Eric Bellion has long been committed to "Daring to be different". This man wants to show that associating different people is a strength and not a handicap. Under the name of his association CommeUnSeulHomme, he completed the round the world race on an IMOCA 60-footer during the 2016-17 Vendée Globe. An event he managed to overcome without having any experience on this type of boat and even less in competition.
An expedition to show the difference
Always keeping in mind the five principles of CommeUnSeulHomme (Dare to be different, Trust, Innovate through constraint, Aim for harmony and Exult), he embarked on a new project. Like the great expeditions that have left to discover the world (and then to make it discover), he has just bought a sailboat with which he wants to leave to carry this message. Thus the boat's stops will be an opportunity to meet the men and women of the countries visited, to explore their differences and to engage these populations behind this project.
21 m and 45.5 tons!
The boat chosen is in no way a race animal. No more 8-ton IMOCA, instead of a boat barely longer (21 m), but weighing 45.5 t! No more carbon racing beasts, make way for a steel hull and teak deck. Eric Bellion chose a Olivier F. van Meer plan, a schooner built in Holland in 2009, but which has hardly sailed since its launch. If he chose this sailboat, it is above all for its beauty. Indeed, this sailboat is a schooner with a certain face. The lifting keel, which reduces the draught to 1.70 m, was also retained to allow easy access to the shore.
An offshore test
Not hesitating to leave the comfort zone, Eric Bellion has just tried to sail solo on this sailboat, not at all imagined for this type of exercise. An experience that allowed him to change the way he sails, to enter into communion with his schooner and above all to sail 1200 M solo off Brittany. It is at the end of his journey, strengthened by the lessons of this navigation, that he has just declared his registration for the Route du Rhum, which will start from Saint-Malo in September 2018.
A surprise inscription
If the future AsOneMan is not likely to end up among the leading boats, the adventure is not considered a cruise. Indeed, the idea is once again to show that despite the difference, we can achieve great feats.
