As he sets out on his first Vendée Globe on 10th November 2012, Alessandro Di Benedetto (Team Plastique) is bound to be thinking about his non-stop solo round the world voyage aboard a Mini 6.50. Two very different adventures, but he was attracted to both because of his taste for the most extreme challenges imaginable. We met up with the skipper, who although remaining humble, was very relaxed and enthusiastic about the idea of attempting this latest solo round the world adventure.
Alessandro, how did your partnership with Team Plastique for the next Vendée Globe come about?
Didier Elin, who runs Team Plastique, closely watched my Mini 6.50 round the world voyage in the papers and was fascinated by this huge challenge (Alessandro set a record for sailing the smallest boat to go solo non-stop around the world, editor’s note). The day I finished in Les Sables-d’Olonne, we just happened to be in the same restaurant and he bought me a bottle of champagne. Then, we met up again in La Rochelle and gradually things came together. We will be there at the start of the 2012 Vendée Globe. That’s a certainty, but we’re still looking for other partners to be able to improve the performance of the boat and work on our communications. It’s interesting that a small business can be there in the middle of big companies in the same sporting project. And there’s a parallel with my own situation, as I am not a professional racer. For Team Plastique, this is in any case a great opportunity to bring together the staff of the company and to find new clients.
A word about your boat, a Finot-Conq designed boat launched back in 1998?
She is one of the oldest IMOCA monohulls in the fleet. We’ll be doing our utmost to make sure she is also one of the safest. We’ve got a lot of work to do to get her in shape: engine, electronics, rigging, making new sails, etc. The boat hasn’t sailed since Arnaud Boissières finished in seventh place in the last Vendée Globe in the colours of Akéna Verandas. Before that, Team Plastique had already been around the world in the hands of Thomas Coville (Sodebo), then Sébastien Josse (VMI). We’ve got a busy schedule and I hope to be out there sailing from January.
From a race perspective, it is going to be difficult to compete with the other boats, which are newer…
I’m not aiming for first place, but that won’t stop me pushing the boat hard, when I need to, in order to stay in the race. But the priority is to complete the race. Going beyond the race result, we shall be doing all we can to tell this amazing story to as many people as possible. We shall be setting up projects so that the children in several schools in Vendée, as well as patients undergoing psychiatric treatment, can follow my voyage throughout the race.
You’re going directly from a Mini 6.50 to a 60-foot IMOCA – which is three times the length. That’s quite a challenge…
It will indeed be a huge challenge, but that’s what makes this project so interesting. I’ve never sailed single-handedly before on such a big boat. But it’s like riding a bike: when you go from a small one to a big one, you quickly pick it up, so it just takes a bit of time. I was lucky enough to take the helm of Arnaud Boissières’s new Akena Verandas, when I came back from my round the world voyage aboard the Mini 6.50. That is really what led me to want to take part in the Vendée Globe. Between now and the start, I’ll be out sailing as much as I can to get used to her and ensure the boat is in shape. The qualifying run will in particular be a good way of training.
Are there any similarities between sailing around the world aboard a Mini 6.50 and what lies ahead in the Vendée Globe?
The course is the same, but the goals and the experience are going to be different. I did my round the world voyage in a Mini because I like travelling. I wanted to sail the oceans on a reasonable sized boat and take time to stop, film things and observe the environment. The Vendée Globe will be a very different adventure, as I won’t be alone, but competing against top class skippers.
This is in fact your first time sailing in race mode. How do you feel about that?
It’s true that until now I have only competed in windsurfing and optimist events. Since then, I’ve done other things (Alessandro has crossed the Mediterranean, Atlantic and Pacifica aboard a racing cat), but never against other competitors. So I am approaching the Vendée Globe quite modestly, but at the same time feel relaxed, as the boat knows her way around, so she will be taking me. It’s funny, but we have spent the same time sailing around the world: she has completed the Vendée Globe three times and I have sailed around once, but it took me three times as long. So we complement each other perfectly.
