Manuel Cousin: "It is a great adventure, a story of life.”

It's crazy! It felt a bit of a never-ending story, but experiencing the passage up the channel is worth all the hassles in the world. I had an incredible welcome. Of course I expected to see people but not so many. I really want to thank them all, some come from far away, it's just crazy! A very big thank you to the people who followed this adventure!

I set off for a race and it became a great adventure. Since Cape Horn, it's been a bit of a struggle: I've almost only sailed upwind! I'm so happy to have arrived, I'm very lucky to be here and I'm thinking of all the skippers, my friends who couldn't make it to the finish. 

For me, there was really a before and after the shock I had with the unidentified object or marine mammal. Afterwards, it was complicated to get going again, both physically and mentally. It took me a long time to recover. There were the little aches and pains of the skipper and the little aches and pains of the boat too. It was hard to get back up to speed and I was perhaps too conservative at times. Afterwards, we were able to fight with Fabrice (Amedeo, Nexans-Wewise), which was great. We were able to support each other in the tough times. But this finish is also worth all the gold in the world. We are leaving on the Vendée Globe and in the end we are living a life story, it is completely crazy!

At sea, we are in a completely different space-time. I won't say that it went by quickly, but I really don't feel like I did 111 days at sea! There are some periods which feel long of course and I haven't had it good really since Cape Horn. Physically it's tough and our boats aren't made to make as much progress upwind. But human beings quickly forget the bad times and only remember the good ones. And that allows you to forget all the tough times. 

In the Vendée Globe, normally, you can set up to manage the strength of the wind, the conditions, and you adapt accordingly. Here, I didn't realize at the time that the cell was very important. It followed a storm in the south of Madagascar. It was a very tough 24 hours mentally, with the wind, the thunder and the impossibility of getting out of this zone. I felt like I was in a parallel universe... It is often said that in the event of a storm you should not take shelter under a tree. My ‘tree’ is the mast and it is 28 meters high! I wasn't being smart!

If I was able to make them want to follow this story, that's great. Maybe a kid will have a spark and want to push open the doors of a club to sail an Optimist. I hope we can give them a little extra happiness. This round the world race allowd us to talk about the association and create other Coup de Pouce clubs. The goal is to contribute to equal opportunities for all children. Maybe they will be the ones who will help us get out of the slump we could be experiencing in the future.

Quite honestly, there were a lot of tough times. One of the extraordinary moments I experienced was rounding Cape Horn. Four years ago, I hadn't seen it. Now, I was spoiled by passing it at sunset in close hauled in gentle conditions at sunset. It's as if all the planets were aligning!

I just arrived but I know that they say "never two without three". The adventure is beautiful, magnificent and I have no right to complain about anything. As in all sports, you have to have a bit of luck to go all the way. Sportingly, I would have liked to do better. And it's true that you get a taste for it. I don't know how yet but this story has to continue. And I want to go back!