The world of navigation is in mourning this Wednesday. The Canadian Skipper mike birchwinner of the first edition of the Route du Rhum, has indeed died at his home in Brec’h (Morbihan), at the age of 90, we learned from his family.
“He had been diminished for several months. He died very slowly that night in his sleep,” says France Birch, wife of the sailor who won the Route du Rhum in 1978. For the first edition of this legendary race, Mike Birch won with only 98 seconds of ahead of French skipper Michel Malinovsky.