Alan Roura: "My morale is sky high !"

 It guarantees you don’t make the same mistakes! We always learn from past editions, from what we have been through and endured. It allows us to always be a little better prepared. That doesn't mean I'm resting on my laurels, that would be a mistake because that's the best way to come unstuck. It allows us to know a little more about where we are going... My morale is sky high!   
 

I think that above all, you have to be in the right state of mind. And for that, you have to master everything that can be mastered. The more I manage to stick to my initial plan I set for myself, the more I can focus on the race and only the race. It works for the preparation, for the village period and everything before the big start. Knowing what time you leave into the channel, what time the guys come in and sticking to that plan, it helps to have a free, clear mind.

Contrary to what people say, I think we have to go hard from the start and get right into it from the start. We shouldn't be afraid of losing a little from time to time as the race progresses. And like in most things when you start in front at the beginning you can be in front at the end. So you have to be flat out doing everything you can to make the boat move forward as much as possible and constantly.

If I'm going back to the Vendée Globe, it's precisely to race in the South! That's what interests me, I want to be out there in the swells, the depressions, the loneliness, this summer when you're in "survival mode". We go through them so little that each time, it's an experience that lasts a lifetime. What I have in mind are images of grey, sensations of cold and then this feeling of being so small in that huge immensity. An still very few sailors have crossed the Southern Oceans in the entire history of ocean racing.  
 

Yes she made me want to go ocean racing. I have a clear memory of this little woman, an image of her at the top of her mast. During the 2000-2001 Vendée Globe, we didn't have the Internet to follow the Vendée Globe. But there was the press and then later the film about this edition and the book that I read four times! Even though it's been years since I've seen any images of this edition, I feel like I still remember them vividly and accurately.  
 

I remain very humble. When I talk to Alain Gautier, for example, there's always a mixture of pride and awe.  Even though I'm part of the industry, I've never had the pretense of being at the level of these big names in ocean racing. They all impress me. I'm thinking in particular of Kito de Pavant who came to drink a coffee on my boat before my first Vendée Globe. I feel privileged to be with all these sailors.  

Yes, we did a very substantial project by changing the bow, modifying the weight, the ergonomics, the ballast tanks. We really improved in terms of performance and power. On average, since we got the boat, we've improved it on all points of sail by 10 to 15%. In addition to the work in the yard I have done a lot with myself especially in terms of mental preparation. And I've noticed that when I'm not putting pressure on myself, it goes very well.  

... We had launched a week earlier and the team had told me that I could really push the boat. I left very serene. It was a difficult transatlantic race in strong winds, often big seas. I'm not the greatest racer but I like to push my boat like a good sailor when the level of difficulty is high. This was the case during the Vendée Arctique (7th in 2022) which was a good training race for the Vendée Globe which is a complicated three-month race! In any case, The Transat CIC result lets me set off on the Vendée Globe much more serenely, it was a great race to gain experience before the big one. 

It's true that I wear two hats. I am lucky to be surrounded by people I trust who allow me to sail serenely. The state of mind is not the same as a skipper who is only the driver. In my case, you can't forget that your project gives people jobs, that it's through this way that they can earn a living, support their families... This means a very much stronger sense of responsibility.