Monique the sailing hen, who famously accompanied French solo skipper Guirec Soud\u00e9e on a five-year around the world voyage, has died. Soud\u00e9e posted a tribute to his unique companion today:Monique, a Rhode Island Red hen who joined solo sailor Guirec Soud\u00e9e on multiple sailing adventures, even including 130 days icebound in Greenland, has died at the age of 9.
\nWithout doubt the most well travelled chicken in the world, Monique accompanied Soud\u00e9e on a five year world tour, clocking up (clucking up? sorry\u2026 Ed) the kind of sea miles many a professional sailor would be proud of.
\nAdventurous young sailor Guirec Soud\u00e9e and his adopted hen Monique sailing on Yvinec. Photo: Guirec Soud\u00e9e
\nYoung Breton sailor and adventurer Soud\u00e9e adopted Monique while on a stopover in the Canary Islands aboard his 38ft steel yacht, Yvinec, on his first solo circumnavigation in 2015.\u00a0
\nMonique took to life at sea easily, laying 25 eggs on the pair\u2019s 28-day Atlantic crossing, and swapped pecking at the earth for worms for pecking flying fish that landed on Yvinec\u2019s deck.
\n\u201cI said to myself: \u2018If she annoys me, I can always eat her.\u2019 It feels weird to say that now! We formed a real bond. She was so endearing, she made me laugh so much, it felt as if I had always known her,\u201d Soud\u00e9e recalled in an interview for The Guardian\u00a0in 2019.
\nThe duo spent time in the Caribbean, where Soud\u00e9e worked as a watersports instructor to raise funds for his voyage, and his sailing hen Monique became something of a local celebrity, joining Soud\u00e9e windsurfing, on paddleboards and swimming in the sea.
\nIcebound in Greenland
\nSoud\u00e9e went on to sail north via Bermuda and Halifax to southern Greenland, arriving in late summer. He often visited children in local schools to talk about his voyage, always accompanied by Monique, much to the children\u2019s amusement as there are no hens in Greenland.<\/p>\n
Soud\u00e9e had set himself the challenge of overwintering in ice, unassisted. The pair holed up in Greenland\u2019s vast Disko Bay, provisioned with 40kg of rice for Soud\u00e9e, 60kg of seeds for Monique, and 2,000lt of fuel for heating and electricity, as Yvinec\u2019s solar panels won\u2019t operate during the polar night.
\nAt one point he prepared to abandon ship, with Monique tucked into his arm, as Yvinec seemed set to be crushed against rocks by the ice. Thankfully the wind changed, and the pair stayed aboard.
\nTo avoid the temptation of calling for help, Soud\u00e9e disconnected his sat phone and stayed out of communication until the ice melted in the spring, 130 days later.\u00a0
\nBy the time they emerged, Guirec and Monique were unlikely celebrities back in France, thanks to friends who had shared Soud\u00e9e\u2019s story on social media while he was off-grid.\u00a0<\/p>\n
World\u2019s most famous sailing hen
\nFor the next three years their adventures continued \u2013 through the North West Passage (also making Soud\u00e9e the youngest solo skipper to complete the passage), down to Antarctica, around Cape Horn, and back across the Atlantic \u2013 all captured in spectacular photos and funny videos which built a huge Facebook and Instagram following.\u00a0
\nWhen Soud\u00e9e returned to France in December 2018, Monique the sailing hen was famous across the country. The pair made numerous television and public appearances, and Soud\u00e9e wrote two books recounting their adventures, including one for children.<\/p>\n
Back home, the pair moved to a small island off the north shore of Brittany, also called Yvinec. Monique \u2018retired\u2019 from life at sea, while Soud\u00e9e went on to complete a double solo Atlantic rowing expedition, crossing from east to west, then west to east in 2021.
\nIn 2022 Soud\u00e9e took the helm of an IMOCA 60, Freelance, bidding to compete in the pinnacle of solo racing, the Vend\u00e9e Globe in 2024. His campaign got off to a good start, finishing a very respectable 25th in the 38-boat IMOCA fleet of the\u00a0Route du Rhum aboard a 2007 daggerboard design.
\nFarewell to Monique<\/p>\n
Today, however, fans of Soud\u00e9e and Monique were saddened to read that Monnique had passed away. Soud\u00e9e posted:
\n\u201cI knew it wasn\u2019t eternal, but it\u2019s hard to bring myself to turn the page on such an important chapter of my life: nine years but especially five years aboard Yvinec, living the craziest and most unforgettable experiences.
\n\u201cMy little Momo, after everything we\u2019ve been through, I don\u2019t even know where to start.
\n\u201cWithout you I would have gone mad during our 130 days of over-wintering in Greenland, including days of polar night. I had the good idea to only take only rice for me, and wasn\u2019t able to fish. But you kept on laying eggs everyday. You knew our lives depended on your eggs.
\n\u201cYou made me laugh so much. Every time we fought to catch flying fish on the deck, when you were sliding from side to side on every wave, when you tried to swim to join me. You scared me; I thought I\u2019d lost you many times.
\n\u201cYou made it much easier to meet people every time we stopped somewhere. In Saqqaq, they had never ever seen a chicken alive !
\n\u201cI made sacrifices for you too, I went to prison in Canada for you and I gave up on sailing to Tahiti because nobody wanted you there because of the bird flu.
\n\u201cTogether we saw icebergs, bears, narwhals, dozens of whales and thousands of dolphins. We dreamed like children and we shivered with fear. When we were knocked down in the Fifties, after Cape Horn, when we sailed for weeks in storms, cold and fatigued.\u00a0
\n\u201cFive years later, we arrived in Brittany and you got to live on my island. At first, you slept in the house, never leaving my side. Then you became the queen of the island, always running outside, digging the soil, the sand and the seaweed.
\n\u201cThat\u2019s when I decided to go for my rowing expedition. Crossing the Atlantic in a tiny sealed box. It was out of question to have you onboard, you would not have survived a day.
\n\u201cYou deserved a nice and quiet retirement.\u00a0I will never forget you, my little Momo. Thank you for everything.\u201d\u00a0
\nThe post The hen that sailed around the world: a farewell to Monique appeared first on Yachting World.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Monique the sailing hen, who famously accompanied French solo skipper Guirec Soud\u00e9e on a five-year around the world voyage, has died. Soud\u00e9e posted a tribute to his unique companion today:Monique, a Rhode Island Red hen who joined solo sailor Guirec … <\/p>\n