Raphaëla le Gouvello du Timat (born 1960) [1] is a French windsurfer and conservationist. She has successfully completed four windsurfing crossings, solo and unassisted, of the Atlantic Ocean in 2000, the Mediterranean in 2002, the Pacific Ocean in 2003 [2] and the Indian Ocean in 2006. [3] She later founded the NGO Respect Ocean to protect the marine environment. [4] [5]
Le Gouvello was born in Paris and is of Breton descent. [1] She initially trained as a veterinarian. [3] She began windsurfing in 1976 and eventually competed at a national level. [1]
In November 2003 following her passage from Peru to Tahiti she was made a Commander of the Order of Tahiti Nui. [6]
In 2019 she completed a PhD on the circular economy in a small-scale fishery-dependent socio-ecological system through the University of Western Brittany's School of Marine and Coastal Sciences. [7]