Benjamin Ferré : "Where competition meets adventure"
Visibly the rookie skipper of Monnoyeur-Duo For a Job just loved the passion and euphoria of the channel. Winner of the incredible "match within the match" ahead of Tanguy Le Turquais (Lazare) and Alan Roura (Hublot), Ferre has just completed his first round the world race after a really great battle!
Vendée Globe :
How do you feel after this passage up the channel?
I'm just so lucky! I don't know if these things last a lifetime but as long as my luck is with me I'm making the most of it! It's so magical! I couldn't have written a better script than all this, with this sunset, this race, this Vendée Globe
Vendée Globe :
You had quite a duel with Tanguy!
Yes, I think it's my greatest discovery about the Vendée Globe! Maybe our race with the daggerboard boats went a little unnoticed but it was extraordinarily intense. Since Cape Horn, he's never been more than 20 miles from me. That's why I called him my little kangaroo: he was bouncing back all the time and never stopped coming back! This morning, he entered my head. On the VHF, he told me: "I'm heading to the line". It made me worry until the end! And in the end just 16 minutes difference between us on a round the world race, that's extraordinary.
Vendée Globe :
Did you find what you came looking for from the Vendée Globe?
I don't know what I came looking for... But I found much more than that! Seeing that hard racing competition is mixed so much with adventure, that's the Holy Grail!
Vendée Globe :
Why did you make so many comparisons between racing and animals?
On board, I had podcasts and especially a lot of animal documentaries. And I had a great time. What I learned, I put back on the competitors of the Vendée Globe. Jean Le Cam was the old elephant, Guirec Soudée the little monkey who got into impossible situations. And Tanguy, it took me a while to find what he is. Until I saw a documentary about kangaroos. They look cute but in fact they are big fighters!
Vendée Globe :
How do you manage to always keep smiling?
I am a happy, smiley person but the hard times are there. That is what makes the Vendée Globe magical. If we are deprived of something, we have to have it even more It is so hard, it is so intense, you dig so deep into your resources that what is missing are the simple moments. You dream of a table of people, a glass of champagne, loved ones, laughter. It is because you are deprived of these moments that you tell yourself that you have a better chance to live them. That is also what allows us to live everything with a smile.
