Biography
Youth
Florence Arthaud was the daughter of Jacques Arthaud, director of the Grenoble publishing house, Arthaud, during the 1970s, which published the memoirs of sailors Bernard Moitessier and Éric Tabarly.L'éternelle fiancéeSailing career
Florence Arthaud raced the first edition of ''Route du Rhum'', which took place in 1978. She placed 11th. In 1986, she diverted from the race to try to assist Loïc Caradec, but found the catamaran ''Royale'' capsized and no trace of the sailor. In August 1990, she tackled the record for a solo crossing of the North Atlantic, held by Bruno Peyron. In 9 days 21 hours and 42 minutes, she beat the record by almost two days. In November of the same year, she won the ''Route du Rhum'', reaching Pointe-à -Pitre in 14 days, 10 hours, and 10 minutes. However, following this exploit, she was unable to find funding to build a new trimaran, due to the real estate crisis from which her sponsor was suffering. She sailed in the 1989–90 Whitbread Round the World Race on board '' Charles Jourdan''. In 1997, she won the Transpacific with Bruno Peyron. In 2010, for the twentieth anniversary of her victory, she could not find a sponsor: « I was a little disgusted. They had reopened the race for tall ships. It was the 20th anniversary of my victory and I intended to participate in it on a huge trimaran, Oman (30m). But I didn't manage to get this boat, they preferred giving it to a man (Sidney Gavignet who retired due to damage). It completely put me off and I was like ‘that's it, I'm done.’».Sailing accident
On 29 October 2011, she fell from her boat in the middle of the night off Cap Corse. By chance, she had with her a headlamp and a waterproof mobile phone. Arthaud managed to call her mother who then called her brother. He then alerted the CROSS (the French Coast Guard) and three hours and twenty minutes after her distress call, she was located using the geolocation of her mobile phone. Conscious but in a state of hypothermia, she was airlifted to a Bastia hospital, from which she was released the following day.Private life
In 1993, Florence Arthaud gave birth to Marie, born of her relationship with Loïc Lingois, a professional sailor. In 2005, she married Éric Charpentier, but the union dissolved very quickly. She was the companion of the navigator Philippe Monnet. In her autobiography, published in 2009, Arthaud is forthcoming about her difficult times, of the alcohol which cost her her driver's license in 2010, and of the defection of the sponsors which aborted all of her projects. She found comfort with the association ‘The wheel turns,’ which helps celebrities who are in trouble.Other activities
In 2014, she took part in Sea Shepherd's "GrindStop" campaign against pilot-whale hunt in theDeath
On 9 March 2015, Arthaud was killed in a helicopter crash in Argentina during filming of the television reality show, ''Dropped''. Nine other people were killed in this accident, including French swimmer Camille Muffat and boxer Alexis Vastine. The other victims were the two Argentinian pilots and five French members of the production team, Adventure Line Productions. In accordance with her last wishes, Arthaud was cremated. Some of her ashes are buried on the ÃŽle Sainte-Marguerite, oppositeSee also
* Isabelle Autissier * Alain Colas * Clarisse Crémer * Michel Desjoyeaux *References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arthaud, Florence 1957 births 2015 deaths 20th-century French women musicians French female sailors (sport) Single-handed sailors Sportspeople from Boulogne-Billancourt Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in Argentina Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 2015 Victims of helicopter accidents or incidents Victims of mid-air collisions Volvo Ocean Race sailors 20th-century French sportswomen 21st-century French sportswomen