Kevin Escoffier is a French professional sailor born on 4 April 1980 in Saint-Malo, France and a resident of Lorient. He is an offshore sailor who has won the 2018 Volvo Ocean Race as a bowman onboard DongFeng and competed in the 2020–2021 Vendée Globe aboard PRB. In 2022-23, he initially skippered Holcim-PRB in The Ocean Race, before leaving the team amid a sexual misconduct probe. He is a member of the yacht club SN Baie St. Malo.
Biography He studied Engineering for 3 years at EPF in Paris, 2 years at the École Polytechnique de Montréal and 8 months at the University of Maryland and now specializes in composite engineering. One of his first projects was being involved in the development of Multi 50 class "Crêpes Whaou! 2", which was built for his father Franck-Yves Escoffier, also an offshore sailor. This boat was launched in April 2005 and in November of that year Escoffier and his father won class in the Transat Jacques Vabre. We was involved in various IMOCA projects for other skippers, and has headed up Team Banque Populaire's design office.
2020–2021 Vendée Globe Rescue While competing in the 2020–2021 Vendée Globe his IMOCA 60 PRB hull broke in half, sinking quickly in the Southern Ocean. Describing the speed of the incident he said “I didn't have time to do anything, I just had time to send a message to my team. I'm sinking, I'm not joking. MAYDAY.” He later recalled how the boat folded in half.
The race director sent fellow competitor Jean Le Cam to the area who found Escoffier in his life raft, but lost contact while preparing to recover him. More competitors were sent to help with the search but Jean Le Cam found Escoffier for the second time several hours later and took him on board.Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine:
The rescue got extensive coverage with French President Emmanuel Macron getting in contact with Escoffier and Jean Le Cam. Escoffier later described the way the boat folded in 90 degrees and the very limited time he had to abandon ship, and how him carrying a personal AIS beacon helped save his life.
Results Pos.YearEventClassBoat nameNotesRef.Round the World Race DNF 2021 2020–2021 Vendée Globe IMOCA 60 PRB Sank, rescued by Jean Le Cam 1 2018 2017-2018 Volvo Ocean Race Volvo Ocean 65 Dongfeng Race Team 3 2014 2014-2015 Volvo Ocean Race Volvo Ocean 65 Dongfeng Race Team WR 2012 Jules Verne Trophy Maxi Multi Banque Populaire V New Round the World Record of 45d 13h 42m 53sTrans Oceanic Race 2 2019 Transat Jacques Vabre IMOCA 60 PRB with Nicolas Lunven 1 2015 Krys Ocean Race MOD 70 Spindrift Transatlantic in 4d 21h 8m at 28 knots WR 2009 Transatlantic sailing record - Banque Populaire V Crew in a time of 3d 15h 25min 48s 1 2005 Transat Jacques Vabre Multi 50 Crêpes Whaou! 2 with Franck-Yves Escoffier Other Races 5 2020 Vendée-Arctique-Les Sables d'Olonne IMOCA 60 PRB Singlehanded Vendee Qualifier 5 2020 Défi Azimut IMOCA 60 PRB with 2 2019 Défi Azimut with Nicolas Lunven 2 2019 Rolex Fastnet Race IMOCA 60 PRB
References
External links
Vendee Campaign Website