Paradoxically, the story of Jonas Gerckens, a native of Liège in Belgium, has always taken place on the water. At the age of two, his parents took him on a tour of Europe on a voyage boat - a Caroff plan - whose steel hull had been built by his father. "We arrived by the canal route to Grau-du-Roi where we finished preparing the boat, before setting off on a coastal trip around the Mediterranean, notably to Spain and the Balearics. I didn't take a liking to sailing but I learned to walk on a boat." remembers Jonas. At the end of this four-year journey, the family settled in Saint-Malo. Little Jonas was enrolled in the Grand Bé school, a stone's throw from the Môle beach, where Optimist boats were lined up, wisely waiting for the students to get out of the boat and get into the water...
Saint-Malo, where it all begins
In fact, the city of Saint-Malo was not a randomly chosen stopover. Jonas' parents had a project to build a new hull for a round-the-world family trip. But the hull was badly made and the shipyard went bankrupt. "Strangely enough, while my parents were in trouble, I was living my best years of youth because it was in Saint-Malo for the first time that I got close to racing boats and in particular those that were participating in the Route du Rhum. And me with my kid's eyes, it made me dream!" he says.
Sport, a family affair
In the Gerckens' family, sport is a real institution! The grandfather played rugby at a very good level. The father, Jean-Benoît, was a Belgian hope of athletics and trained with Ivo Van Damme and Jacques Borlée, the father of the Borlée brothers. Multiple Belgian champion, his career was cut short due to injury while preparing for the 1972 Olympic Games in Montreal. What is less known is that his son, Jonas, was a martial arts fan before he started sailing at a high level. "I was 10 years old and practiced karate and judo for 10 years." he explains. "A fairly long period where I did significantly less sailing, but during which the family environment instilled this competitive spirit in my DNA."
A page is turned
One day, during a discussion with his judo coach, Jonas asks her if he has a chance to participate in the next Olympics. She tells him: "You will reach a good level if you continue in Belgium. No more." . This answer, Jonas receives 5 out of 5. "It was the breakthrough I was waiting for. All of this reinforced my idea that it was a page that was being turned." . And Jonas then returned to his first love and threw himself back into sailing.
The rest is logical. "I took a conscientious objection course at Les Glénans as an au pair volunteer. I was based in Paimpol as an instructor with a few permanent staff. Even if this school is not really competition-oriented, you learn how to be a good sailor, how to assimilate the safety rules, how to recover a man overboard, etc. I did this for two years" he concludes.
This was followed by a series of years that "one cannot describe it as a long quiet cruise" . On the advice of his physical education teacher, he set up a Mini-Transat project, without really succeeding in making it happen. "I did some freelance work on friends' Minis, then I became a préparateur at the Artech shipyard where I met Elie Canivenc, who became Thomas Coville's right-hand man .
At that time, Jonas participated in five editions of the Tour de France à la Voile with the Brussels-Capital crew, all under the dynamic leadership of Mady and Henri Fobert. "It paid off a lot in experience but not much in money. In the summer I was a sailing instructor and in the winter I managed a chalet in the mountains."
However, the Mini-Transat project was revived the day he met Vincent Riou and especially Michel Desjoyeaux at the CDK shipyard, who gave him advice. "That was in 2007." says Jonas, "My means were limited. I finished the first stage and then abandoned in the second one in the Canaries, mainly due to damages caused by the dilapidated equipment. Quite a lesson!"
The Mini-Transat again and again!
After this unfortunate edition, Jonas stays in the Mini circuit for 10 years. Like many other skippers, his main difficulty is to find sponsors. His time management alternates between small jobs and training sessions. But, gradually, the wind is right. In 2011, he made a podium in the Transgascogne and obtained a sponsor. He came second in Les Sables-Les Açores in 2012. He participated in the Mini-Transat in 2013, a particularly eventful edition in terms of weather, then won Les Sables-Les Açores in 2014.
In March 2016, as he was about to "to hang up his raincoat on the nail" he received a call from Volvo asking him to become an ambassador for sailing in Belgium. "We follow you for a year and if it works out well, we'll consider continuing." said the boss of the brand. This collaboration was a success as Jonas, all rejuvenated, won a podium in 2016 in Les Sables-Les Açores, becoming the only skipper to have made the first three places in this race. At the same time, he won the title of vice-champion of France in the Mini 6.50 solo race. In the wake of this, Volvo renewed its confidence in him in 2017 on a Flying Phantom project, a small catamaran mounted on foils, while helping him prepare the project he has been so keen on since his childhood, the Route du Rhum, 2018 edition. This time, the budgets followed and Jonas will be lining up at the start of "his" race at the helm of a Class40euros
Jonas, an engaging and complex personality
Jonas defines himself as "someone who is used to not giving up" . " I'm a go-getter, I like speed. I have this ability to hurt myself, literally and figuratively. We saw it again in the last Transat Jacques Vabre where I was there despite a broken rib" he says. This does not prevent him from claiming a certain dreamy but not naive side. To better illustrate his point, Jonas quotes Mandela: "A winner is a dreamer who never gives up". Or: "The pessimist complains about the wind, the optimist hopes it will change, the realist adjusts his sails."
More modestly, Jonas readily admits that chess has forged his character. The above is of course the version of the skipper from Liège. But what does his manager Delphine Simon, who met Jonas on the 2015 Fastnet while making a documentary for Cap 48, a solidarity project to help research on polyarthritis, think about it? "You know someone better after five days at sea than after a month on land" she likes to say to better explain the alchemy of their meeting. "Jonas is a talented sportsman but he couldn't make it because of the lack of structured support in terms of sponsoring and communication. I decided to assist him, a decision that was not easy to take, and I took a leave of absence from my activities as a journalist at the Belgian television" . For Delphine, Jonas is above all a natural sympathizer. He has empathy, he likes to have fun and laugh. He has a marked "bon vivant" side. He is also a gourmet at heart - not to say a gourmet -, even if he is capable of eating freeze-dried food on his boat for 20 days and depriving himself like nobody else!
The man and his boats
Whether it's his first Mini, n° 36, the 821 with which he won Les Sables-Les Açores or the Volvo 104 with which he did his first Route du Rhum, Jonas doesn't attach too much importance to his boats, even if they are all important to him. A special mention for the Volvo 164, which was launched in 2021. "This is the first time I've had a new boat. It's my baby because I sail on it. Generally speaking, I always keep an eye on my boats when they've changed hands; I watch their results out of the corner of my eye."
And now, what about the near future?
Aside from the upcoming Rum which remains one of his top priorities in 2022, Jonas is actively preparing with the Red Dolphins for the Olympics. "If not for 2024, then for 2028" he says. "In the meantime, with Class40, the two projects feed each other and there are always official European championships and a medal to go for, even if it's chocolate! Not to mention that it's an excellent learning experience to improve in the big races, which become real ocean races."
And Jonas concludes: "I intend to sail in Class 40 for a few more years, even if the Vendée Globe remains a potential goal. But I'm not fixated on it. And I wouldn't want to participate, like some others, just as an adventurer. If it's for the adventure, I prefer to sail around the world with stopovers and enjoy the beauty of our planet!"
And finally, a Pivot questionnaire!
Your favorite sailor? Loïck Peyron.
Your favorite boat? The next
Your favorite word? Symbiosis
Your favorite mascot? Bath duck Quack-Quack
Your favorite expression? Oufti
Your favorite swear word? La mierda!
The word you hate? Lie
Your favorite drug? The chocolate
The sound, the noise you like? The piano
The sound, the noise you hate? The sound of breaking carbon
The fight or the slump? The Rumble
The man or the woman to illustrate a new banknote? Ellen MacArthur
The job you would not have liked to do? There are a lot of them!
The animal you would like to be reincarnated in? The dolphin to go play with the boats
