Isabelle Autissier

Isabelle Autissier in 2015.

Isabelle Autissier (born 18 October 1956) is a French sailor, navigator, writer, and broadcaster. She is celebrated for being the first woman to have completed a solo world navigation in competition (BOC Challenge 1990–91).

While competing in the 1994–95 BOC Challenge Autissier's boat Ecureuil Poitou Charentes II was dismasted and severely damaged approximately 900 nautical miles (1,700 km) south of Adelaide, Australia. Autissier was rescued on 1 January 1995 by a Seahawk helicopter launched from the Royal Australian Navy frigate, HMAS Darwin.

In the 1998–99 Around Alone race Autissier was rescued by fellow competitor Giovanni Soldini when her boat PRB capsized approximately 1,900 miles (3,100 km) west of Cape Horn.

Bibliography

• Rendez-vous avec la mer (Rendez-vous with the sea), with Antoine Le Séguillon (Solar, 1996)
• Une solitaire autour du monde (Alone around the World), with Éric Cocquerel (Arthaud, 1997)
• Kerguelen, le voyageur au pays de l'ombre (Kerguelen, the Traveller in the Land of Shadow), (Grasset, 2006)
• Salut au Grand Sud (Goodbye to the Great South), with Érik Orsenna, (Stock, 2006)
• Versant océan : l'île du bout du monde (Sloping Ocean: the Island at the end of the World) with Lionel Daudet, (Grasset, 2008)
• Passer par le Nord. La nouvelle route maritime (Going through the North. The new sea route), with Érik Orsenna (Paulsen, 2014)