Roura is not really alone on his boat

Engaged in the race around the world non-stop and without assistance, the skipper can count on the support of his team manager on land, whose role is as complex as it is precious.

Alan Roura has had some very bad nights since leaving the Vendée Globe on November 10, but he is not the only one. Allyson Mousselon isn’t sleeping very well at the moment either. “My phone is on day and night because I’m Alan’s crisis contact, so if he has a problem, it happens at my house. I’m a little tense, obviously, and I hear the phone ringing at night even when no one is calling me.»

Recently, the 39-year-old Frenchwoman had the unpleasant surprise of discovering that her cell phone had turned off while she slept, “because of an automatic update. I was worried that something might have happened to Alan that night, but luckily everything went well for him.”

Allyson Mousselon is what we call a “team manager”. Each of the 40 sailors taking part in the Vendée Globe, the non-stop, unassisted round-the-world sailing trip, has one. He is a sort of “guardian angel” of the skipper, a term that Allyson, however, is keen to refute. “It’s a bit exaggerated,” she finds. However, its role is fundamental in the success of the sailor it supports, and not only during the race.

Since November 10 and the departure given in Les Sables d’Olonne, Allyson has entirely managed Alan Roura’s affairs on land, but also helps the skipper at sea. She is at the head of a team of six people, based in Lorient , in the premises of the Geneva company: five employees take care of the technical part remotely (there is notably a specialist in ropes, another in composites and a third in electronics) and one employee manages the administrative sector .

This small group communicates every day with Alan Roura to help him in his journey across the globe, but since this is an unsupported race, Allyson and her colleagues are not allowed to provide any type of support to the sailor. The rules are strict and the prohibitions numerous.

“We cannot give him weather forecasts, nor information that would allow him to take a better trajectory. We cannot either remind him to do this or that maneuver at a given moment in the race, nor offer him human help, for example by requesting the expertise of a mental coach, lists Allyson Mousselon. What we can do, however, is ask him for news, encourage him or provide him with information so that he can make repairs on his IMOCA Hublot, provided that this does not improve his boat by compared to its initial configuration.”

The Genevan recovered Alex Thomson’s former IMOCA in 2022.Keystone

“The difference between what is authorized and what is not is quite subtle,” recognizes Allyson Mousselon, who is extra vigilant to respect the regulations and not penalize her seafarer employer.

The Vendée Globe management does not listen to the conversations between the participant and his team. However, it asks skippers to keep their written exchanges (email, SMS, WhatsApp messages, etc.) with dry land until several weeks after arrival.

Alan Roura and Allyson Mousselon.Image: Jean-Louis Carli (Aléa)/Keystone/Photomontage

We do not yet know when Alan Roura will return to the port of Les Sables d’Olonne (the record for the event is 74 days), but what is certain is that the Genevan will not have achieved his feat alone. . “The Vendée Globe is a team sport,” recalls Allyson. We’re a bit like an F1 team: the athlete is alone in the race, but before the start, there is a whole team working to place him in the best conditions.”