who is the navigator and what is the real story behind the TV movie “Alone”?

This Monday, November 4 on France 2, Samuel Le Bihan plays Yves Parlier, a French sailor who, in 2001 during the Vendée Globe, had to repair his mast alone.

A few days before the big start of the Vendée Globe, Sunday November 10, France 2 pays tribute to the skippers in a TV film led by actor Samuel Le Bihan who plays Yves Parlier, former navigator of the solo race in 2001. In this film , the actor tells how the skipper finished this solo race without stopover and without assistance (the rule of the Vendée Globe) after his mast broke into three pieces on December 17, 2000. But what is the real story?

Yves Parlier is a sailing legend, renowned and recognized by others. Over the years, he has enjoyed success in prestigious races, notably winning the Transat Jacques Vabre, the Route du Rhum and the Solitaire du Figaro. During his third participation in the Vendée Globe, the sailor appears as the favorite before the start with his faithful boat. Very quickly and without any dispute, he quickly took the lead and maintained his leading position for almost a month. But always seeking more speed and performance, Yves Parlier chose a complicated route avoided by most people across the Indian Ocean. Unfortunately, the catastrophic weather was not in his favor and the mast of his boat broke off the coast of the Kerguelen Islands, leaving the skipper alone in the middle of the ocean.

While retirement seemed inevitable and everyone was pushing in this direction, he refused any outside assistance and wanted to finish the race with his damaged IMOCA. After a lot of work, he finally manages to get back on the road, tinkering with all the tools he has with him. But how was he able to survive on the boat with this waste of time? Yvers Parlier will eat seaweed, reduce his food portions to eight hundred calories per day to survive. Finally, after 126 days, 23 hours and 36 minutes, he will finish this now legendary Vendée Globe in 13th place.

For the occasion, Pierre Isoard therefore tried to transcribe this story as best as possible with the actor Samuel Le Bihan, transformed for the occasion. “Seul is first and foremost a film about courage, the story of a man who refuses to give up and that speaks to everyone! You don't have to be a sailing enthusiast to be taken by this story. We are not in a simple television film but in another dimension!” explained the actor who had to lose 10 kilos for filming.