Born in Vancouver in 1931, Mike Birch held many jobs before discovering sailing as a boat delivery skipper. He came to racing late: in 1976, aged 44, he finished second in the Observer Single-handed Transatlantic Race on a small trimaran, behind Éric Tabarly.
In 1978 he won the first Route du Rhum aboard Olympus Photo, a 12-metre trimaran. He caught and passed Michel Malinovsky's monohull Kriter V in the closing miles and won by 98 seconds, a result that foreshadowed the rise of multihulls.
His career continued for decades: 3rd in the 1982 Route du Rhum, 3rd in the 1996 Transat, winner of the 1985 Monaco–New York, and still racing the 2007 Transat Jacques-Vabre at 76. Living between Brittany and Quebec, he died in Brec'h (Morbihan) on 26 October 2022.
