YR: “These are speculations from earthlings (laughs). I’m doing really well, I had a blast. I wasn’t expecting that or I had prepared it well. I have an ideal scenario, I am experiencing an incredibly easy round the world trip, I think, compared to the group behind who had much more difficult conditions in the middle of the Indian Ocean. By getting out of that group, I also benefited from ideal conditions: we crossed the Pacific quickly, we barely reefed, we went up the South Atlantic quickly. It makes things more enjoyable. I rather liked this world tour. That doesn’t mean it was Hawaii and big atmosphere every day. I expected to have low morale, but I didn’t have any. Sportingly, things are going really well, I’m where I wanted to be, in the top 3. You can even say that I’m in the fight for first place. It’s pretty awesome.”
Whatever happens in the end, you’ve already fulfilled the contract, right?
YR: “Yes. If I finish second, that will be very good, I would have succeeded in my Vendée Globe. But that won’t stop me from fighting until the end to win. My contract is already fulfilled. My only big mistake, my fault, would be not to finish this Vendée Globe, to have a problem which would prevent me from finishing. It would spoil a beautiful copy.”
At the end of the race, you have already finished ahead of Charlie Dalin, notably in the Solitaire du Figaro in 2016: do you have that in mind?
YR: “I think Charlie has this in mind more than I do. In reality, he won more than me but I was able to win a few too. It’s certain that he has a track record at Poulidor (laughs). He has grown a lot on this subject. But there, I don’t think it’s going to work.”
Does it bother you that people constantly talk to you about your direct opponent?
CD: “No, it’s normal, it’s a great story for you media. If I were a journalist, I would ask the same questions.”
YR: “As long as it stays in sport, it suits me but when certain media talk to me about literature and poetry with the why and how in our youth, the thing or the first beer we drank together, there, It pisses me off.”
Your track is clean: do you feel like you have made few mistakes since the start?
CD: “I looked at my track yesterday and it’s true that it’s quite straight, it’s pretty cool. What really pushed me ahead was my fairly thorough risk-taking in the storm in the Indian: it really catapulted me ahead even though I was ahead. I think Yoann, who realized what was happening, took a fairly strong dose of risk and pulled his boat a lot in the rough seas so as not to get stuck like the others. He gave everything to come back. We all raised the bar, we pushed each other to sail hard, we did a high-intensity Pacific.”
How do you see them these last two weeks of racing?
CD: “To a set of things, as usual. There, we set off on a section oriented towards speed. We have to find the right line to cross the Doldrums. Four years ago, the Doldrums on the way back was supposed to be cool and, in the end, it was more engaging than the Doldrums on the way there, so I’m wary. It’s a mix of everything: the condition of the boats, the speed a lot, a little bit of placement obviously too. Until the Canaries, we are almost certain not to have any jibes to do.”
YR: “To go back up, we have an edge up to the height of the Canaries which is without any real strategy, it’s a real straight line towards the North. If there are 15 knots in the trade wind, it is more favorable for Charlie because he takes off earlier than me. If there are 18 nodes, we are tied. I hope I don’t stretch the distance too much on that edge. Once arrived at the height of the Canaries to discover the Azores anticyclone which should normally be very low, very flat and very narrow too. There, I think we will enter the North Atlantic low pressure system very early, go downwind and attack the front passages. That means a lot of wear, which I prefer. We are heading towards a North Atlantic scenario favorable to a good recovery time. It will be quick. I know that if I’m less than 100 miles behind in the last five days, I’ll still have a card to play. Afterwards, if there is one who leaves first with a front, mass will be said. There’s not much to be said for it.”
Obviously, you can’t get rid of Yoann Richomme?
CD: “There is a piece that connects us, which is difficult to break.”
If you had to define it?
CD: “He’s a formidable competitor, he’s a friend too, we’ve done lots of things together, on the water but also on land. He was my roommate when we wore the colors of Macif, we started Le Figaro with a year difference.”
In 2016, you were in the same team in Figaro 3 and Richomme beat you to the finish of the Solitaire du Figaro…
CD: “I didn’t think about it anymore but like you talk about it (laughs). It brings up a bad memory.”
You say you don’t watch what he does but it’s hard to believe you…
CD: “It was in a particular context, in a different weather situation. Of course I’m watching him. I look at his speed and his caps but I live my life. I mainly look at my trajectories, I’m not going to follow his.”
Does being so close to you change the way you navigate?
CD: “If I had been alone in the lead with a 500-mile lead, I would not have stayed upwind to climb the mast. There, I had to toughen up my way of sailing, I didn’t slow the boat down and I got smashed a little at the masthead. It pushes me to go faster, trim more often, take shorter naps, it adds intensity to having a boat so close. I wouldn’t change my place for anything in the world with the others, with the whole gruppetto: they would give everything to be in our place, Yoann and me. I am happy to be able to be at the head of the race, to play for the final victory.”
Both side by side five miles from the finish, does that suit you as a final scenario?
CD: “Not at all! Well, if in the end I’m the one to cut the line first, I’ll take it. Even if I win by a length, I take it. Of course I want to win but if there is a little gap between us, it will be cooler to experience. My bet is also won despite everything. Yes, obviously, second place, I don’t want it because I’m there for the victory but it’s still a great place: it’s the Vendée Globe after all! Twice second, we must not spit in the soup, these will be two magnificent results. We don’t say everything but there are inevitably some beautiful moments of struggle, where you are pushed to your limits. And then, if we go back a little more than a year (Editor’s note: he had to give up the Transat Jacques Vabre due to health problems), I am very happy to be where I am today. To have the incredible chance to be able to claim a first place in the Vendée Globe. I have the chance to experience a rather exceptional sporting moment. I enjoy being in this situation with Yoann.”
YR: “It would be great for the story especially! You can invent whatever you want, that’s fine with me (laughs).”
We imagine that a second place would not suit you?
CD: “I know that Yoann came to the Vendée Globe to win it. I came back for that too. To cross the line first (Editor’s note: he crossed the line first four years ago but was reclassified 2nd after the time given to Yannick Bestaven for the rescue operation of Kevin Escoffier) and really be the first.
Is an arrival on January 14 or 15 possible?
CD: “Yes, it could be something like that, it will go quite quickly”.