A successful Paralympic career
"I have an unusual background in the small world of sailing. First because I was born with a disability." explains Damien Seguin, who will be taking part in the next Transat Jacques Vabre on the IMOCA Groupe Apicil, a Finot plan from 2008. A handicap that did not prevent him from having a very successful Olympic career in sailing and from making a name for himself on various media. "I started sailing at the age of 10, first in Optimist, then in Laser Radial and finally in Hobie Cat 16. At the time I lived in Guadeloupe, it helps to navigate the whole année?! So I was sailing a lot."
Damien then joined the French Pole at ENV (now ENVSN National School of Sailing and Water Sports) in Quiberon, Tornado, an Olympic catamaran, in 1998. Four years followed on this boat before beginning a Paralympic preparation in 2004. First participation, first victory for Damien consecrated by a gold medal at Athènes?!
The young athlete then participates in the 4 seasons of the Paralympic Games. In 2008, he won silver in Beijing, in 2014, he finished 4th in London while proudly carrying the role of Captain of the French Team and being the flagship of our French nation.
It was in Rio in 2016 that he ended his Paralympic career with a 2 gold medal. "In total I won 5 world championship titles in 2.4 mR, the last one being this summer 2019."
A touch of all things sailing
In parallel with the Olympics, Damien has been involved in ocean racing for a long time. First in Figaro Bénéteau - which he started in 2005 - then in Class40 - which he joined in 2009. He also participates in two Routes du Rhum and two Transat Jacques Vabre.
"After the 2016 Olympic Games, I also took part in 3 Tours de France à la Voile (Tour Voile today) with a victory in 2017 before turning to an IMOCA project at the end of 2017/beginning of 2018 with the aim of a Vendée Globe 2020. I finished 6th in the 2018 Route du Rhum and I'm getting ready to race the Transat Jacques Vabre and then the Vendée Globe to name just a few of the major races."
An old-generation IMOCA, optimized and efficient
Groupe Apicil is an IMOCA of the 2008 generation, born under the colours of DCNS and helmed by Marc Thiercelin until 2011. It was then Eric Bellion who took charge of it in the 2016-2017 Vendée Globe. Renamed As One Man, the IMOCA is completing its first solo round the world voyage without assistance and without stopovers. It is on board that Eric Bellion will direct the film "Comme Un seul Homme".
"My boat is a bit of a movie star." damien laughs. Before adding "it's not a recent boat, but it's a good boat, well built. The most important thing was to have a reliable machine. I couldn't afford to buy a new generation boat."
Damien bought it at the beginning of 2018 and immediately followed with the preparation of the Route du Rhum. A difficult edition, marked by harsh weather conditions.
In 2019, the boat underwent a long optimization project "within the limits of what we were able to do. The boat is lighter. We touched on all the elements while keeping in mind that it is a 2008 boat. It had not really evolved in recent years. Eric's objective was to finish the Vendée Globe, with no notion of performance."
Groupe Apicil has therefore been updated. The deck layout has been revised to make the manoeuvres as efficient as possible, the complete sail set has been changed, the daggerboards too and the engine has been replaced by an electric model. " It doesn't affect the boat's performance, but it's important to me. My last Class40 already had an electric motor and I wanted to show that we could do the same thing in IMOCA."
Damien has been sailing on the new version of Groupe Apicil since the beginning of 2019. "It is more pleasant to sail, but still retains the reliability and solidity that we know about it, which makes it a fairly healthy boat. I have completed all the races I have competed in. It has brought a real plus in terms of performance."
New drifts, but drifts when même?!
"It's really attractive to be able to upgrade your boat with foils?!" But to stay within the fixed budget, Damien and his team have chosen to keep the drifts. "There was also the question of the boat's reliability on a Vendée Globe scale. We looked a lot at those who had upgraded boats of this generation and the results were not convincing. We have therefore chosen to keep our drifts. We still changed them to replace them with more efficient appendages."
Disability in sailing
On board his IMOCA, nothing is adapted to the handicap except the vertical winch column (a sleeve replaces one of the handles). The 60-foot Open are powerful boats that require the strength of both arms.
"My logic when I switched to ocean racing was to adapt to the boat and not the other way around. I wanted the message to be readable by everyone and my boat to be the same as everyone else. I wanted it to be the quality of the sailor that made the difference on the water and not the adaptation of the boat."
To the question" Do you think that your handicap gives you certain strengths that your opponents do not have pas?? ", Damien answers: "I am someone passionate about what I do. I love my job, sailing... I am convinced that the 20 years of Olympism have instilled in me the rigour, the preparation, and that the high level challenge has forged my character. I'm a real competitor, I don't give up."
Before I add, "it's obvious that it also forged my character. I always wanted to do like everyone else, like my friends. Whether at school, on sports activities or in sailing. Today, I feel like I'm continuing to make progress on the boat, I feel comfortable. I never set any limits on that."
"Buddy" teammates
On this Transat Jacques Vabre 2019, Damien has chosen Yoann Richomme as co-skipper. Double winner of the Solitaire du Figaro and Class40 winner of the 2018 Route du Rhum, Yoann is a friend of Damien's. "We've already raced together two Jacques Vabre in Class40 and stolen the 2 e in 2011. We're really good friends, we really wanted to go back together. We are very complementary and our results together are encouraging so I had no reason to go looking for anyone other than Yoann."
Success objective in the Transat Jacques Vabre 2019
"We have revised our target upwards during the season. The boat works very well, it is reliable. I didn't break much and finish all the races."
By optimising his boat, Damien now has an IMOCA at the top of the 60-foot Open performance drift basket. "I am clearly aiming for first place for drifting boats. We're also going to try to fight with some foilers. Even if it's a course that will benefit them, we're going to try to make the most of it and push the boat to 100% of its potential. If we make the right choices in terms of weather and strategy, then we can have good results."
Two weeks ago, Groupe Apicil took part in the Azimut Challenge, off Lorient and took 5th place in the scratch, finishing first among drift boats. His main concurrent?? "Banque Populaire X?! (Editor's note: ex-SMA, winner of the Route du Rhum 2018 with Paul Meilhat) This is a recent and successful boat. It's our hare and we're going to do a lot of work for accrocher?!"
Banque Populaire X - which was launched in June 2019 - is now helmed by the young Clarisse Crémer. After a 3-place finish on the Rolex Fastnet, the drifting IMOCA finished 6th in the Azimuth Challenge.
Vendée Globe 2020 target
Damien Seguin's next major event will be the Vendée Globe 2020. "I have a real sporting objective in the drift boat category. But above all, I want to maximize my chances of being at the finish line of the race and finishing it."
It is with this objective in mind that the skipper of Groupe Apicil has preferred to keep his drifts instead of foils. "Putting on foils was an unnecessary risk taking, apart from costing a lot of money."
A well-considered decision with Damien's team, and in particular Jean Le Cam, who supervises the technical part of the boat. The latter will also participate in the Transat Jacques Vabre 2019 on his boat in the colours of Corum for the occasion, alongside Nicolas Troussel.
A sports and association project
After the 2004 Paralympic Games, Damien created the "Des pieds et des mains" association. The objective is to introduce people with disabilities to water sports and to mix the practice of sport within clubs. While he was President for a long time, he is still very active there today. On the bow of Groupe Apicil is clearly displayed the association's logo.
" Today it is a bit like the tendency to support an association, but for my part it is not something new. It is something important and natural. Moreover, it is a global project with the Apicil group, which works for social protection (support and integration of the most vulnerable people). "
