Mike Birch (1 November 1931 – 26 October 2022) was a Canadian navigator.

Biography

Birch began sailing later in his life, but gained notoriety in the 1976 OSTAR where he came in second on a 30' trimaran "The Third Turtle" beating the 236' "CLUB MEDITERRANEE". He continued his surprising success as a solo sailor in the inaugural

Route du Rhum The Route du Rhum is a transatlantic single-handed yacht race, which takes place every four years in November. The course is between Saint Malo, Brittany, Metropolitan France and Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, overseas France. The first competiti ...

in 1978. His sailboat, the '' Olympus Photo'', a 12 meter trimaran, caught up with the larger ' of late in the race. Birch's victory at the Route du Rhum would be his only one on a

monohull image:monohull.svg, right A monohull is a type of boat having only one hull (watercraft), hull, unlike multihulled boats which can have two or more individual hulls connected to one another. Fundamental concept Among the earliest hulls were simple ...

and begin the reign of the

multihull A multihull is a boat or ship with more than one hull, whereas a vessel with a single hull is a monohull. The most common multihulls are catamarans (with two hulls), and trimarans (with three hulls). There are other types, with four or more h ...

, particularly following the death of

Alain Colas Alain Colas (16 September 1943 – 16 November 1978) was a French sailor, the first to complete a solitary round-the-world race in a multihull. He met Éric Tabarly in Sydney in 1967, and bought Pen Duick IV from him in 1970, and won the "Trans ...

. Birch continued a long career racing offshore, completing his final race at the Transat Jacques Vabre in 2007, where he finished in 16th place. Birch died in

Brech Brech (; br, Brec'h, ) is a commune in the Morbihan department, region of Brittany, northwestern France. Population Inhabitants of Brec'h are called in French ''Brechois''. Breton language In 2008, 19.56% of primary-school children attended b ...

, France on 26 October 2022, at the age of 90.

References

1931 births 2022 deaths Navigators People from Vancouver {{Canada-bio-stub