Damien Seguin has won the Vintage Multi category of the Route du Rhum - Destination Guadeloupe, sailing the very trimaran that first made him dream of ocean racing as a boy on the docks of Pointe-à-Pitre.
The French skipper crossed the line aboard Arkéa - Handicap International, a boat with serious pedigree. It's the former Fujicolor II, the same trimaran Mike Birch once sailed, rebuilt but kept deliberately old-school: no foils, nothing between the hull and the Atlantic but raw sailing.
Seguin grew up in Guadeloupe watching Route du Rhum finishes, a race he describes as an "eternal dream machine." He was just 10 when Florence Arthaud won in 1990, and he still has an autograph from Mike Birch. "It's the race that made me want to sail and race offshore," he said. "It was hugely important in building my sporting career."
Born without a left hand, Seguin never let labels define his career. Five 2.4mR world titles. Four Paralympic Games, three medals. Then came the switch to offshore racing, through the Figaro circuit and Class40, before he established himself as one of the most consistent names in IMOCA, always finishing inside the top 10.
He has completed two Vendée Globe races, seventh in 2021 and 15th in 2025. But it was the 2025 Transat Café l'Or, sailed alongside friend Thibaut Vauchel-Camus, that reignited his love of multihull sailing and sent him back towards the trimarans of his childhood.
For his fifth Route du Rhum, he tracked down that sleeping legend in the south of France and rebuilt it faithfully to its original spirit.
The fleet left Saint-Malo at 1302 on 1 November, and the Atlantic turned ugly almost immediately. Messy weather and tricky transitions set a brutal pace, and Francis Joyon's capsize aboard Océans was a sharp reminder of how unforgiving these old multihulls can be.
Up front in Vintage Multi, it became a duel. Seguin and Éric Péron, sailing French Touch – Oceania Hôtels, traded blows through squalls and rough seas. "I'm well aware I'm on a fantastic machine and it's very enjoyable, but these are also stressful boats," Seguin said. "I feel like I'm losing life points!"
He had to manage damage too, including a broken pole, all while keeping his composure. "You have to know how to make the right decisions at the right time, you feel like you can't do just anything. It's perhaps the most committing kind of boat there is."
Winning his category on home water, aboard the very trimaran that shaped his childhood, is as fitting a tribute to the old guard of ocean racing as Seguin could have written.
