Born in Hauts-de-France, Thomas Ruyant is a great transatlantic specialist: he has won the Mini-Transat, the Route du Rhum twice, the Transat AG2R, as well as the Transat Jacques Vabre! Thomas is a sailor in the strictest sense of the word. He reveals himself in sporting terms as soon as he's offshore and over a long period. 2024 should be his 3rd Vendée Globe. In 2016, he heroically abandoned the round-the-world race aboard Souffle du Nord after suffering major damage off New Zealand, and finished the 2020 edition in 6th place after often sailing in the top 3. Thomas' motto is to give meaning to his performances, which he does with the We Sail For People and Planet collective.
First of all, selection and qualification for the Vendée Globe, as I have to take part in a solo race on my new boat, which I'll be racing in the Vendée Globe on. My Route du Rhum doesn't count as a qualifier, as that wasn't the right boat. After that, I'm still keen to do well and keep up the momentum in terms of performance, in line with what we've been doing for several months with the team. Generally speaking, it will be nice to do a bit of solo sailing again. It'll be a first for me on this boat, in some tough conditions. It will be interesting before we enter the winter refit, after a season of double-handed and crewed racing. It will be important to prepare for next year.
I've been based at Lorient La Base since 2006, where I've prepared all my Mini 6.50, Figaro and Class40 races and all my IMOCA projects. So I've seen this Base evolve, I've seen it grow and I'm happy to be settling here even more permanently with the construction of a new building. I think it's great to have a race here. The start is great, but the finish is always a different atmosphere. Celebrating it at home, before the winter, allows the whole team to get involved, the people of Lorient, friends and family.... It's a great way to end the year!
You have to go fast to get as many days of recovery as possible! The first few days, you often get carried away by the atmosphere, then you need to rest well because the transatlantic race will have been long and we're likely to be pretty burnt out. You have to take the time to take a long nap and eat well, so that you're fresh in the head. It's a real challenge to recover quickly. As for the boat, I'm not worried, I've got a good team around me who will be able to do what's needed. They'll be able to get the boat ready, even in just a few days.
We have a project that's being set up with the We sail for People and for the Planet collective, with the promotion of the Time for the Planet movement, which is trying to find scientific solutions to decarbonise and fight climate change. That's what we're also doing within the project, we're trying to be responsible with the team and our partners, in our daily lives and in our travels. We know that our business is a polluting one, so we're trying to do as much as we can, and to do the little things we do every day.
2023
Guyader Bermudes 1000 Race - Vainqueur
2022
Route du Rhum - Vainqueur
Défi Azimut-Lorient Agglomération - 2e
Vendée Arctique - 3e
2021
Transat Jacques Vabre - Vainqueur
Défi Azimut-Lorient Agglomération - 3e
The Ocean Race Europe - 3e
2020
Vendée Globe - 6e (80j 15h 22m 01s)
Vendée-Arctique-Les Sables d'Olonne - 3e
2019
Transat Jacques Vabre - 5e
2015
Transat Jacques Vabre - 4e
2018
Transat AG2R-La Mondiale - Vainqueur avec Adrien Hardy
2010
Route du Rhum – Vainqueur
Normandy Channel Race – Vainqueur
2009
Mini Transat - Vainqueur
Tour de France à la Voile - Vainqueur en Farr30
Name : FOR PEOPLE
Architect : Antoine Koch et Finot-Conq
Building : 2022, CDK Technologies
Launching : 03/16/2023
Lenght : 18,28m
Beam :NC
Draught : 4,50m
Weight : NC
Mast height : 29m
Mast type : Mât-aile
Foils : yes
Upwind :NC
Downwind :NC
We Sail for People and Planet is a collective of committed players, centred around two yachts, For People and For the Planet, and two skippers, Thomas Ruyant and Sam Goodchild, which aims to harness the power of top-level sport to accelerate concrete, high-potential social and environmental programmes.
The aim of the project is to harness the power of top-level sport to accelerate concrete, high-potential social and environmental programmes. It has been brought together to involve companies in global action to help people and the planet through two yachts and two skipper-ambassadors, Thomas Ruyant's FOR PEOPLE and Sam Goodchild's FOR THE PLANET, which in 2023 will support the initiatives of the Entourage association and the Team For the Planet citizen fund respectively.
Entourage is the start-up spirit at the service of people and living together. In France today, over 2 million people live in extreme poverty and are excluded from society, and 330,000 people are homeless. Entourage helps these people to break out of their isolation and rediscover their support networks. To do this, the association raises awareness and encourages civil society as a whole to take action: local residents, businesses, etc., because it is convinced that everyone is part of the solution to exclusion. Entourage believes in the magical power of encounters between worlds and people that seem to be worlds apart!
