Romain Attanasio: "On board these boats it's completely insane!"

It's always amazing! It's so much better at the finish than at the start. At the start it's oppressive, there's the stress of leaving, that's all you think about. At the finish, what changes everything is that as soon as you cross the line, there is no more pressure. We spend three months wondering when everything is going to go wrong, when we are going to give up. And even this morning, I was still afraid of dismasting! Once the line is crossed, you finally know that nothing can happen. And that's pure happiness!
 

Yes, the pressure was permanent. Every time I managed to get ahead, the others came back at me. When we sailed up the Atlantic, I found myself in calm conditions with Damien Seguin and all the boats were coming back. It was delirium! Everyone said: "Jean Le Cam is going to overtake you!" In the end, I managed to get back ahead.  I attacked like I would never have attacked with my previous boats. A foiler has nothing to do with other boats. Sometimes, I wondered why we had made the mistake of putting foils on our boats. Of course it goes fast but physically, it's unmanageable!
 

I try to tell what I'm going through. I don't have much to hide. I'm thinking of Charlie (Dalin) who is playing for victory and obviously when he has a problem, he can't say nothing. I don't have that pressure! I manage to talk about it because I have sponsors, people who follow me. If I didn't tell them what I was going through, it wouldn't work! We have to talk about our sport. And I try to say as much as possible, my strengths as well as my weaknesses!
 

The atmosphere, the slamming, the shocks, it's completely insane! You hurt everywhere, it's impossible. When the boat hits, your neck hurts, it crunches your teeth, it's hellish! I don't know why we put foils on these boats! But they're great, the feeling of flying... But when the sea is bad, it's really hard.
 

Since the beginning of my career, I've always come across people who have really helped me. I still dismasted in September. Everyone around me was there, everyone helped me and allowed me to be there. In life you make your luck and then for a moment everything aligns. And above all because you are well supported by good people. And that allowed me to compete in three Vendée Globes!
 

A week ago I said no. When I arrived, I was thinking about it. And tonight I'm going to say that I want to go back! If I had a latest-generation boat, I might have been able to be in the game. But they're hard boats, I don't know if I have the physical capacity to sail them. It's another world! But inevitably, we get a taste for performance. I'll probably be seen again in four years!
 

I sing French songs but I sing very badly! In my whole life, it's always been a horrible complex. I'll never sing in public but alone on my boat I do whenever I want to!