Philippe de Villiers. This idea goes back to the sea mists of my childhood, shared between the winter season and the summer season, between the countryside in winter and the sea in summer. When I was little, two names fascinated me: the Puy du Fou, in the bocage, a glorious ruin, and the Puits d'Enfer, in Les Sables-d'Olonne, an immense fracture between two rocks exposed to the surf. My brothers, my sister and I went from one well to another.
Later, I thought that to promote the idea of Vendée, that of a small people of outcasts forgotten by official history, it was necessary to unite these two wells. The first, Puy du Fou, was to be honored for its heritage and roots. The second, the Well of Hell, facing infinity, symbolized conquest and immensities. I was guided by an aphorism from Alain Colas, the great missing sailor: “The ocean, the largest stadium in the world. » It was a beautiful image for the Vendée, that of the two anchors: the anchor of the furrow in an immemorial land and the anchor of mercy in the furrow of foam.
What is your strongest memory of the Vendée Globe?
It was a tragic night on January 8, 2009. I woke up with a start, alerted by the race director, Denis Horeau, who told me that Jean Le Cam had disappeared. I quickly get dressed and go to the race headquarters, at the Montparnasse Tower. We wait endless hours. Vincent Riou, who had won the previous Vendée Globe, turned around, abandoned his race and joined the shipwrecked man. He discovers the boat overturned: only the hull is visible, with a keel deprived of its lead bulb. The emergency hatch is underwater, Jean Le Cam cannot get out of his boat. Suddenly, a huge cry rang out at the race headquarters: we just saw a small white flag hoisted above the hull. A piece of white cloth was made and hoisted from the inside. For sailors, there is no doubt, it is a sign of life. Those who know the grammar of sea fortunes know how to interpret it without ambiguity: Jean Le Cam is saved.
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We presume that it is Jean Le Cam who best embodies, for you, the spirit of the Vendée Globe?
Yes, it's him, because the Vendée Globe is human intelligence in the face of stormy seas. It is the man alone facing the elements. The Vendée Globe is what we call the Everest of the Seas: a single man, with his ice axes, who climbs walls of water. It is no coincidence that the nickname that floats in the wake of Breton Jean Le Cam has remained the same for 30 years: “King Jean”. Jean Le Cam is royal in his silences, in his height of vision, in his intimate knowledge of the roaring 40th and the screaming 50th.
How does the Vendée Globe embody Vendée values?
I wanted the myth of the Raised Consciousness, represented by the Double Heart, emblem of Vendée, to float on all the seas of the world. This Double Heart means “a heart for my land” and “a heart for France”. The Vendée Globe embodies for me the dream of a rehabilitated Vendée, woven into the fabric of dreams.
“The Vendée Globe embodies for me the dream of a rehabilitated Vendée, woven into the fabric of dreams”
How do you imagine the future of the Vendée Globe?
I created the Vendée Globe in 1989 with Philippe Jeantot. My successors have perfectly preserved this spirit, in exemplary continuity, by following a simple idea: keep the spirit of the race, protecting it from technical innovations which could distort it and make it lose its human character, or worse still, do a business. The Vendée Globe must remain the race for SMEs. The Vendée Globe is what I call a “public good”. Vendée Globe sailors are not and must not become sandwich men. This is why the race remains under the aegis of a public authority, the department of Vendée.
