December 17, 2000. While he was launched into an incredible rush to join Michel Desjoyeaux and Roland Jourdain, the two leaders of the 5e Vendée Globe, Yves Parlier feels his boat slipping beneath his feet, lying down, getting up, going at overspeed, then crashing into a wall of water. The deceleration is brutal; the mast did not resist and broke in two, taking with it the hopes of victory of one of the great favorites.
“Alone”, adapted from the book “Robinson des Mers” by Yves Parlier
It is here, in the middle of the Indian Ocean and at this precise moment that the incredible odyssey begins that makes all the salt of Alone the TV film broadcast this Monday, November 4 on France 2, a few days before the launch of the 10th edition of the Vendée Globe, Sunday November 10, 2024.
In this TV film, directed by Pierre Isoard, Samuel Le Bihan plays the role of Parlier himself. What did the person concerned think about it? I loved it!
» confides Yves Parlier in his soft and calm voice, which contrasts with the powerful tone of Samuel Le Bihan. However, at no time was he consulted on the making of the film. The production bought the rights to my book
(Robinson of the SeasRobert Laffont). I had an interview with the director very early on. But I only discovered it when it was finished, during a private screening.
»
And he relives his own adventure there, that of this stubborn person who refuses the fortune of the sea, joining a tiny bay on an equally tiny island in the south of New Zealand. That of this skipper-engineer in composite materials who, with a saw, resin, light bulbs, a little carbon fiber and crazy self-sacrifice, repairs his mast alone and then sets sail again, but with so much wasted time that he quickly ran out of food… He reached the end of the race in 13th place, after 126 days of adventure and 34 behind the winner.
To listen: PODCAST. The Vendée Globe Saga: when Yves Parlier became the Robinson of the South Seas
A clever scenario but too many approximations
The scenario they imagined is very clever,
replied the sailor. Thus, the pseudo-radio links with my team on land. Even if the means used are completely false, which I rarely communicated and only in writing, it punctuates the story well.
Some approximations are disappointing, like this dive that is impossible to do while wearing a survival suit – which is precisely made to allow you to float -; too big a difference between the state of the sea assumed by the film and the real one; a boat with poorly adjusted sails – a shame for a sailor -; or the strong visual presence of two brands, supposed to be sponsors of Parlier, but which were not… Just to finance the film, obviously.
But in the end, it represents the story I lived and what I had in my head.
continues Yves Parlier. That of a competitor at the cutting edge of technology who embraces adventure. She was so crazy that they didn't dare tell the story of how my boat ran aground and how I got it out. They thought it would be too much!
» No matter, we're in the game. If this film allows us to understand these extraordinary sailors and experience snippets of their odysseys, it has won everything.
France 2, 9:10 p.m. Followed at 10:40 p.m. by the remarkable documentary Vendée Globe 96-97, a race in helldirected by Jeanne Lefèvre and which looks back on the most merciless of the contested editions, marked by a number of shipwrecks, extreme rescues and, unfortunately, the disappearance of the Canadian Gerry Roufs. With rarely seen images, judicious editing and testimonies from the protagonists of the time: Isabelle Autissier, Philippe Jeantot, Yves Parlier, Marc Thiercelin, Raphaël Dinelli…
