The Vendée Globe, a folie?!
More accustomed to the mountains than to the sea, it was during holidays in Brittany that Romain Attanasio discovered navigation. Like many others, it was on the Mini-Transat that he learned his trade, before joining the Figaro circuit. In 2016, he set sail in his first Vendée Globe, but the adventure did not go exactly as he had planned, even if he finished his round the world race in 15th place.
"The Vendée Globe is stupid, crazy, inconscience?!" the skipper laughs. "For my first Vendée Globe, I took my boat in hand in February for a start in November. It was an old boat and I was in adventure mode. I hit a UFO off the coast of South Africa, and I thought the race was over for me. But I was in contact with boats newer than mine in the Deep South."
Romain Attanasio manages to repair his rudders, but the competition somehow stops for him. With no competitors to compete against, he finishes his circumnavigation of the world on his own.
Magic moments
For this second consecutive participation, the navigator knows what to expect. He has even worked with a mental coach, spotting the pitfalls they expect him to encounter on the chart.
"Paratroopers say it's the second jump that's the scariest. I know what to expect. I know there are some tough spots. Christmas in 2016, it was tough. A Vendée Globe is never like the last one. It's going to be very hard anyway. There are some things that I'm preparing for better, and others where I've become more confident and perhaps less well prepared. You have to be careful."
Apart from the experience he has gained, he is also taking away memories from his first Vendée Globe that will never leave him. Starting with this new departure from Africa after his damage.
"I would remember this moment. My departure from Africa with my repaired rudders. 5 days before, when I damaged them, I thought the race was over. I knew I was giving up. It crossed my mind for five hours. But finally, 5 days later, I was still racing, with navigable rudders, upwind in 30 knots. It was bliss.
The passage of Cape Horn was also incredible, with the snow-covered Andes Mountains in the distance. It was crazy. It was deliverance. I managed to cross the South Seas. Made it back alive. It was a bit of a victory.
Of course, there's the finish, too. I've had so much trouble, I was on the edge all the time. I kept wondering when I'd have to stop. Finally, when you cross the line, you made it. Nothing more can happen."
Hoping to get back to the sea on a better performing boat
With the health crisis that has delayed the program of all the sailors, Romain Attanasio is eager to get back to sea.
"The boat is usually launched in July, but this was a month later. With this particular year, we sailed less than in other years. We've been able to manage that because I've had my boat for three years, which is more of a problem for boats that started late. I don't feel that I'm running out of sailing, but I do feel that I'm running out of ocean, that I'm running out of high seas. I can't wait to get back to the Deep South. It's dangerous, but bewitching. It's like when you're a kid and you're forbidden to go to the ruined house in the village. It's a place where you only sail when you're doing the Vendée Globe."
For this 2020 edition, the navigator has recovered a more powerful boat 3 years ago. This is Fabrice Amédéo's former IMOCA for the 2016 Vendée Globe, a Farr design from 2007.
"I picked him up in the winter of 2017, after the Vendée Globe. We had time to prepare it, even if we didn't have the budget to make some crazy modifications. I would have liked to reverse the daggerboards, see the foils fitted, have a wing mast, reverse the ballast tanks... We only lightened the boat by removing a sort of satellite, which was used to avoid having to batten down. All you had to do was put everything in the cabinet and turn it around. It took up a lot of space on board. It's a smart system, but it's very heavy. We also took off the big cap.
We've gained 600 kg, the boat is only 8.5 tons. It's light enough for this generation. It's more stripped down. So I can take 150 freeze-dried dishes and 50 vacuum-packed dishes." ...is having Roman fun.
Racing with daggerboard boats
With a boat - admittedly from an older generation - but more powerful, the skipper, who admits to being a competitor, will be placing the cursor a little higher and racing with the daggerboard boats.
"It's an old generation ship. It's a safe, it's normally solid. It's a bit older so it can break, too. But it's tried and tested, solid, I know it well. On these big boats, you have to know how to make it go fast. You have to be able to handle it in difficult situations. It takes experience if there's a problem. You have to deal with it right away. It's important to know your boat well. I'd like to have a hydrofoil boat like my friends in the Vendée Globe. I can't imagine a new boat, but a hydrofoil boat that would allow me to compete. The training in Port laf' is raging. In five minutes I'm out of the game. In 17 knots, at 110° to the wind, I'm going at 18 knots, while Sam (Editor's note: Samantha Davies, skipper of the IMOCA Initiatives-C?ur, a competitor in the 2020 Vendée Globe is also Romain Attanasio's partner) is going at 24 knots and Charal, at over 30 n?uds?! It's incroyable?! You have to see what it's all about donne?! It's the first time you've ever had to slow down in order to live."
Once again, his objective is to finish the race, a first challenge when you know that only half of the fleet is completing its round the world voyage.
"There's a 50-50 chance of finishing. We have to deal with that. I'm still going to try to overtake the daggerboard boats, and maybe some less well-behaved foilers. My goal is to finish in the best place."
Technical preparation and public relations
As in his first Vendée Globe, Romain Attanasio will be telling the public about his adventure through films, emails or even video-conferencing aboard his boat.
"It's important. It's a closed-door sport, which suits us well at the moment. We have to share it with people, with employees. There are a lot of companies that are with me on this project. I want to show them that they have done well. I've been working with the technical team, but also a lot on public relations since my arrival in Les Sables-d'Olonne. It's very important. We're chasing after funding. I bought the boat myself and I have around fifty partners following me. Communicating, it allows companies to make themselves known."
His prognosis for the podium of the Vendée Globe??
"Samantha (Heart Initiatives), Charlie Dalin (Apivia) and Thomas Ruyant (LinkedOut). Sam has a high-performance boat with foils. She sails super well. It's a long race, and it's a diesel, so that's good timing."
