Feet firmly planted on the pontoonBenjamin Ferré continues the interviews. For the thirty-year-old who is about to start his first Vendée Globe, all this is new. And if he can still walk around the village incognito, the skipper relishes his recent notoriety. While putting things into perspective: “I'm not Jean le Cam or Clarisse Crémer, I realize that.”he notes with a burst of laughter.
As if to prove him wrong, the young captain is interrupted by cheers and cheers: it is his sponsor, the Monnoyeur company. Dozens of them came to encourage their foal. To get to the pontoon, we had to make our way through the crowd. “When you see that there are still people who do four hours in line to come there! I think that just a look, a signature, to be able to offer that very easily, it's great “, smiles the 34-year-old sailor.
Angeline Demuynck
Already a solo trip around the world… hitchhiking!
Arriving like the 40 other skippers three weeks ago at the Vendée Globe village, Benjamin Ferré had time to get used to the atmosphere of the village. “I had prepared a lot for it, it scared me, I dreaded not not managing my emotions or those of others“, he explains. He ultimately enjoyed the experience. “I've discovered a lot of things over the last three weeks and so I don't have any particular pressure because it's my first Vendée Globe, other than a terrible desire to finish it whatever happens.”.
The protégé of Jean le Cam, based like him in Port-la-Forêt in Finistère, is enjoying his chance calmly. “It almost stresses me out not being stressed“. On the eve of departure he nevertheless recognizes a certain impatience: “It's been three weeks that everything has been scheduled in my days. I know exactly when I do my sport, when I sleep, when I nap, when I eat, when I go to watch the media. And from Sunday, we no longer know anything. It's the big leap into the unknown. And I conditioned myself for that, to change completely“, analyzes the man who has already traveled around the world alone, but hitchhiked, on dry land.
The sailor nevertheless intends to make the most of it until the end of this incredible experience and in particular the ascent of the channel before departure. “I want to live it to the fullest. I want to play with the audience. And then as soon as I exit the channel, put myself in racing mode. Absolute concentration to be perfectly ready for the first days of racing“.
