Born in Quimper in 1954, Philippe Poupon was part of Éric Tabarly's crew on Pen Duick VI, notably in the 1977-1978 Whitbread.
Sailing solo, he won the Solitaire du Figaro in 1982, 1985 and 1995, after finishing 3rd in 1980 and 2nd in 1983. On the Fleury Michon multihulls he won the 1986 Route du Rhum, set the 1987 west-to-east North Atlantic record (7 d 12 h 49 min) and won the 1988 Transat anglaise.
He then moved to monohulls: he capsized in the 1989-1990 Vendée Globe aboard Fleury Michon X, then finished 3rd in the 1992-1993 Vendée Globe on the same boat. He was 2nd in the 1990 Route du Rhum in a multihull.
Since 2009 he has led family expeditions aboard Fleur Australe to raise awareness of ocean protection. In 2022 he raced the Route du Rhum on the trimaran Flo, 7th in Rhum Multi, as a tribute to Florence Arthaud.
