He believed it hard and the 26 minutes gap between him and Axel Tréhin on the first stage was just a formality. François Jambou had told us upon his arrival in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria:" I came to win and it's still possible. I'm a fool and I stay motivated. Victory I can have."
It was therefore as the winner of this 2nd stage that the skipper of the 865 Team BFR Marée Haute prototype crossed the finish line at Le Marin. Arrived in Martinique this Thursday, November 14 at 18:00:07 (metropolitan time), it took 12 days, 02 hours, 27 minutes and 07 seconds to cross the Atlantic with an average speed of 9.22 knots. In total, her journey time is 20 days, 20 hours, 31 minutes and 57 seconds, at an average speed of 8.02 knots.
François continues to write the victorious story of his boat, holding the title skippered by Ian Lipinski in 2017. If he had his feet on the brake at the start of the race - the conditions have hit many competitors hard - he took over the fleet on the second day and never let them go again.
Arrived with 12 hours, 51 minutes and 47 seconds gap on François Jambou, Axel Tréhin, winner of the first stage takes the 2nd place of this 2nd stage. By catching up with Axel for 26 minutes, François ensured victory in the overall race.
He confided in his race when he arrived
" I am very moved and have trouble realizing it. I made a lot of sacrifices that make sense today with this victory. My whole life has been about that, so I can get to that. I haven't had a salary for a year and a half because I stopped working. Lately, I haven't been very present for my 3-year-old son. My partner was behind me, I thank her, because without her I could never have done this. This victory will change my life, there will be a before and an after."
"I didn't feel like I was acting crazy."
" I was in a mode where you didn't have to break the boat, I had my feet on the brake at first, maybe the others wanted to go too fast from the start and broke. I was really in medium speed mode, there were plenty of moments when I could have pulled more on the boat, but as soon as it hit, as soon as there was a strange noise in the boat I calmed down a little, while monitoring the ranking. I didn't feel like acting crazy, because it's not in my nature. With GPS when you see that there are still 1?500 miles to go, you don't want to do them with a makeshift rig. We are sailors before we are sailors."
"Great sailing"
" We had fun conditions, always downwind. I put a spinnaker at the start and I slumped it right there, I only did 1 mile up close. It was a great navigation. The boat floated all the time. There were beautiful landscapes, grazing suns, you couldn't have dreamt of anything better. Mentally it was more difficult, I had trouble managing the stress of the competition. It's been quite an experience, I feel like I've made a lot of progress, I've understood a lot of things and that's also rewarding. I didn't pretend to be sure I could win, because there were super sailors, super boats and on the first stage I missed a little success at the end."
"A little bit of success"
" We had to get into the game from the start, which was not easy, because we were caught directly in strong winds. I was right behind Marie Gendron when she broke up, I saw others go to the pile. We still need a bit of success, because the bullshit is hanging over us all: the object we're going to hit, the wind shift that's not announced. Trouble, a lot of it can happen to anyone."
"The Mini-Transat, the race of my life"
" The Mini-Transat is the race of my life. I never dreamed of doing the Route du Rhum or the Vendée Globe. I started sailing late, around the age of 16. For me the Mini-Transat was the race of Mr. Everyman and I thought I would have access to it one day. Winning this race is extraordinaire?!"
"Impressed by Ambrogio Beccaria"
" There was a sailor who impressed me, Ambrogio. I think he's the best sailor I've ever seen. He is impressive. Getting in the thick of it with production boats as if they were the best protos, that was a highlight of the race. I completely hallucinated. Obviously when the wind eased a little bit, with my boat more powerful, lighter, I escaped, but nevertheless there is a good level in Mini and it's good for the class, it's good for the sport."
