euros less than a month before the start, what is your state of mind?
I'm super excited to get to the big race this year. I feel ready. With Nico ( Editor's note: his co-skipper, Nicolas Lunven ) we did double this year. It's a pleasure to be back in this format. It's obviously not the same approach in a solo Vendée Globe as in a double-handed race. We're much more on the attack. We're going to sail flat out from start to finish. The Vendée Globe is a different approach, trying to get to the end. When you're sailing for three months, with what can happen on a round-the-world race, you're obviously less on the attack.
What are your ambitions for this Transat Jacques Vabre? Do you have any revenge to take after the Vendée Globe?
In the Vendée Globe, I had a collision and finished out of the race. So I had even more reasons not to attack. I was very slow on this round the world race. And alone. On this Jacques Vabre, I'm going to meet up with close competitors, race competitively and push my boat to 100% again. I'm going to apply everything I've continued to learn thanks to Nico. He brings me his point of view on the settings, the training. We're going to go faster than ever. Even if we are not among the fastest in the fleet. But we'll be in contact with boats that have been modified and optimized like ours.
Have you done any work on Initiatives-C?ur or will you be in the same configuration as before the round the world race?
It was refurbished and underwent extensive checks. We also changed broken parts. But no optimization. We don't even have new sails this year. The boat was very well prepared before the last Vendée Globe.
There are still things to do to optimize it. We continue to discover, we learn. But we have a new boat under construction. I'll pass it on to Cali ( Editor's note: Arnaud Boissières, skipper of La Mie Caline, buys the IMOCA Initiatives-C?ur ), new skipper of my boat, things to improve.
Can you tell us about your new boat and the choice of a Manuard design? Was it a personal desire or a common choice with your sponsors?
It is a personal desire of course . My dream is to be more and more successful. To be at the start of the races on equal terms. I have started to master the machine and I am confident in my ability to take a boat like this to its potential.
Then there is the dream and the reality. You also have to find the possibility with the budget you have, and the spirit of the project you are carrying. It is huge to raise this opportunity! It is the unification of several things.
We couldn't do certain things, but we learned that Black Pepper was launching a V2 of Sam Manuard's boat. I liked this plan as well as the technical team of the Initiatives-C?ur project. It's an innovative boat with a hull that we find very interesting. Sam is an architect, but also a sailor. I did the Mini Transat with him.
The boat was already under construction. It saves us time. It's very important to sail a new boat quickly. There is a lot to learn. I don't feel capable of taking charge of a boat at the last minute and making it reliable quickly before the big Vendée Globe event. With this choice, we gain in budget and time. We are realizing our dream project while moving on to a more competitive boat.
On this double-handed race, you will be with Nicolas Lunven. Can you tell us about it and explain the strengths of your pairing?
I like to sail with people who are very motivated and enthusiastic because I am. I've had a few calls to sail with me. It's a sign of enthusiasm that they want to sail double-handed. Nico was one of the first to call me to talk about the Jacques Vabre. I also love sailing with people who can teach me things. He has won the Solitaire du Figaro twice, has a huge track record and has a lot of experience in IMOCA. He has sailed a lot on the same type of boat as Initiatives-C?ur. He also sailed with Nicolas Troussel on a new boat (Corum) to prepare for the Vendée Globe.
He is a talented sailor. We get along well. We're both in the Finistère Ocean Racing cluster. There are many positive things. It was also important to have someone to help me regain my confidence.
In the Vendée Globe, my accident scared me to death. I didn't want it to pollute my race and my pleasure of sailing. I love it. I wanted to find this pleasure and try to remove the remains of this collision. Nico gives me confidence to sail with him. He's on the ball, with this calm, reassuring tendency. It's a pleasure to discover this side of him.
What are the constraints and advantages of a double-handed race format compared to solo or crewed racing?
The advantage is the sharing of learning with someone else. We are two brains, two pairs of arms. Decision making for strategy and maneuvers is easier with two people. It's also a kind of solo since we manage the speed and the maneuvers while the other one rests. It is a kind of reduced crew to touch everything. With versatility, you never get bored. You have to do everything, but in a reassuring way, managing the mental and physical condition of a second person. We are always on the ball, because we don't need a pilot and alarms to manage the boat.
It allows us to share, to discover, to progress, to laugh together and to be afraid together. We share in a very intense way on a very short time. It's always a pleasure. I love these double races.
What do you think of the new race courses? What will it change?
I like the course to Salvador, I like sailing down the Atlantic, passing between the islands, letting the trade winds push you along, passing the doldrums. You discover all the Atlantic zones, with lots of different conditions and it's a challenge. I'm happy to have kept this part in IMOCA, like two years ago.
For the new part, it is also good to have something different. We think, we work before the course, the weather. There are going to be some pitfalls and this last stretch, we don't do it often. I've already done it in the Volvo Ocean Race, but it's not every year. Nico knows it too. It adds spice and it's interesting. And for those who will follow us from home too.
How do you feel about the competition, both in personal and material terms (boat)?
I find the line-up huge and incredible for a year following the Vendée Globe. There are a lot of ongoing projects, so most of the skippers know their boats well. This is especially true of the new boats, which were not able to show their full power in the Vendée Globe. Everyone is going to be on the ball. The teams have mastered this new generation of boats. There will be less slowing down for technical tinkering. It's going to be intense and full steam ahead! The competition is going to be tough and tight.
It's going to be a bit hard for us. I was more or less able to keep up in the Vendée Globe, but with the increase in performance and better handling, we saw in the Rolex Fastnet and the Azimuth challenge that these boats are hard to keep up with. We don't have the same potential for pure performance. We will fight with the 2016 boats, the one of Romain Attanasio, Yannick Bestaven, Isabelle Joschke. They are well maintained and optimized like Initiatives-C?ur. Our goal is to be the best of this group. To sail well, to make our nice trajectories, the right sail choices and to be at the top of our game all the time. We don't have a ranking objective or a place in the fleet.
With Heart Initiatives, our second objective is to continue to save children. I count on the public for their support, or for each new follower, for which our partners will donate 1 euro. We have set a goal of saving 25 children. With Nico we will be at our best. If we sail well, people will support us.
Our motivation is based on both performance and sharing with the public. It is an objective that remains very important. Nico is discovering the solidarity side of the project and is playing the game well.
After the Transat Jacques Vabre, what are your plans?
We will bring the boat back by sea with Cali, with its new owner, Nico and Arnaud. The boat will find its new home in Les Sables-d'Olonne. The Initiatives-C?ur team is preparing the arrival of the new boat, which will arrive at the end of the year and which will be completed in-house. We're going to assemble all the systems on board and discover her under sail at the beginning of next summer or at the end of spring.
