Maud Fontenoy (born September 7, 1977) is a French

sailor A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. The profession of the s ...

known for her rowings across the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

(2003) and

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

(2005) oceans. Most recently, she completed a sailing trip around the Antarctic alone, against

prevailing winds In meteorology, prevailing wind in a region of the Earth's surface is a surface wind that blows predominantly from a particular direction. The dominant winds are the trends in direction of wind with the highest speed over a particular point on ...

. Departed from the

Réunion Réunion (; french: La Réunion, ; previously ''Île Bourbon''; rcf, label= Reunionese Creole, La Rényon) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas department and region of France. It is located approximately east of the island ...

island on October 15, 2006, she crossed the finish line on March 14, 2007, having sailed for . However, this sailing trip is not accepted as an official sailing "around the globe". This has been made clear in the newsletter no 128 by the

World Sailing Speed Record Council The World Sailing Speed Record Council (WSSRC) was founded in 1972, initially to ratify records at the inaugural Weymouth Speed Week held every year since in Portland Harbor.The WSSRC is the body authorized by the World Sailing (formerly Internati ...

, which states that "The WSSR Rule for Around the World - rule 26a - calls for a minimum orthodromic track distance of the vessel of at least 21,600 nautical miles (the distance of the

great circle In mathematics, a great circle or orthodrome is the circular intersection of a sphere and a plane passing through the sphere's center point. Any arc of a great circle is a geodesic of the sphere, so that great circles in spherical geomet ...

The Courses Offshore

WSSRC newsletter no 128 regarding Maud de Fontenoy
Fontenoy was named the UNESCO’s

Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC/UNESCO) was established by resolution 2.31 adopted by the General Conference of UNESCO. It first met in Paris at Unesco Headquarters from 19 to 27 October 1961. Initially, 40 States becam ...

and the

World Ocean Network The World Ocean Network (Réseau Océan Mondial) is an international non-profit association of organizations to promote the sustainable use of the oceans. One of its motto is "Caring for the Blue Planet, you can make a difference!" It was establi ...

Spokesperson for the Ocean on 3 June 2009 Maud Fontenoy has four children: Mahé (with Thomas Vollaire), Hina (with an unknown man), Loup (with Raphaël Enthoven), and Côme (with Olivier Chartier).

Distinctions

* : National Order of Merit (12 July 2007)

Notes

References

External links

Official website

Maud Fontenoy Fondation, programmes pédagogiques sur les Océans et éducation à l'environnement
* Éducation à l'environnement {{DEFAULTSORT:Fontenoy, Maud French sailors Female sailors 1977 births Living people Recipients of the Legion of Honour Knights of the Ordre national du Mérite