Éric Defert, born in 1976 in Tours, is a French professional sailor and entrepreneur based in Finistère. He began offshore racing in the Mini 6.50 in the early 2000s: 7th in the 2002 Mini Fastnet, 17th in the 2003 Transat 6,50, 13th in the 2004 Mini Fastnet.
He then moved to the Figaro circuit (36th in the 2005 Solitaire du Figaro, 41st in 2006, 25th in 2007) and sailed the 2006 Transat AG2R (15th). In 2007 he finished 12th in the Transat Jacques Vabre in Class40 with Pascal Doin.
In Class40 he sailed the 2010 Route du Rhum (21st) on Drekan Énergie, with which he set the solo North Atlantic record in 2011 (New York to Cape Lizard, 11 d 11 h 30 min 58 s). In 2012 he was 7th in the Normandy Channel Race with Marc Lepesqueux; in 2013 he set an English Channel crossing record on a sport catamaran.
In 2017 he skippered the Ocean Fifty Drekan Énergie and capsized off Portugal during the Transat Jacques Vabre with Christopher Pratt. Since 2016 he has been involved in ocean science (Iodysséus association, Bloom expedition in 2019) and in 2021 co-founded Blue Observer, which deploys Argo floats. Since 2022 he has skippered the MOD70 Axciss / Groupe Drekan, winning La Sénane in 2023.
