerful, reliable and behaves very nicely in solo format in particular. She’s also very safe downwind and optimised for ocean races. The deck and cockpit layouts are perfect for solo competition.

The preparation? This training course has been extremely useful: when I see Michel’s ease and speed of execution in solo, I realise that I still have a lot of reflexes to acquire, but I’ll have a lot of chances to go out to sea on my own this month. But first I’ll be taking a week away from it all at the start of October, to recharge the batteries and unwind …

The race? 'I’ve been dreaming of doing the Route du Rhum since the first race in 1978! I was even at the start on the quayside back then, imagining doing it myself one day… It’s a route I know well due to the Mini Transat and the numerous deliveries I’ve made over the years. It’s a very specific exercise, some would say 'high-performance'. There’s nothing that hard about it: it’s mostly a matter of many hours of work and preparation. The machine has to be perfectly tuned and the skipper needs to be at ease and mentally relaxed. The mental preparation is primarily to do with motivation, and I’m ready.'


Sailing achievments - Lionel Lemonchois

2006

- Grand Prix du Portugal et de Fécamp : 2nd avec Loïck Peyron sur Gitana 11
- Cannes-Istanbul : 3rd avec Bertrand de Broc sur Les Mousquetaires
- Londres-Alpes Maritimes : 1st avec Franck Cammas sur Groupama 2
- Transat AG2R : 2nd avec Dominic Vittet sur Atao Audio System


2005

- Transat Jacques Vabre : 1st avec Pascal Bidégorry sur Banque Populaire IV
- IB Group Challenge : 1st avec Pascal Bidégorry sur Banque Populaire IV
- Record du Trophée Jules Verne avec Bruno Peyron en 50j 16h 20’ sur Orange II


2000 - 2004

- Transat Québec-Saint Malo 2004 : 8th avec Philippe Monnet sur Sopra Group
- Transat Jacques Vabre 2003 : 8th sur Gitana X
- Route du Rhum 2002 sur Gitana X
- Challenge Mondial Assistance 2001 : 4th avec Yvan Bourgnon sur Nautica
- The Race 2000-2001 : 3rdavec Cam Lewis sur Team Adventure
- Québec-Saint Malo 2000 : 1stavec Franck Cammas sur Groupama
- Transat Ag2r 2000 : 1st avec Karine Fauconnier sur Sergio Tacchini-Itineris


1995 - 1999

- Mini Transat 1999 : 32nd (deux démâtages) sur Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque
- Transgascogne 1999 : 1st sur Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque
- Fastnet Race 1999 : 1st avec Catherine Chabaud sur Whirlpool
- Préparation du bateau de C