Amélie Grassi: “The Vendée Globe is my major driver”

The Vendée Globe inspires dreams. It captivates and obsesses. Every sailor who sets out to sea has at some point imagined their name on this extraordinary starting line. At 31, Amélie Grassi is no exception: driven and persevering, she is logging the miles, learning from the best and patiently building her path to the Everest of ocean racing. Currently competing in The Ocean Race Europe aboard Paul Meilhat's IMOCA Biotherm, which is leading the provisional rankings, the sailor from La Rochelle is experiencing a new springboard towards her ultimate goal: a solo round-the-world race.

A chosen path

In the Grassi family, sailing is a family affair: her mother competed in the Mini Transat, her father in the Route du Rhum. But Amélie initially followed a different path. "I did ballet until I was 13. It was during my teenage years that I started racing. Needless to say, I had a lot of catching up to do compared to my friends who had been sailing Optimists since they were 6,‘ she says. But the real turning point came in 2015, when she watched the start of the Mini 6.50 solo transatlantic race. ’I got goosebumps watching them set sail with stars in their eyes. I said to myself: I really want to do that too!‘ With a law degree under her belt, she turned her back on legal codes to embrace ocean racing and prepared for the 2019 Mini Transat. 

Dare, create opportunities

She doesn't wait for opportunities to come to her. "I don't close any doors. On the contrary, I break them down. Yes, my parents know the industry well, but that's not everything. I dare to take risks and seek out opportunities." She called Loïck Peyron to ask him to sail together in Figaro Beneteau. Later, she contacted Paul Meilhat to join his project. From 2021 to 2024, she ran her own programme in Class40 with La Boulangère Bio. These four formative years allowed her to establish herself as a skipper in her own right. "This project taught me how to manage everything: the boat, the team, the partners, the pressure." At the same time, she multiplied her experiences: Transat Jacques Vabre (4th in 2021 then 13th in 2023), The Transat CIC (7th in 2024), but also sailing in Ultim on Actual then on SVR-Lazartigue. "Sailing on different boats, with sailors from all backgrounds, is definitely the best way to learn!" On the 60-foot Biotherm, she entered a whole new dimension. Having already taken part in The Ocean Race 2023 – in which she competed in two legs – she is now successfully continuing the adventure alongside the skipper from Finistère in The Ocean Race Europe. 

Collective campaigns are intense, but formative: "They are real learning tunnels: you are totally immersed, from morning to night you think only about the boat, you are constantly communicating with your team and you are always pushing the boundaries a little further. From the outside, we look like crazies... but on the inside, you progress at an incredible speed!"

The common thread of the Vendée Globe 

Behind each stage , the same horizon appears: the Vendée Globe. "Sailing around the world is an explorer's dream. If I don't make it in the race, I'll do it on a cruise with my family." But the competitor quickly regains the upper hand. "The last edition of the race blew me away. The level has exploded. Today, you have to attack from start to finish. And for me, it's more exciting than scaring." At 31, Amélie embodies a generation that refuses to wait. "Yes, I was lucky to be rooted in this environment, but I also created my own opportunities. My goal now is to turn this dream into reality!" So she moves forward. One step, one race, one more brick in the building. ‘Every race brings me closer. The Vendée Globe is my major driver.