Meeting with Pierrick Ledard, rowing champion and director of the port of Barneville-Carteret

Where do you practice sea rowing?

I practice sea rowing as often as possible off the coast of Barneville. In the Cotentin, the sailing conditions are exceptional. Depending on the weather, the tides, the winds, the sea is never the same, sometimes complex to understand, which is part of its charm. There is also this proximity to the Channel Islands. The practice of sea rowing is important there with races like Sark-Jersey, the tour of Jersey, that of Guernsey, of Herm…. One of the most beautiful long distance races remains the Carteret-Jersey crossing, at the end of July, the only one that connects two countries. Around eighty skiffs come from all over the world. So many boats accompany them. A beautiful atmosphere.

How did you learn about this discipline?

“I discovered sea rowing at the age of fourteen in 1999, thanks to sports tickets set up at the time by the community of communes of Barneville-Carteret. Twenty years later, I participated in the mixed doubles world championships in China. Then, in 2018, in Vancouver, Canada, I became vice-world champion with my teammate Edwige Alfred.

Where can you practice sea rowing in the Cotentin? Is specific training required?

The Barneville-Carteret sea rowing club has one hundred and twenty members, that of Cherbourg, a bit more. A complete sport, sea rowing is booming for both amateurs and athletes. I train every day. What a joy to go running on the beach, on the customs officers' path, in theHatainville dune area or on the Trois Moulins fitness trail in Les Moitiers-d’Allonne…”

On June 11 and 12, 2021, Pierrick Ledard rowed 172 kilometers, from Carentan to Barneville-Carteret, around the Cotentin, for the benefit of the'association Rêves Manche, which grants the wishes of sick children.

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