Almost a month after your dismasting, and with hindsight, what is your feeling today at hui??
I'm trying to move on. What happened on the Rhum is disgusting because it was an incredible opportunity, with a great boat and a great project. It was one of the best opportunities I've ever had and it's a real shame.
After that, I have no regrets. I don't think I would do it differently if I had the opportunity. I gave everything, I did everything I had pu?; from last year to the start. There's nothing I'd change if I had to do it all over again.
What was the cause of démâtage??
I have a part that broke and shouldn't have because it had been changed recently. We had had problems with this part on my boat as well as on others, but it was supposed to be a reliable part. We didn't think we were taking any risks at all. After that, is it a manufacturing or surserrage? problem? The technical team has not yet analyzed the part to determine the cause of the breakage.
In any case, dismasting was a technical support problem and not a sailor's problem..
Martin Viezzer
How does it feel in these cases?
Right now we're in the action and it's not too bad at that moment. We don't have time to think, we set ourselves new objectives: how can we save the rigging, the voiles??
We try to get everything we can back, not to damage the boat, not to fall into the water. In the action we are taken rather quickly, we don't have time to be sad.
After that, during my 2 days of sailing to Lorient, I didn't have time to think anymore. I saw the part that was broken and I was disgusted. But I didn't have too much trouble with myself. The return was physically difficult. I was seasick and under makeshift rigging, the boat is not too stable. You have to be patient until you get back to shore.
Martin Viezzer
What is your next objectif??
I would certainly love to do the Route du Rhum in 4 years' time. But the 2019 objective is the Transat Jacques Vabre. Above all, I must continue to set up a project for the long term. Netflix was short term, so the rest won't be with them.
For the moment the boat is here, but it's 4 years old and it's more complicated to win in the regatta, and even more so in the Transat Jacques Vabre. There are the new T5s ( NDLR the 28' monohulls used as tests to develop the AC75 ) and they will be even faster. The objective would be to switch to a more efficient support.
A long-term project, like the Vendée Globe??
Of course I would like to do a Vendée Globe, but I am also motivated by performance. So I need to know what the compromises are to make a Vendée Globe. Will doing it on a 15-year-old boat intéresse? me? I want a competitive project and not to go there to go there... Then it's also incredible to sail around the world alone and do we really need a hydrofoil boat for the faire?? That's the whole point. Anyway, given the schedule, it's already complicated for the 2021 Vendée Globe so I'm not rushing.
