Mike Birch RIP

[Sybarite]

Mike Birch won the Route de Rhum in 1978 when, in his little trimaran, he dramatically overtook the big monohull of Michel Malinovsky on the line, winning by 98 seconds. This heralded the start of the dominance of multihulls in ocean racing.

Navigator profile - Mike Birch, winner of the 1st edition of the Route du Rhum (boatsnews.com)

 

[Frogmogman]

Mike Birch won the Route de Rhum in 1978 when, in his little trimaran, he dramatically overtook the big monohull of Michel Malinovsky on the line, winning by 98 seconds. This heralded the start of the dominance of multihulls in ocean racing.

Navigator profile - Mike Birch, winner of the 1st edition of the Route du Rhum (boatsnews.com)

Sad news indeed.

 

[NealB]

Sad news, but a life lived to the full.

What an inspirational character.

 

[Frogmogman]

 

[Frogmogman]

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It’s a fr cry from the current crop !!

 

[Wansworth]

Have we lost something on the road,was it not possible to think you could emulate the likes of Ike birch whereas now it seems totally out of reach..

 

[Chiara’s slave]

Have we lost something on the road,was it not possible to think you could emulate the likes of Ike birch whereas now it seems totally out of reach..

The fact that you need a billionaire sponsor to get to the start line is rather sad. Its the way of the modern world though.

 

[Frogmogman]

Have we lost something on the road,was it not possible to think you could emulate the likes of Ike birch whereas now it seems totally out of reach..

That’s the thing about yacht racing. Go for the type of racing you can afford. Some of my friends here have a Muscadet, and enjoy wonderful racing for very little outlay (there is a large one design class for the Muscadet in France).

Even if what you dream of doing is something along the lines of the route du rhum, it can be relatively accessible in the open 40 class (which would probably be fairly equivalent to the sort of thing Mike Birch was doing in terms of outlay and sponsorship). A young lad who has crewed for a few years on the above Muscadet will be participating in this year’s Route du Rhum in an Open 40 he has managed to finance.