There are expressions like that that make us gasp. Mention “Sleeping Beauty” to the people of Bordeaux and you will be insulted for several generations, worse than if you dared to have a little “pain au chocolat” on the banks of the Garonne. Same eyes rolling when it comes to mentioning the Zidane of….. (insert country or department) to the slightest football player who is a bit technical. In sailing, especially during the Vendée Globe, we are going to tease you with these famous “Formula 1 of the seas”.
Cars full of technology that go very fast and the analogy between Imocas and single-seaters quickly falls away. We could even go a little further. This year, like an F1 team, the project Vulnerable sends two boats, led by Thomas Ruyant and Sam Goodchild. A sort of Red Bull Max Verstappen-Sergio Pérez doublet of the oceans. A first in the history of the Vendée Globe.
“When we launched the construction of a new boat for this Vendée Globe, we said to ourselves that it would be interesting to keep, with a new skipper, the one who did the Jacques-Vabre in 2021 and the Route du Rhum in 2022, to go faster in understanding this new boat, explains Thomas Ruyant, who is one of the favorites. When I started talking about it in the team, not everyone was necessarily delighted, because you share knowledge, you give the competition a little bit of the keys to a boat that we know is very good. . »
“The spirit of a team”
The bar has therefore been given to the Englishman Sam Goodchild, who will compete in his first Vendée Globe. For two years, the two skippers have exchanged a lot, without filter. “We did technical briefings which are done in small circles, in small groups around the skipper, the ‘boat captain’, the technical team which is dedicated to the boat, explains Thomas Gavériaux, director of the TR team Racing and project Vulnerable. But, on the other hand, everything that involves weather preparation or sports preparation, whether for training or a race, we always do everything together. It is fundamental in the approach we have built to do it like this. »
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« A bit like an F1 team, summed up Goodchild a few weeks before the race. If the collective is stronger, we will both be stronger. I will give him information, sometimes he gives me information, we work on the same data. After sailing, there was a problem with my boat. We immediately shared it with each other, so they changed certain elements so that he wouldn’t have the same problem. It’s truly a team spirit. »
Some members of the small sailing world were quite skeptical when they saw the emergence of this two-boat project. Before finally being won over, even admiring like Samantha Davies (Heart initiatives): “There are so many things that we each do on our own, because we don’t want to share, since we are competitors. Having a team of two boats is very clever, it’s not easy to do, since without favoritism, you really have to collaborate well. And by working together on two boats, we can really reduce our budgets. This allows us to have two boats with better preparation, and perhaps better equipment.
Pooling of costs
This is particularly the case of Jean Le Cam (It all starts in Finistère) and Eric Bellion (Stand As One), who worked hand in hand to prepare for this Vendée Globe by building two new boats (without foil) for this tenth edition. “The idea was to show that performance can be respectful of nature,” explains Bellion. We pooled the boat’s molds, purchases to make economies of scale, developments, damage treatment. it saves us money and time. The boats cost us more than a million euros less. »
They too, even if they are on two different projects, have gathered their information, without keeping a little trade secret in their corner. “In 2023, I had damage to the Jacques-Vabre transatlantic, so I was not able to do my two transatlantics for the year,” says Bellion. Jean made them, and when he came home, he showed me his job list with everything he had discovered on the boat during the race. His teams come on my boat whenever they want to observe everything we do, and so do we. »
Every man for himself in the race
This is all very cute, but the Vendée Globe remains a solo race, and could seeing these alliances, these joint projects develop call into question the foundation of the race? Not for now, in any case, because the regulations simply do not allow it: no assistance between the skippers, no strategies discussed in scred, hidden under the bunk. “There are no instructions,” assures Thomas Gavériaux. They will each do their Vendée Globe. It’s not a team race, it’s an individual race, it’s every man for himself. They are competitors. »
« Sam will be a competitor like any other, adds Thomas Ruyant. Even if there is a particular affinity, and a common functioning upstream, there will be no team play, or we will not ask Sam to let me pass, or me to let Sam pass. Everyone will do his race and give his best. »
Still, the project launched by TR Racing could give ideas to other partners, hopes Thomas Gavériaux. Until, why not, developing a real team, with two similar boats. “We’re not there yet, but it would be really good,” enthuses Louis Burton (Valley Office). I would love for there to be a boat 1 and a boat 2.” It remains to be defined which of the two will be Max Verstappen or Sergio Pérez. There is a track record to build.
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