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This will be the first transatlantic race for the well-built IMOCA, which has already shown what she can do with her foils in the Rolex Fastnet Race and the Azimut Lorient Agglomération Challenge, achieving two good results (2nd and 4th).
We met up with the two sailors, who complement each other and work well together.
When they approach the pontoon, visitors are struck in particular by the closed cockpits, wondering what could be going on inside. Aboard the Paprec Arkéa IMOCA, it’s time for some photos and interviews with a small heater to warm things up, a cushion placed on the winch to make it more comfortable to sit on, so we were certainly made to feel at home.
You are both used to the Coffee Race. What do you particularly like about this race?
Yoann Richomme: Sailing double-handed to begin with. I love that format and prefer it to sailing solo. There’s always been a great course: Costa Rica, Brazil... It’s nice to see how the race has grown over the years. To begin with in the first twenty years, it was rather discreet, but over the last ten years, the race has really taken off. Just imagine - 95 boats this year! We can look forward to a fantastic competition. The welcome in the Village is perfect too. The docks do the job well and the crowds turn up. This is a great occasion.
Yann, if you win, you’ll be joining the small elite group of sailors who have won the Transat Jacques Vabre Normandie Le Havre four times. Is that something you think about?
Yann Eliès: Yes, it’s in the back of my mind, but the goal for me is to accompany Yoann with his project. My personal ambition is relegated to second place.
That leads me to ask you, Yoann, why you chose Yann?
Yoann: I chose him because of his experience with IMOCAs. He has the know-how in terms of manoeuvres on these boats and that is something I need to acquire. On top of that, he is also a fantastic racer, who has found success in this race with three wins, so that is certainly not a problem! When I took him aboard with me, the idea was for me to get to grips technically with my boat and to have someone to accompany me when racing, who could raise my performance, be my equal and the perfect co-skipper for this race. Sometimes it comes down to the small details, so that is why it is interesting to have someone with me who has already shown he has what it takes to win the Transat Jacques Vabre.
And you, Yann, why did you join the Paprec Arkéa team?
Yann: What I like is being part of a project, a team that has given itself the goal of winning the Vendée Globe. I want to leave my mark here, even if I don’t go all the way with the project. By working in the background without being in the spotlight, I would like to enable the team to find the means to win.
You appear to have settled in well together and found your rhythm…
Yann: We’re well coordinated. Yoann is more Cartesian than me, as I tend to work based on what I feel. That’s the generation gap for you! Yoann will spend more of his time using the computer equipment to get the answers from there, while I will be basing things more on instinct. Yoann is also more physical than me.
Yoann: I do weigh in at 92 kg you know…
Yann: But I’m the one with the experience! I suppose you could say we complement each other well.
Looking at your day to day work, how do you manage that? Do you share things as if you were a couple?
Yoann: Yes and no. Let’s say we take it in turns. We each prepare our own meals. Sometimes I forget to eat.
Yann: That never happens to me. I’ll try to remind him...
Yoann: That doesn’t happen for more than two days, as I like eating too. However, we do have a radically different strategy from the others. We don’t set the alarm. We let the other person sleep for a few hours in a row. For example, when it is my watch, as long as I remain alert and perform well, I’ll leave Yann sleep. That can go from 30 minutes to four or five hours. The moment I feel things are dropping off, I’ll wake Yann up and he’ll do the same with me. It’s the person on watch who sets the pace.
Yann: That’s a real bonus, as when you wake up naturally, you don’t feel groggy and can get down to work immediately, which is a real comfort.
When you sleep, it’s in the bunk, but I imagine that you also spend a lot of time keeping watch from the panoramic cockpit, which is one of the features on this boat…
Yoann: That is my favourite spot, just beside the lines in the bucket seat, where it’s extremely comfortable, as it’s cushioned like on a mountain bike. II can see everything from there: the sails, foils, the nav screen… It’s one of the bonuses in comparison with the cockpits that are completely shut off. There was a lot of thought too given to the hull, which was designed to pass more smoothly through the waves. It is not as slender as the 2020 designs and that should enable us to deal more easily with heavy seas.
Yann: Of course, we still have some adjustments to make, things to test, but this transatlantic race will allow us to work on that with all the different weather conditions and sea states we are likely to encounter.
What is your favourite or worst memory of the Transat Jacques Vabre Normandie Le Havre?
Yoann: For me it was the 2019 race with Damien Seguin. We were on a boat with daggerboards, while there were already some IMOCAs with big foils. We really gave it our all physically early on in the race in some windy conditions. After 24 hours, we were still up there with the foilers in the middle of the Bay of Biscay, which was a fantastic moment of racing. We managed to divide things up between up, our sail choices, changes of points of sail. After that, we were much less inspired in our choices and we made a few mistakes with our trajectory. The weather was horrible with several fronts passing over one after the other and we had to dive down the coast of Morocco to end up in the Canaries and the Doldrums were a nightmare.
Yann: I can remember too how the Doldrums were fairly cruel and not just for them. That was one for the history books. Remember how Charal got completely shut in (allowing Apivia to go by with Yann winning alongside Charlie Dalin - editor).
Yoann: We even got overtaken by people that who had been 300 miles behind us.
What about the place of arrival, Martinique? What does that make you think of?
Yann: Sun, wind, a magnificent bay and a drop of rum of course.
Yoan: I wasn’t there for the last race, so I can’t wait to see what it is like.
