ISailing is like motor sports. The sporting level of a sailor or a skipper does not systematically open the doors to the very high level. Charlie Ageneau knows this better than others, having had to give up, perhaps, a career other than that, just as honorable but more discreet, of engineer.
After six years at the Pôle France in La Rochelle from 2010 to 2016, Charlie Ageneau can boast of a 4e place in the French Elite championship in 2014, from 3e place in the Senior European Cup the same year, in a 470 double dinghy, “behind two Olympic medalists”, with a 7e place in the youth world championship in 2015. “My goal, obviously, was to one day participate in the Olympic Games, but budget problems stopped the project…”
When he was still sailing, Charlie Ageneau “loved” going double-handed. With Stamina, his attachment to the collective takes on a new dimension.
Stamina Sailor Team
Perhaps because he wants to avoid this same frustration for other promising young sailors, Charlie Ageneau has imagined a project which could in the future raise the colors of Charente-Maritime high on the seas of the globe. At the end of 2022, the Stamina Sailing Team was officially born, named after the Stamina IV, the 12-meter monohull made available to it by its owner, the Royan native Michel Peretié, a licensee of the Régates de Royan. As was the skipper of Team Stamina himself.
A collective challenge
Arriving at the age of 5 on the Côte de Beauté, now settled, at 32, in La Rochelle, Charlie Ageneau feels Royannais, obviously. “I did my first legs here, in Optimist. » He, the defector from light sailing, nevertheless wanted to develop an offshore racing team, for the collective dimension of such a project. “Also with the idea of training, of transmitting. Stamina is also an incubator. In France, in fact, there is no bridge between Olympic sailing and moving to a professional level. »
“Stamina is also an incubator”
France, however, contains “a pool of talent, from all generations”. Stamina is keen to help expand the ranks of crews designed to battle offshore, with his own crew at the forefront. Around forty people already gravitate around the Stamina IV, on board or at the dock. People from Royan, people from Rochelle, active people, students… An initial circle of 25 sailors mixes experienced sailors “and beginners, too, who we want to bring to the high level over three years”. In support, other volunteers offer their technical skills, to optimize the boat, making visible through communication the emergence of this atypical offshore racing team.
Already results
“The catalyst for this project remains performance. » The results follow, moreover. In just two years of existence, Team Stamina has already made a name and a track record. In 2024, the Charentais-Maritimes ranked 6e in compensated time from the Spi Ouest-France at the end of March, 1is in real time at Gascony 45/5 in April, 3e in compensated time all categories combined, out of 50 boats, 4e in corrected time at the Armen Race in May, where Stamina rose to 8e place – out of 150 – in 2023.
“In terms of boat performance and strategic choices, we are already in the game. » Despite these encouraging results, Charlie Ageneau, who wears the hat of skipper, the tactician of the boat, almost harbors regrets, however. “In 2023, we had to abandon the morning of the second day of the Fastnet Race, when there were 13 of usebecause of a cracked floor. We could see the water dancing below…” Critical, indeed. A team member was also injured during this eventful night. Others suffered during this edition marked “by a hundred abandonments, ten men overboard, a sunken boat”.
Ambition to spare
Stamina IV will return to face the harsh conditions off the English coast in 2025, stronger, more armed. The Charentaise-Maritime stable is following its plan. The team plans to raise funds of 100,000 euros this year, to further increase its resources by 2027, aiming for a budget of 400,000 euros, “the valorization of our project currently”, thanks to volunteering and partnerships already knotted.
Stamina Sailor Team
A hard core carries the project, on the water and on land.
For the Stamina team to continue, it will one day need to properly remunerate its teams, both on board and on land. Ambition is already anchored in the DNA of the team. Charlie Ageneau has it “in the back of his mind”, among other things, the Holy Grail of crew regattas, the America’s Cup. The idea, too, of helping a young emerging skipper to go solo, in a Figaro format, the antechamber of the biggest offshore races. Since the oceans have no limits, Stamina doesn’t set any limits either.
