Eric Péron: sailor, adventurer and Alpina brand Ambassador

Eric Péron, born on 3 April 1981 in Quimper, is a French professional sailor and a passionate adventurer. A native of the Pays Bigouden in Brittany, he took up sailing at a very young age, exploring Breton waters from childhood.

After classic competitive training in dinghies while pursuing his university studies, Eric quickly turned to offshore racing. He took part in two Olympic campaigns before moving on to singlehanded racing aboard one-design yachts, most notably the Figaro Bénéteau.

Throughout his career, Eric Péron has built up an impressive record, completing nearly ten race crossings of the Atlantic Ocean and competing in five editions of the Solitaire du Figaro, one of the most demanding events in singlehanded sailing. He has also sailed large monohulls and multihulls, taking part in prestigious races around the world.

In 2024, Eric Péron competed in the Arkéa Ultim Challenge aboard the maxi trimaran Adagio, finishing the race in 5th place.

His many achievements include victory in the 2012 Tour de France à la Voile aboard TPM – Coych, the 2014-2015 Volvo Ocean Race with Dongfeng Race Team, and strong performances in the Solitaire du Figaro and the Transat AG2R La Mondiale.

Eric Péron is recognised for his talent, determination and commitment to the sailing world. Through his racing exploits and bold maritime projects, he continues to inspire many sailors and lovers of the sea.

We were lucky enough to meet him in Brest aboard Adagio, the trimaran in which he took part in the Arkéa Ultim Challenge, making him one of the 11 sailors to have completed a solo round-the-world voyage on a boat of this kind. Eric Péron is an Ambassador for Alpina. Let’s meet him!

Which watch are you wearing for our interview?

It’s the watch that was made for the Arkea. It’s the Alpina Seastrong Diver Extrême Automatic Arkea Limited Edition, produced in 150 pieces for the race. This one has been around the world: I wore it on my wrist throughout the race. One special feature is the race logo on the dial, a trident, which is really nice. And the course is engraved on the caseback. It was with me the whole time, and I like to say it has sailed around the world!

But I had taken a second one on board, which is also mine, and a third. The third was in its box and is due to be auctioned for the benefit of Innoveo, the endowment fund of Brest University Hospital, to help finance medical research.

What has been your finest race so far?

The Arkea Ultim Challenge. It was my first round-the-world race, the culmination of a lifetime. All my life I’ve done offshore races, telling myself at the end of each one that it was preparation for something bigger. And here I reached the very top of what exists. It’s the craziest project there is. I didn’t win, but I was at peace with the idea that whatever the result, what I wanted was to finish. We knew finishing would be hard. We didn’t know if everyone would make it, it could have been dramatic, with no sailor crossing the line. In the end, five of the six of us finished. So finishing was already a feat in itself. Only 11 people in the world have sailed solo around the world on trimarans. Six did it at once in this race, whereas before there had only been 6. So taking on that challenge on a boat of this size was, for me, really the culmination of a whole career.

Are there other races you would like to take part in?

First of all, I’d like to do it again in four years’ time on a foiling boat, so a faster one. And at the same time, to prepare properly for that race, if I manage to put the project together, I’d like to have a boat capable of winning the Route du Rhum. In a sailor’s life, that’s something pretty powerful! It’s simple: for a sailor, the big races are the Vendée Globe (not with this type of boat), now the Arkea Ultim Challenge, the Route du Rhum, the Transat Jacques Vabre, which is a great race but double-handed, and then the Solitaire du Figaro. For me, those are the 5 top offshore races today. And you could add The Ocean Race, which I’ve already taken part in.

Besides sailing, what are your other passions?

I’m a landlubber at heart: I love wide open spaces, nature, animals. I’m lucky enough to have big picture windows at home, and I like to settle on the sofa and watch the countryside where I live. The sea is my job; I’d have loved a sea view, but I love the countryside just as much. I like to get away from the sea, but I very quickly miss it. In fact I like having a foot in each element, it’s a paradox. I love the countryside, but I feel lost when the sea is far away. I don’t have a particular passion for any one activity. I like surfing, I like all board sports, I like the mountains, and I have plenty of hobbies. In the same way, I don’t say I’m passionate about offshore racing, but rather that I’m in love with it. The big difference is that passion isn’t reasonable, whereas love is extremely considered. Offshore racing has become my job, with objectives, and it’s not something I want to do at any cost. I’m very rational about it.

Is there a boat you dream of skippering?

It would be a foiling Ultim around the world. As for the boats of yesteryear, I would have loved to live in the age when people were still discovering new pieces of land. I’d have liked to feel that, but the era itself doesn’t appeal to me that much. Because I look at it as someone who knows today’s technology and today’s medicine. When you read about the conditions in which those sailors set off and discovered new lands, you think we’re perhaps not so badly off in our own time. Beyond any performance, it’s above all that kind of emotion I would have loved to experience. Discovery! It goes with my very curious nature. I’m interested in everything and curious 24/7.

What do you think about when you head out to sea alone?

I think about what I’ll share afterwards. I don’t go to isolate myself, quite the opposite: I go to have things to share with others. It’s quite a paradox. You’re alone, but you spend your time filming yourself and creating content to share later.

What qualities and flaws characterise a sailor?

We live a bit of a parallel life. Almost on another planet. The sea is a world people don’t really know and can’t imagine. There’s a kind of freedom, of course, but you face very real problems. A mistake can be fatal. So as for our qualities, the ones that can serve us on land, I think we sailors are cool-headed people. We know how to handle complicated situations, even ashore. We’re also a bit like Swiss Army knives, because you have to be very well-rounded on a boat. You need to know electronics, IT, mechanics, hydraulics, a bit of materials engineering, chemistry, and so on. It’s very wide-ranging. We’re not necessarily experts, but we can do a bit of everything. And our main flaw is that we don’t always know how to switch modes to live in society. So we’re not always understood. Actually, I like people, but maybe I’m not very sociable (laughs).

Is there a quotation you are particularly fond of?

Yes, there’s one I really like, though I can’t always remember it. I’ll try to give it to you. It’s by René Char, and he says: “Impose your luck, hold your happiness close and go towards your risk. Watching you, they will get used to it.” I translate it as “Be crazy if you like, but do your thing!” In fact, you should never wait for others to say “go for it”. You have to do it, and people can say what they like afterwards. I love another one by Saint-Exupéry: “Make your life a dream, and a dream, a reality.” Basically, I don’t much like conformism. I love freedom. And that’s at the heart of the maritime world. On the water there are no roads, no white lines.

Which of Alpina’s values do you identify with?

First of all, it’s a brand I got to know through a friend. He spoke highly of it and told me about the “family spirit” there. I discovered the brand’s heritage with mountaineers and everything surrounding the history it has built. And I have enormous respect for mountaineers, they’re a bit like our alter egos. That’s what appealed to me from the start. Then, as I learned more, I really came to love the technical side of a watch. It probably holds true for many other brands, but I discovered it through Alpina. When I visited them, I realised we used similar tools, we shared the same vocabulary, and I didn’t feel lost. And if you open up a winch, in the end it’s almost a watch, only bigger (smiles). Gears, hundreds of parts, stresses, expansion, special materials for specific reasons, and so on.

We work in highly technical worlds, and I really like that. And then, this relationship with time is interesting. Alpina is what opened my eyes to it, because I didn’t wear watches much before I met them. I sometimes wore a smartwatch for its functionality. And in the end I dropped it, because now I wear MY watch. Because I love it, and because I realised I liked this relationship with time, with just the hands letting me live more in the present. I find that beautiful, and I’m turning my back on technology a little. I find it soothing. It’s like a return to the fundamentals, to real life.

Eric Péron, what time is it for you?

It’s time to pass things on, to share, it’s time to stay ambitious, and then it’s time to ask ourselves the right questions in order to live well.

Eric Péron and Alpina