Guirec Soudée was born to be an adventurer. At 18, he travelled to Australia with just 200 Euros in his pocket and unable to speak English. He slept on the streets in Sydney before buying a bicycle and travelling around the southwest in search of work, taking on the roles of an apple picker, sardine and shrimp fisherman before returning to France in 2012 to take on new challenges at sea. His latest was a solo, non-stop east-west circumnavigation against the prevailing wind and currents in March this year, setting a new record of 94 days, 21 hours, and 58 minutes.
Before this, Guirec was best known for his 5-year voyage around the world, accompanied by his hen Monique, and for two solo rows across the Atlantic. In 2021, he bought a second-hand IMOCA 60, which he renamed Freelance.com, to participate in the 2024 Vendée Globe race, completing the race in 89 days, 20 hours and16 minutes.
His 5-year voyage around the world between 2013 and 2018 was in the 10.7m yacht Yvinec, named after the island in Cotes d’Armor where he was brought up. Setting out from Tréguier, Tenerife was his first port of call, where he befriended Monique, before crossing to the Caribbean. He then headed northwards to Greenland and through the Northwest Passage – the youngest to do so – where he was stranded in ice for 4 months. His course then took him and Monique south through the Pacific and onward to Deception Island in the Southern Ocean, before rounding Cape Horn in February 2017 and onward to Cape Town, then Fernando de Noronha. Guirec then returned for a pit stop in the Caribbean before re-crossing the Atlantic to finish his circumnavigation in Paimpol on December 15, 2018. During the voyage, Monique the chicken became as much a social media success as her owner.
On December 23, 2025, Guirec set out from Ushant aboard the trimaran MACSF (ex Adagio) intent on breaking fellow Frenchman Jean-Luc van den Heede’s 22- year record for sailing East-West around the world via Cape Horn – a time of 122 days,14 hours, 3 minutes, 49 seconds set in his monohull Adrien back in 2004
He rounded Cape Horn on 14 January 2026 in 21 days 18 hours, 44 minutes, already 2,000 miles ahead of the record. MACSF passed Cape Leeuwin on February 18 after 57 days, 5 hours and 13 minutes, and the Cape of Good Hope on March 6 with a time of 72 days 22 hours, 58 minutes and returned to the finish line off Ushant in 94 days, 21 hours, and 58 minutes – almost a month ahead of the previous record – an average speed of 16.5 knots for the 37,681 mile circumnavigation.
Guirec returned to a hero’s welcome, where Jean-Luc van den Heede was the first to congratulate him – and nominate the French circumnavigator for this award.
Web links
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guirec_Soud%C3%A9e
https://www.guirecsoudee.com/
