Maxime Sorel enters the dance
In 2014, ocean racing met a newcomer to Class40: Maxime Sorel.
He made his way through the class circuit, finishing 2nd in the 2015 Transat Jacques Vabre, then 1st in the 2017 edition, before setting off in the IMOCA class for the 2020 Vendée Globe.
But during certain phases of the Vendée Globe, the days are long and monotonous. In the Southern Ocean, the weather is gray, the landscape remains unchanged for days on end, and between sail changes the sailor spends his days imagining a new project: climbing to the top of the world, reaching the summit of Everest.
A new boat in the works
But then, with his partners, they also decided to launch the construction of a new boat. Both projects had to be carried out in parallel. This is the story told in the documentary "Mon double Everest", which we were lucky enough to preview a few days before the start of the Transat Jacques Vabre 2023 in the presence of Maxime Sorel.
In this film, which lasts around an hour, Maxime presents his Vendée Globe and the genesis of his project, as well as all the preparations that will take him all the way to the Himalayas. The documentary focuses mainly on Mount Everest, rather than the Vendée Globe, "Everest of the Seas . Pure sailing enthusiasts may be frustrated, but the sporting feat remains interesting. We follow Maxime as he climbs and acclimatizes. We see him overcome his challenges, his failures, and how he bounces back before reaching his goal with great difficulty.
By his own admission, he said in an interview: ".. i've never felt more in danger than on the mountain". But that doesn't seem to stop him in his tracks, because during the Q&A session at the end of the film's screening, he says: "I still have a lot of projects, but for the moment I don't want to say too much".
A challenge to promote the Vaincre la mucoviscidose association
These challenges were carried out in partnership with the association Vaincre la mucoviscidose. At the start of the session, a cystic fibrosis patient and the association's president spoke about the disease, as follows: "When you entered the room, you were handed straws. Stop breathing through your nose, put the straw in your mouth and breathe. That's a small taste of what a patient with this disease can feel like."
We'll let you try it at home.
