Adventure: Around the world on four metres! "Baluchon's" journey home begins
Kristina Müller
· 02.06.2022
Yann Quenet is setting new standards. When the 53-year-old Frenchman talks about the fact that he will soon be home, there are still thousands of miles and the Atlantic Ocean ahead of him. But for Quenet, that's not too much, as he has almost completely circumnavigated the globe in the past three years. And on a boat that most people wouldn't even imagine spending a weekend at the lake on.
But now the "Baluchon" is back at sea with its skipper. The French boat name means something like "bundle". Lightweight luggage for a travelling minimalist like Quenet. The self-taught boat builder designed and built his sailing vessel himself in his small shipyard in his native Brittany. On his French-language website www.boat-et-koad.com, he provides insights into his previous small boat projects, in which he specialises.
In a telephone interview with YACHT, the Breton has always dreamed of a great sailing voyage. In 2019, the time had come, "Baluchon" was ready - he had previously been shipwrecked with a wider prototype - and Quenet set sail. He sailed across the Atlantic to the Caribbean and then took his bright red vessel overland through Panama to the Pacific. "My boat didn't fulfil the requirements for a Panama Canal crossing," says Quenet with a laugh. It doesn't even have an outboard motor. The adventurer uses a long paddle to manoeuvre in calm conditions.
He travelled on to the South Seas, his dream destination, where he spent months and was finally surprised by the pandemic. He has already described how he got there in the big interview in YACHT 18/2020 tells.
Numerous endurance tests followed: closed borders, wandering due to the pandemic and no possibility of crossing Australia by road with the boat on the hook as planned. In the end, Quenet was forced to sail a 77-day(!) single-handed non-stop voyage across the Indian Ocean from New Caledonia to La Réunion. It was a hussar ride, but the Frenchman comments on it as casually as all the other challenges of his adventure. "The hardest part was carrying enough provisions on the small boat." He was unable to stow enough water and had to catch the rain.
It continued on the trailer through South Africa and via Saint Helena in the South Atlantic to Brazil. From there, he has now set off on one of his last major journeys on this fascinating trip around the world. He wants to reach his final destination at the end of July.
In an interview in YACHT 11/2022, he reveals where this lies and how he mastered the second half of his circumnavigation in a boat that is shorter than many dinghies, despite countless challenges. DK-Shop or you can download the interview via the link below.
Yann Quenet and "Baluchon" can be tracked in their tracker (click).
