VIDEO – “I dream of returning to Les Sables d’Olonne and finishing the Vendée Globe”. Sébastien Simon is ready

“The most beautiful moment when you live a dream like that is to see that it has come true. What I dream of is to return to Les Sables d’Olonne with the boat and to finish this race. It’s All”. He hasn’t left yet and he hopes to come full circle. The skipper of Les Sables d’Olonne Sébastien Simon, who had to abandon off the coast of South Africa during his first Vendée Globe in 2020, is leaving again this year with the support of a new partner. The Vendée Dubreuil group (owner in particular of the companies Air Caraibes and French Bee) decided to finance an Imoca for its 100th anniversary.

“It’s really impressive what skills you need to have to be skipper of an Imoca” Paul-Henri Dubreuil

“I was the initiator of this project, but the family was immediately hookedinsists CEO Paul-Henri Dubreuil, my cousin François, who renovates aerobatic planes, also made the carbon bucket seats with Sébastien’s ergonomics. I’m amazed at what they’re doing skill-wise. To skipper a boat like that, you have to be an engineer, hydraulics, mechanics and master the sails. So it’s really impressive what skills you need to have to be skipper of an Imoca.”

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“These are extraordinary machines that need care and delicacy” Sébastien Simon

A few weeks from big departure on November 10Groupe Dubreuil is offering a few more speed runs off the coast of Les Sables d’Olonne. “There are lots of little details to see, the spare equipment that we are going to take on board. It’s a mechanical sport above all. And in fact, it’s a bit like a Formula One of the seas, but on a course of Dakar Rally”, smiles Sébastien Simon. “It was Michel Desjoyeaux who said that the Vendée Globe was a pain in the ass every day. If we stick to that, it will be good, because with these boats in such high demand, semi-flying boats around the world, they are extraordinary machines, but which need a lot of care and delicacy, even if It’s brutal.”

“The pressure is mounting, I may have more than him”, Sébastien Simon’s dad

A modest team (compared to others) of nine people works alongside Sébastien Simon to prepare the boat as best as possible for the world tour. But on the big day, the skipper will be the sole master on board, master of his choices. “I have already made all the necessary sacrifices. All I want is to finish the Vendée Globe and see my loved ones and my partners again.”

Among his loved ones, his father Alain who had transmitted the boating bug to him at a very young age: “We took him in the bassinet on the boat when he was very little. He doesn’t remember that time, obviously, and like all the kids on a boat, he liked being inside because it felt a little bit like a cabin. Little by little, he got on deck and started maneuvering, and that’s it.” Alain will be one of the most diligent on the map to follow his son’s race: “The pressure is mounting. I may even have more than him. Obviously, I will follow that. Even several times a day! When you can have a passion for your job, you shouldn’t hesitate.”