Having completed their delivery trip from Costa Rica on 23rd December, Arnaud Boissières and his team are now busy preparing the monohull for a 2010 season, dominated by the Route du Rhum. Arnaud is taking advantage of this quiet time to take a look back at a packed 2009 season.
How do you feel about your 2009 season?
A year ago on the 15th January, I was rounding the Horn and on 22nd February I finished the race in Les Sables d’Olonne. Since then, we’ve launched a new boat and I have completed two transatlantic races, meaning I’ve spent around 150 days at sea. It was a very busy year. As far as the results are concerned, even if the rankings in the Transat Jacques Vabre were below our expectations, we have nothing to be ashamed of, as the standard was very high and any one of fourteen boats could have ended up on the podium. That enabled me to cover around 10,000 miles, which is always interesting. Particularly as the delivery trip with the shore team taught us as much as the double-handed race with Vincent. We were able to chat about all the important details and see what was going on as it happened.
Do you now think you know this boat as well as your previous one?
You never know a boat as well as you would like, but everything fell into place quickly. Maybe, I don’t know her as well as the old boat, but I feel at ease on board and that’s what really counts. It’s not the best performer that wins the Vendée Globe, but the one the skipper feels at ease on board. As she is faster, this boat reacts more quickly than the Finot-designed boat, but that doesn’t worry me. I don’t think she is any less comfortable, and in fact the cockpit for example is better than on the old boat.
So now what about the 2010 season?
After a winter refit lasting three months, we’ll take part in the first race of the season, even if we don’t yet know what that is. And of course in the autumn there is the Route du Rhum. This is the most important race after the Vendée Globe and I can’t wait to get started. This will be my first attempt in this classic, but we have a lot of work to do before that.
Which brings me to the question of the winter refit…
As usual, we’ll be taking everything apart and putting it back together again, but there won’t be any major modifications. We’ll be redoing the bowsprit and repairing the bottom of the screen, which broke during the return trip. Then, looking forward to the Route du Rhum, we’ll be fitting a second autopilot system.
