Marc Thiercelin

About Marc Thiercelin

His journey begins with artistic creation in Paris, where he attended the École Boulle from 1974 to 1977, training in cabinetmaking, drawing, and marquetry. He retained a strong passion for artistic creation from these youthful years. Additionally, he taught sailing (BEES 1st and 2nd degree Sailing) between 1978 and 1995, and founded and managed several sailing schools and centers, notably in Étables-sur-Mer. He began sailing and competing in 1970 in Optimist, and continued in all dinghy classes up to an Olympic preparation for the Los Angeles 1984 Olympic Games. He turned to offshore racing and became a professional skipper in 1988. He achieved his first victories at Nioulargue in 1990, Transmanche in 1991 and 1993. He participated seven times in the Solitaire du Figaro between 1992 and 2007 with stage victories. But it was the Vendée Globe that revealed this determined competitor. In his first participation in the race, he secured second place in the 1996/1997 edition, behind Christophe Auguin. The Vendée Globe was notably marked by the disappearance of Gerry Roufs, whom Marc Thiercelin unsuccessfully attempted to find. In October 1997, he finished second, with Swiss Dominique Wavre, in the Transat Jacques-Vabre behind Yves Parlier paired with Éric Tabarly. He has completed five solo circumnavigations (including four Vendée Globes) and twice finished second overall, 22 Transatlantic races, 7 Solitaires du Figaro, and 5 Tour de France à la voile. 4 complete tours of Antarctica and 4 solo Cape Horn passages. 700,000 km traveled across all the world’s oceans. He founded a foundation focused on the maritime economy and marine professions, the Fondation de l’Or Bleu: “The aim is to introduce all audiences to the maritime economy and existing and future marine professions. To engage with young people, job seekers, and inspire vocations. Future sectors include: blue biotechnologies, renewable marine energies, ship dismantling, dry ports, sea highways, … (…) the maritime economy in France represents 500,000 direct jobs, and France has the 2nd largest submerged maritime area (EEZ) in the world. The ambition of l’Or Bleu is for employment in the maritime economy to be brought to the public’s attention and not remain solely a specialist matter, but also to reconnect with a ‘strategist’ State in this field.” In 2008, Marc Thiercelin became the skipper-sponsor-teacher of the DCNS Talent Pathways, a project for the transmission of knowledge, sports, educational, and social. On November 9, 2008, he started his fourth Vendée Globe on the monohull DCNS 1000, designed by the Finot-Conq architectural firm and built at the Multiplast shipyard. In 2013, Marc Thiercelin and Opcalia partnered to promote Apprenticeship training at the national level, with Marc Thiercelin becoming the ambassador of Apprenticeship to young people, families, businesses, training organizations… He rebuilt the giant trimaran ex Oman Air, 32 meters long, to compete in the Route du Rhum 2014 and other races and records. The Cap Alternance project was launched during the Medef 2013 summer universities. He is the sponsor and spokesperson for Medef for obtaining the worldskills in Paris in 2019, the WorldSkills Competition.