Éric Bellion: “I want to race my own race and not someone else’s”

“For me, who has been a lover of the sea and boats since my early childhood, the Vendée Globe is the most beautiful thing man has ever done in the world. It is the most incredible and crazy challenge there is. I never imagined I would do it one day. I thought it was too big for me because it was made for supermen and superwomen. Life made me take part in this race and I was then cut off from this dream because I had already accomplished it. Suddenly, I had a bit of a depression because, for me, there is nothing more special than it but I felt I had done it without really living it to the full extent. I found myself for the next  four years judging everything in my life in terms of what I had experienced in the Vendée Globe in terms of intensity. Inevitably, everything else seemed bland, complicated. In fact, what I didn't know was that there was another goal to achieve, that was to build your boat for the Vendée Globe."

"Absolutely and I am happy to have lived it at the time by telling myself that it would be the only one because it allowed me to appreciate it until the end. I had heard some skippers say that during their round the world race they were preparing for the next one, buying a boat, etc. I could never have done that because it would have taken away some of the intensity of the Vendée Globe that I was experiencing. This time, I will definitely experience it radically differently. In 2016, I was naive. I knew nothing. I had never been solo sailing before. It was a total discovery. It was like big leaps into the void every day and I'm not just talking about the race because it was the same for the preparation. Now, I know what it's like. I've experienced it and I'm a much better sailor than I was eight years ago. I know a lot more things. I know how to work with myself better. I know myself better. At the time, it took me 40 days to start my race. Those days were very difficult because I couldn't sleep. Because I was afraid and because I was struggling with my fear. Now, I am much more at peace. I enjoy myself much more on the boat. I want to see what it feels like to do an entire race with this way of seeing things. Eight years ago, I had glimpses of extraordinary things, resources that I had within me and that I did not know because they were not used on land. I also had a very powerful connection with the ocean. It made me reach for somewhat mystical things. I had dialogues with my boat and then relationships with the ocean, the birds and the sky. I had discovered that I had a very strong animal instinct. All of this makes me want to go back and delve deeper. I feel a bit like I have lifted a curtain and glimpsed something. So I want to go and see more. "

"I don't think you can be disappointed during this type of challenge. This one is bound to be different from the first one, which was, in fact, extraordinary. The fact of having been at rock bottom, getting back up, going beyond what I thought possible, then arriving first rookie, in the Top 10...all  that was like a dream. Maybe, however, I'm going to have some frustrations. The ocean can very well decide not to give me a straight passage this time."

"Building a new boat has nothing to do, really nothing to do with getting a boat and fitting it out. It's without a measure. It's much more difficult and complete. In this sense, I can say that even before leaving, I have already lived a fabulous adventure. A complex and brilliant adventure because for a sailor, building his boat is a dream. Now, we have to go and demonstrate on the water that our choice of a "simple" machine is the right one, and that our vision is a vision of the future. There is still more work to do."

“For me, the meaning of life is discovering who you are and there is only one way to do it, it is to go all out into the unknown because that is where your true personality is revealed, the resources you have within yourself, your strengths and weaknesses. I dedicate my life to that. To do things I have never done before.”

“I would say the way I surround myself but also the fact of knowing myself, seeing myself as I am and knowing the things I can rely on. During my first Vendée Globe, I was put in really difficult situations. I then saw and verified that I had courage and that I could cope. I made fear my friend. At the very least, I tamed it. It also allowed me to build a boat that suited me. I know what I want to do in the Southern Ocean and what I am capable of enduring. I know that this boat is easy to sail and that even when I am very tired, it will still be able to go fast. It is a boat with which I will be able to express myself and not suffer."

"First of all, it is the separation from my little girl. Then, it is falling into the water. Everything else, I will face. So I will be very careful."

"I see myself off the coast of Portugal, with winds at 80 knots. The sky was black, the sea too, and in the distance, I saw a phosphorescent blue shape appear: a rogue wave. It was incredibly intense. Sailors, we all say that we have our storm. That when it comes, we recognize it. For me, it was that one.”

“I have plenty, but one of the most powerful moments of my life as a sailor, I probably experienced it during my first round the world trip that I did with two friends, between 2003 and 2006, on a small, rotten 8.60 meter boat named Kifouine. We were sailing in the South Pacific. The sun was setting and while we had been in the gray for weeks and weeks, the sun broke through the horizon. The sky, the albatrosses, the sea… everything turned red. Seeing this beauty, I forgot my fear of sinking and I told myself that even if the richest man on earth offered to exchange his fortune for my happiness of the moment, I would tell him to go to hell! I was happy because I was experiencing something extraordinary. Now, I enjoy all these somewhat similar moments at sea and I experience them by telling myself that I am truly privileged."

"The finish of the New York Vendée - Les Sables d'Olonne. We were fighting with Romain (Attanasio) and Violette (Dorange). The sea was flat and the boat, which I was starting to get the measure of and free up the horses, was literally flying on the water. I was extremely happy."

"My wildest dream is to show that our boat can compete with the top of the basket. That our concept is good and that we can be in the running."

"I am lucky to be friends with Isabelle Autissier. She is a complete woman. She inspires me in every way. In the way she led her life as a sailor but also her political life, in the noble sense of the term, with the WWF. She also has a great talent as a writer. She is my reference."

"I spend time with my family, but mainly I work. We live a sport that is, in many ways, completely crazy. We all do what we do to make as much boat as possible but compared to the work we do, the time spent on the water is ultimately quite minimal."

"I have a little Superman that I take with me when I sail solo. He reminds me that I have to be careful, that I am not not Superman, exactly. It’s something my mental preparation coach gave me before my first Vendée Globe so that I wouldn’t burn my wings and, precisely, so that I would remain aware of who I am. I’m a different sailor from the others. I don’t come from the Figaro. I don’t have, like some, thirty years of ocean racing behind me. I have weaknesses and I have qualities. I mustn’t forget who I am. I have to do my race and not someone else’s.”