Alain Colas (September 16, 1943 - November 16, 1978) was a French sailor. He is particularly known for his victory in the 1972 English Transat as well as for his solo circumnavigation sailing record in 1973, sailing with "Manuréva", Éric Tabarly's former catamaran "Pen Duick IV". Subsequently, he built the 72-meter monohull "Club Méditerranée" with which he finished fifth in the 1976 English Transat. A man of communication, he was the first to rely on the power of the media to develop sponsorship in ocean racing.
His disappearance in November 1978 during the first "Route du Rhum" is shrouded in mystery — no part of a wreck has ever been found — which notably fueled Serge Gainsbourg's writing of the song Manureva, performed in 1979 by Alain Chamfort .
September 16, 1943 - Clamecy, Nièvre, France - Alain Colas is born
January(?) 1(?), 1949 - Clamecy - Primary School at Clamecy
January(?) 1(?), 1954 - Vanves - High School at Vanves
January(?) 1(?), 1961 - Auxerre, France - Obtains a baccalaureate in Philosophy from Lycée Paul Bert
January(?) 1(?), 1962 - Dijon - Attends the Faculty of Arts in Dijon for a year
January(?) 1(?), 1963 - Paris - Studies English at the Sorbonne
July 1(?), 1963 - Clamecy - Creates the canoe-kayak club of Clamecy
January(?) 1(?), 1965 - Clamecy - His father sends him an advertisement in "Le Monde" in which the University of Sydney was looking for a lecturer. He applies for the job immediately
December 24, 1965 - Clamecy - The University of Sydney rejects his application, but he maintains his plans to travel to Australia
January 6, 1966 - Marseille, France - Departs France for Australia on board the "Tahitien" (The only Marseille-Australia liner in January) =(START)
January 7, 1966 - Algiers, Algeria - Port call in Algiers
January 11, 1966 - Funchal, Madeira Island, Portugal - Port call in Funchal, Madeira Island
January 18, 1966 - Guadeloupe, Caribbean - Port call in Guadeloupe
January 20, 1966 - Curaçao, Caribbean - Port call in Curaçao
January 22, 1966 - Balboa, Panama - Port call in Balboa
February 2, 1966 - Taioha'e, Nuku Hiva, Marquesas Islands - Port call in Taioha'e
February 4, 1966 - Papeete, Tahiti - Port call in Tahiti
February 16, 1966 - Port Vila, Vanuatu - Port call in Vanuatu
February 18, 1966 - Nouméa, New Caledonia - Port call in Nouméa
February 25, 1966 - Sydney, Australia - The "Tahitien" arrives in Sydney
June(?) 1(?), 1966 - Sydney - Colas begins teaching French at St.John's College, University of Sydney. He begins sailing on his free time and soon becomes his passion
December 26, 1967 - Sydney - Starts the Sydney to Hobart Yacht race as a crewmember of Éric Tabarly's "Pen Duick III" along with other future legend Olivier de Kersauson
December 30, 1967 - Hobart, Tasmania - Tabarly wins the Sydney to Hobart Yacht race
January 17, 1968 - Ouvéa Island, New Caledonia - Hurricane Brenda surprises Tabarly while "Pen Duick III" is anchored at Ouvéa Island. For two days he faces the biggest storm of his career while he tries to escape to Nouméa
January 18, 1968 - Nouméa, New Caledonia - Tabarly reaches the relative safety of Nouméa harbour
January 25, 1968 - Nouméa - Sails from Nouméa for Sydney
February 1, 1968 - Sydney, Australia - Returns to Sydney. "Pen Duick III" is embarked on the freighter "La Vanoise" to France
May 30(?), 1968 - Paris, France - Returns to Paris during the "May of 68"
November 26, 1968 - La Trinité-sur-Mer, SE of Lorient - Tabarly sails for Martinique with Alain Colas and Olivier de Kersauson
December 6, 1968 - Tenerife, Canary Islands - Stopover in Tenerife to shelter from bad weather
December 8, 1968 - Tenerife - Continues voyage to Martinique
December 19, 1968 - Fort-de-France, Martinique - Tabarly arrives in Fort-de-France, Martinique
December 22(?), 1968 - Paris, France - Colas flies home to spend time with his family
February 2, 1969 - Fort-de-France, Martinique(?) - Tabarly rejoins his crew (including Colas) after supervising the construction of "Pen Duick V" and its transport to San Francisco by freighter. He sails with "Pen Duick IV" for San Francisco, via the Panama Canal
February 4, 1969 - Caribbean Sea - The centreboard breaks, delaying their voyage
February 15(?), 1969 - Panama Canal - "Pen Duick IV" transits the Panama Canal
March 6, 1969 - San Diego, California - Arrives in San Diego. Tabarly then travels to San Francisco by car, to where "Pen Duick V" was waiting for him
March 16, 1969 - San Francisco, California - Start of the Transpacific race
April 25, 1969 - Jagoshima Island, Japan - Tabarly (and Colas) win the transpacific race in 39 days (advantage of 11 days to the 2nd place)
May 9, 1969 - Tokyo, Japan - Tabarly receives the trophy of 1st place in the Transpacific race
June(?) 21(?), 1969 - Papeete, Tahiti - Meets yachtsman Bernard Moitessier (Gold Globe regatta participant, who retires from the race on June 21st)
July 1(?), 1969 - Los Angeles, California - Returns to California
July 4, 1969 - Los Angeles - The Los Angeles - Honolulu race begins. Tabarly starts one hour after all the other competitors
July 12, 1969 - Honolulu, Hawaii - Tabarly wins the race and breaks the record by 24 hours
August(?) 1(?), 1969 - San Francisco, California - After the race, Tabarly returns to San Francisco for regattas and exhibitions to try to sell "Pen Duick IV"
October 1(?), 1969 - Nouméa, New Caledonia - Tabarly sells "Pen Duick IV" to Alain Colas to pay for unforeseen taxes June 1(?), 1970 - San Francisco - Participates in the San Francisco - Papeete race with the "Narragansset"
August 31, 1970 - Pitcairn Islands - Restarts the race again
December 1(?), 1970 - Sydney, Australia | Hobart, Tasmania - Enrolls "Pen Duick IV" in the Sydney-Hobart race
February(?) 1(?), 1971 - Papeete, Tahiti - Meets his future wife Teura Krause
September(?) 1(?), 1971 - Papeete - Sails for Reunion, via Darwin, with Teura
November 23(?), 1971 - Darwin, Australia - Sails for Reunion with Teura
December 16, 1971 - Reunion, Indian Ocean - Sails for France alone after sailing for 24 days from Darwin. Teura flies to France due to her seasickness
February 19, 1972 - La Trinité-sur-Mer, France - Colas reaches La Trinité-sur-Mer after 66 days at sea (then a record for a solo voyage)
June 1(?), 1972 - Plymouth, England - Arrives in Plymouth with "Pen Duick IV" ready for OSTAR
June 17, 1972 - Plymouth - The 1972 OSTAR starts
July 7, 1972 - Newport, Rhode Island - Alain Colas wins the 1972 Transat with "Pen Duick IV", reaching Newport in a record time of 20 days
August(?) 1(?), 1972 - Brittany, France - He tries to break return record but fails with a race time of 17 days and 8 hours
September 1, 1972 - Deauville, Normandy - Colas and Teura attend a party with Michel d'Ornano
December 1(?), 1972 - Paris, France - Participates in a round table on "Sport and Quality of Life", led by Anne Aymone Giscard d'Estaing. He becomes a "Knight of the Legion d'Honneur"
January 1, 1973 - Paris - With Prime-Minister Pierre Messmer and Éric Tabarly at the Nautical Salon at the CNIT
March 2, 1973 - Paris - Tabarly and Colas are photographed with the crew of "Pen Duick IV"
July 1(?), 1973 - Chantiers et ateliers de la Perrière, Lorient - "Pen Duick IV" begins a refitto reinforce the forward buoyancy of the three hulls. Colas renames the trimaran "Manuréva"
July 16, 1973 - Deauville, Normandy - On the Port-Deauville jetty, Guy Nicolas, the Captain of the French-Channel Yachting Team that won the France Cup in 1973 has his footprints made, aswell as Alain Colas, winner of the Golden Neptune in 1972
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| Manuréva |
September 8, 1973 - St.Malo - Colas sets off from St.Malo with the "Manuréva". His objective is to reach Sydney in under 80 days and break the record set by the "Cutty Sark"September 17, 1973 - Off Cape St.Vicent, Portugal - Sailing off Cape St.Vincent, Portugal
September 24, 1973 - SE of Cape Verde - Sailing Southeast of Cape Verde Islands
September 27, 1973 - Latitude of Sierra Leone - middle Atlantic - Colas reaches the latitude of Sierra Leone, in the middle of the Atlantic
October 5, 1973 - 750 miles off the coast of Bahia - Sailing 750 miles off the coast of Bahia
October 11, 1973 - Between Southern Brazil and South Africa - Colas changes course to the east
October 22, 1973 - Cape of Good Hope - Colas passes the Cape of Good Hope
November 2, 1973 - Between Kerguelen and South Africa - Sailing in the Roaring Forties between Kerguelen and South Africa
November 16, 1973 - 600 miles south of Perth, Western Australia - Sailing in the Roaring Forties 600 miles south of Perth, Western Australia
November 27, 1973 - Sydney, Australia - Colas reaches Sydney in 79 days, a new solo record. He is met on arrival by Teura and his parents
December 29, 1973 - Sydney - Colas sets off from Sydney on the same day that his mentor Éric Tabarly leaves Sydney with "Pen Duick VI" on the next leg of the Whitbread Round the World Race
February 2, 1974 - W. of Cape Horn - He is met by the british Antartic survey vessel, the "Endurance", which escorts the "Manuréva" through the night as she nears Cape Horn. The next day, in calm conditions, an inflatable put off from the "Endurance" with spare fuel and some supplies
February 3, 1974 - Cape Horn - Colas rounds Cape Horn with surprising calm seas and azure sky
March 29, 1974 - St.Malo, France - Arrives back in St.Malo, 90 days out of Sydney, and he is received as a hero
July 6, 1974 - Plymouth, England - Two handed Round Britain and Ireland Race
May 19, 1975 - La Trinité-sur-Mer, SE of Lorient | Nantes - Before he had raised all of the money needed for his next project, Colas suffers a a serious setback: Whilst attempting to anchor "Manuréva", his right leg became trapped in the anchor cable whilst it was running out. His right foot was virtually severed at the ankle. Colas is taken to hospital in Nantes where the doctors doubted if he would ever walk again. They wanted to amputate what was remaining of his foot. Colas refused to allow this.
June(?) 1(?), 1975 - Nantes - After a series of some 22 operations, many undertaken without unaesthetic at behest of Colas who wanted to remain alert at all times, Colas recovers
July 1(?), 1975 - Nantes - Writes from his hospital bed to the OSTAR Race Committee saying "surgeons have done wonders and I shall join the party next June for the race to Newport"
August 10, 1975 - La Trinité-sur-Mer - Sails for Marseille, the new homeport of the boat
November 19, 1975 - Yonne, Clamecy - Convalescing at home
January 19, 1976 - Paris - Visits the Navigation Salon in Paris
January 22, 1976 - Paris - Attends the presentation of the film "around the world for a victory" at the Olympia
February 1(?), 1976 - Toulon - The OSTAR Committee meets with Colas, accompanied by his doctor who was himself a yachtsman. The Committee agrees he could enter the race provided he undertook an additional single handed qualitying cruise of 1,500 miles between not more than four points in the North Atlantic
February 15, 1976 - Toulon - The 72-metre-long, four-masted sailboat "Club Méditerranée" is launched at the Arsenal du Mourillon
March 1(?), 1976 - Toulon - Tabarly visits Alain Colas and his "Club Méditerranée" in Toulon
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| Club Mediterranée |
March 21, 1976 - Toulon - Sea trialsMay 5, 1976 - Lisbon, Portugal - Stopover in Lisbon, Portugal
May 12, 1976 - Le Havre, France - Colas arrives in Le Havre
June 5, 1976 - Le Havre | Plymouth, England - Sails to Plymouth to start the 1976Transatlantic race (Transat) with "Club Méditerranée". A record of 125 yachts leave the english city for that edition of the race
June 28(?), 1976 - Newfoundland, Canada - Technical stopover in Newfoundland for 36 hours
June 29, 1976 - Newport, Rhode Island - Finishes the Transat race in second, after Éric Tabarly
July 4, 1976 - Hudson River, United States - Represents France on "Club Méditerranée" at the Hudson River ship parade for the bicentennial of the United States
July 9, 1976 - Bermuda - Arrives in Bermuda
July(?) 20(?), 1976 - Canary Islands - Organizes the "Welcome abord" operation, mooring the giant "Club Mediterranée" in the main ports of the Canaries and the Atlantic, welcoming visitors on board for free in the morning and organizing fishing trips for a fee
August 15(?), 1976 - La Trinité-sur-Mer, France - Returns to France
August 8, 1977 - Bastia, Corsica - Signing his book in Bastia, Corsica
September 15(?), 1978 - St.Malo - "Manuréva" is arrives in St.Malo from Saint Mandrier
November 5, 1978 - St.Malo - Start of the 1st "Route du Rhum" from St.Malo to Ponte-à-Pitre, Guadaloupe
November 6, 1978 - Off Ushant/Ouessant, Brittany - The fleet is picked up by a violent depression off Ushant/Ouessant that causes major damage to many skippers
November 12, 1978 - Between Terceira and Graciosa Islands, Azores - Colas sails between the Islands of Terceira and Graciosa, Azores Archipelago November 16, 1978 - 300 miles W-SW of Flores Island - By night, Colas sends a message to RMC radio: "I am in the eye of the storm, there is no longer any sky, everything is amalgam, there are only mountains of water around me". According to Teura, he called her, shouting her name three times before a sound was heard and the call ends.
November 17, 1978 - 300 miles W-SW of Flores Island - Alain Colas and his "Manuréva" sail into the eye of the cyclone and are swallowed by the Sea, never to be found. He was 35 =(END)
