Philippe Jeantot

Philippe Jeantot is a French former deep sea diver, who achieved recognition as a sailor for long-distance, single-handed racing and record-setting. He founded the "Vendée Globe", a single-handed, round-the-world, non-stop yacht race. [http://www.sevenoceans.com/SoloAroundTheWorld/ShipMail/Jeantot.htm "Philippe Jeantot"] , from sevenoceans.com]

Biography

Philippe Jeantot started his career as a deep sea diver, working on oil rigs; at one time he jointly held the record for deep diving, at 501 metres (1,644 ft). [ [http://www.comex.fr/suite/ceh/histo/historique%20CEH%20anglais.pdf "1965-2000 — 36 years of deep diving and submarine techniques development"] , from COMEX Hyperbaric Experimental Centre] He became interested in sailing after reading Bernard Moitessier's book "The Long Way"; having learned to sail, he built himself a 13.5 metre (44 ft) steel ketch, planning to sail single-handed around the world. After cruising for two years, he entered the first edition of the "BOC Challenge" (now known as the "VELUX 5 Oceans Race") in 1982; he won the race, and broke the previous record for a single-handed circumnavigation with a time of 159 days, 2 hours. [ [http://www.velux5oceans.com/da/19942 "Roll of Honour (1982)"] , from the "VELUX 5 Oceans Race" official web site]

In 1984, Jeantot entered the "OSTAR", sailing in a new catamaran, "Credit Agricole II". He was forced to retire after a capsize, but saved the boat and entered the 1984 "Quebec—St. Malo" race, in which he set a new 24-hour speed record. In 1985, he had success in the "Grand Prix de Brest", "La Baule" and "Round Europe" races. In 1986 he again entered the "BOC Challenge", sailing "Credit Agricole III", and was again victorious. [ [http://www.velux5oceans.com/da/19942 "Roll of Honour (1986)"] , from the "VELUX 5 Oceans Race" official web site]

In 1989, Jeantot founded a new, single-handed, non-stop, round-the-world race, the "Vendée Globe". He entered the race in "Crédit Agricole IV", and finished in fourth place. [ [http://vendeeglobe.migration.lbn.fr/uk/presentation "Introduction"] , from the "Vendée Globe" official web site] [ [http://vendeeglobe.migration.lbn.fr/uk/historique "1989/1990 Edition: A great race is born"] , from the "Vendée Globe" official web site]

In 1990, Jeantot once again entered the "BOC Challenge", sailing "Crédit Agricole IV", and finishing in third place, thus completing his fourth solo circumnavigation of the world. [ [http://www.velux5oceans.com/da/19942 "Roll of Honour (1990)"] , from the "VELUX 5 Oceans Race" official web site] After the race, he announced that he was retiring from sailing to manage his boat-building business.

In November 1990, Jeantot, 53, was given a suspended two-year sentence and fined €15,000 (£9,900) for tax evasion. Jeantot appealed but the verdict was upheld.

In 2006 Jeantot was charged with financial irregularities which alleged avoidance of corporation tax by his SailCom company, forgery and the abuse of the 'social good'. Forensic accountancy allegedly found that in excess of €1 million (£660,000) passed through an Irish account rather than SailCom's bank in France. SailCom was set up by Jeantot to run long distance competitive sailing races. [ [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2007/02/06/sosail06.xml "Jeantot in deeper water"] , UK Daily Telegraph]

References