“Last time, when the first ones cut the line at Les Sables, I said to myself: it's over, they're going to close the room, end of the ball. Then you know you’re not going to win.” The frustration of having to turn around four years ago, three days after departure to repair and leave nine days later has passed. Jérémie Beyou is at the start of his fifth Vendée Globe and he seems calm. “There, it’s a different dynamic with a new boat too. Apart from the experience that we have been able to accumulate on this world tour, there is not much left.”
Always motivated
Since then, he has developed a new machine to try to achieve his holy grail. “In preparation, the idea is to try to win. The boat has to hold, that’s obvious. But he also has to go quickly, to be one of the potential winners of the Vendée Globe, with me on board. Afterwards, I am one of the best placed to know that it is not because you want it that it will happen like that,” says Jérémie Beyou.
He has dreamed of the Vendée Globe for a long time. Running has been part of his life for over 16 years! This time, he has a slightly different approach: “Scenarios and the most improbable, there are as many as one could invent. I am both motivated, I have put everything into preparing for this Vendée Globe, and at the same time, there is this awareness that this race is special and that anything can happen.”
“Maybe I had lost this notion of pleasure”
Another notion (re) appears among the skipper: pleasure. “When I returned from my last trip around the world, I was told: your thing is the sea. Suddenly, I realized that even if it is hard, even if your conscience tells you that it can go wrong, the environment in which you feel good is important. Maybe I had lost sight of the concept of pleasure. There was perhaps only the result and the pressure of the result,” says Beyou, who continues: “The desire for the result is still there. But you have to have fun on the water. It gives me more peace of mind, I’m less likely to think about what negative things could happen.”
A serenity added to a great experience that could make the difference: “It’s a personal environment, it’s full of small details… it’s a little more wisdom (laughs). That won't stop me from banging my boat and losing my temper once or twice. But beforehand, I am more zen! », he further specifies.
“Succeed in controlling the boat”
Almost on all the racing podiums with his Manuard plan, he did not win in 2023 and 2024 but he feels better, less stressed and he is delighted to have found the controls of his Imoca, even if he specifies that 'with each outing, he discovers more: “You take pleasure in finding less challenging attitudes, succeeding in having control. Boats are not easy to control, adjust or balance. They remain complex boats. In this too, experience allows us to detect things that do not work as they should.” In order to avoid leaving the road. So is this the year or never for the double winner of the Solitaire du Figaro? “The level has increased because we made stables for two boats. We continued sailing while waiting for the next boats. The others too, notably Charlie (Dalin) and Thomas (Ruyant). But I'm convinced that it will give me confidence points. This is the new deal.”
