By reading Moitessier
Paris, 1991. Like every day, a young professional photographer of 20 years old takes the subway. He has a camera slung over his shoulder and places it on the wooden bench. He reads. At that time, no smartphone and the users are dozing, browsing the daily newspaper or talking together. He reads or rather devours a book by Moitessier. A young woman jumps into the train. The door closes. The stations pass by but Arnaud Gaist is captivated, absorbed. And it is there, in a tunnel between two stations, that Arnaud Gaist makes a decision that will change his life: leave! To go there. To go up there. To sail around the world, with no other goal than pleasure and the fight against the elements and against himself. This young man will then save franc by franc, penny by penny. No more outings, no more restaurants, no more cinemas, no more vinyl records, no more cassettes, no more new clothes. After so many sacrifices, at the end of two years, he has a small nest egg and buys his first sailboat, In the Blessed Isles an Aloa 25.
First navigations
The man is not from the city. He comes from La Tranche sur Mer and has a "normal" job as his future mentor, the skipper VDH, was a math teacher. The sea? He knows it a little. He has already practiced but nothing more. And still, in coastal sailing, not offshore. He is not a professional! So, when he left for his first transatlantic race, at the age of 25, alone, he "forgot" the engine, the life raft, the charts, a spare reel, the insurance... In short, he left just as people did back then, with the carefree attitude of his 25-year-old dreams. The learning process begins. At times, it was hard work, but he continued. One day, in the middle of the ocean, he came across a floating freezer. It is empty but fills Arnaud Gaist with a deep ecological concern - he will later become a trainer in eco-construction.
A rugby player with a big heart
Arnaud Gaist is first and foremost a rugby player, a pillar to be precise. But underneath his appearance, we discover a mixture of a gentle dreamer, friendly, a little anarchist on the edges, and a very rigorous competitor. "Preparation doesn't win a race, but it's 70% of the result. There are two conditions for the GGR: to be really motivated, without lying, and to know how to do everything. On the boat, I do everything that's important, like the windvane gear. On the other hand, I don't know how to weld stainless steel. " This father of three is a loner who looks forward to being alone at sea "without having to shower or shave". But he is also a real communicator, keen to share his passion. Moored at the Vendée Globe pontoon in Les Sables d'Olonne, he receives Arnaud Boissières or Manu Cousin in the morning, while in the afternoon VDH greets him. In the evening, it's a pizza party with political science students from the University of La Roche sur Yon.
Browser and player
But above all, every Sunday, Arnaud Gaist opens his cabin to the curious and chats with them. He answers each time with the same passion to the questions of the children of the city who believe that the fish are square and breaded or to the old sea wolves who come to see the "beast", the sailboat. "And you're not afraid to bother for those long months alone? " asks a very chic young mother. "Oh no, there are often things to do. And then I build up a library with, of course, Moitessier but also San Antonio. But we're not allowed a reading machine, so I'll make choices. " Moitessier, here we go again! Moreover, this workaholic and preparation enthusiast shares his idol's point of view: if you wait until you are perfectly prepared before leaving, you risk not leaving at all!
Objective: to return to Les Sables d'Olonne
Today, at the age of fifty, Arnaud Gaist is leaving for the Golden Globe Race 2022 on a Barbican 33MK2 9.96 m (designed by Maurice Griffiths; built by Barbican Yacht Construction LTD). It is a simple, robust boat, rigged as a cutter. She left to finish the race. Her victory would be to complete this round-the-world race the old-fashioned way. "The ranking doesn't really matter. I just want to realize my dream. Everyone dreams of adventure, of living in a wooden hut, of going to the other side of the mountain. My boat is my cabin, and going around the world the old-fashioned way is the adventure I've been thinking about for 20 years. "
