Franck Cammas can start his Christmas (and birthday) celebrations early after the Volvo Ocean Race winning skipper was named French Sailor of the Year for 2012.
@JM LIOT / FFVOILE
For Cammas, who turns 40 on December 22, victory for his Groupama team in the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12 was the latest in a long line of successes. Cammas has broken six offshore records and won five Orma multihull world championships, three Jacques Vabre transatlantic races and one Route du Rhum.
He also received the National Order of the Legion of Honour before going on to that stunning victory in his first appearance in the Volvo.
Groupama were the first French team to take part in the Volvo Ocean Race since Eric Tabarly and La Poste in 1993-94 and victory was the country's first since Lionel Péan and L’Esprit d’Équipe in 1985-86.
Cammas picked up what was his first French Sailor of the Year award at a Parisian theatre.
“I’m very proud of it because there are so many great sailors in the room,” he said. “Sailing is such a vast sport. It’s difficult to assess and classify sailors. It goes from one extreme to another, from an Olympian to a single-handed offshore skipper.
“Yet, the good thing about sailing is that you can go from one to another if you work for it. It’s always very exciting for us, the sailors, to be able to do all these things in one single life..I hope the next 15 years will be as great for me. Thank you everyone.”
From : Volvo Ocean Race
