Patrice Franeschi was born December 18, 1954. "Adventurer by vocation and reporter out of necessity".
He is most famous for his solo around-the-world flight in an Aviasud Sirocco ultralight aeroplane from September 26, 1984 to March 26, 1987. Following this tour of 2½ years (562 hours of flight, across 33 countries), he wrote a book recounting his expedition: La folle équipée.
He also took part in many expeditions, including the project The Spirit of Bougainville, whose ship The Boudeuse (a Chinese junk, thirty meters long), sank 130 miles east of Malta.