Maud Fontenoy
Encyclopedia
Sailor
A sailor, mariner, or seaman is a person who navigates water-borne vessels or assists in their operation, maintenance, or service. The term can apply to professional mariners, military personnel, and recreational sailors as well as a plethora of other uses...
known for her rowings
Watercraft rowing
Watercraft rowing is the act of propelling a boat using the motion of oars in the water. The difference between paddling and rowing is that with rowing the oars have a mechanical connection with the boat whereas with paddling the paddles are hand-held with no mechanical connection.This article...
across the Atlantic
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
(2003) and Pacific
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
(2005) oceans.
Most recently, she completed a sailing trip around the Antarctic alone, against prevailing winds
Prevailing winds
Prevailing winds are winds that blow predominantly from a single general direction over a particular point on Earth's surface. The dominant winds are the trends in direction of wind with the highest speed over a particular point on the Earth's surface. A region's prevailing and dominant winds...
. Departed from the Réunion
Réunion
Réunion is a French island with a population of about 800,000 located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, about south west of Mauritius, the nearest island.Administratively, Réunion is one of the overseas departments of France...
island on October 15, 2006, she crossed the finish line on March 14, 2007, having sailed for 14500 km (9,009.9 mi). However, this sailing trip is not accepted as an official sailing "around the globe". This has been made clear in the newsletter no 128 by the World Sailing Speed Record Council
World Sailing Speed Record Council
The World Sailing Speed Record Council, founded in 1972, is the body authorized by the International Sailing Federation to confirm speed records of sailing crafts on water . In the early years the council only dealt with claims of speed records on a one-way leg of 500 metres...
, which states that "The WSSR Rule for Around the World - rule 26a - calls for a minimum orthodromic track distance
Great-circle distance
The great-circle distance or orthodromic distance is the shortest distance between any two points on the surface of a sphere measured along a path on the surface of the sphere . Because spherical geometry is rather different from ordinary Euclidean geometry, the equations for distance take on a...
of the vessel of at least 21,600 nautical miles (the distance of the great circle
Great circle
A great circle, also known as a Riemannian circle, of a sphere is the intersection of the sphere and a plane which passes through the center point of the sphere, as opposed to a general circle of a sphere where the plane is not required to pass through the center...
)"The Courses Offshore. WSSRC newsletter no 128 regarding Maud de Fontenoy
She was awarded the French Order of Merit (Ordre national du mérite) on 12 July 2007.
Fontenoy was named the UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission
Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission
The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission was established by resolution 2.31 adopted by the General Conference of UNESCO. It first met in Paris at Unesco Headquarters from 19 to 27 October 1961. Initially, 40 States became members of the Commission.The IOC is composed of its Member States ,...
and the World Ocean Network
World Ocean Network
The World Ocean Network is an international non-profit association of organizations to promote the sustainable use of the oceans. One of its motto is "Caring for the Blue Planet, you can make a difference!"...
Spokesperson for the Ocean on 3 June 2009