FABRICE AMEDEO 11TH OF THE VENDÉE GLOBE: “AN INCREDIBLE ADVENTURE!”

A superb performance for the skipper of Newrest-Matmut, second rookie of this edition, which puts an end to an “incredible” adventure. Back on a course marked by difficulties and intense moments. This Saturday morning, under the winter sun of Les Sables d’Olonne, Fabrice Amedeo has completed his first Vendée Globe, becoming the second rookie of the event to finish. A broad smile curls his face, he who enjoyed his reunion with his family and his relatives. “It’s a beautiful Vendée Globe,” he smiled after almost 104 days at sea, a month after the winner Armel Le Cléac’h. “The adventure was incredible: I learned things throughout the race. I have experienced ups and downs, especially in the South. It was a delight tocross the Cape Horn. Of course, the climb back was difficult. There, I feel carried by the happiness of the arrival.” For him who has made writing his profession, words struggle to come, so strong is the emotion: “to see all this crowd is really beautiful!” . In the effervescence of the channel, he already gives appointment to the thousands of curious who came to greet its performance this Saturday: “the only thing I wish is to be at the start in four years!” . Back on an adventure that brings him into the very closed circle of sailors who completed the Vendée Globe.

HIS STATE OF MIND

Before his first round-the-world, there was a mixture of excitement and apprehension among the skipper, who never hid his admiration for those who were rushing to his side. These sailors, he has rubbed shoulders with them for several years already, whereas he was, two years ago, journalist to the Figaro. “Before, I was in your place,” he laughs in a press conference to reporters who came to cover the event. However, Fabrice has gradually taken the steps – Solitaire du Figaro, Transat AG2R, Route du Rhum, Transat Jacques Vabre, New-York / Vendée – before embarking on this giant challenge. “Navigating in a good sailor” is one of his most recurring leitmotifs, on land and at sea. A few days after his departure, he says: “I had a deal with my boat. I said , ‘I take care of you, I do not hurt you and you take care of me’. I never thought of giving up, despite the difficulties. Michel Desjoyeaux told me that the Vendée Globe is an annoyance a day. He’s not wrong! Every day I did things that were beyond my reach. The hardest part is the mind. I had not measured how true it was.”

ITS RACE

After a controlled start of the race during the descent of the Atlantic, Fabrice was slowed down by the St. Helena high before he fought when he entered the Indian Ocean, where he had to face a succession of depressions. Rough conditions, also marked by a sudden drop in temperatures, and a boat to take care of. After having to contend with a sail blocked at the top of the mast, his mainsail is torn in mid-December as it flows into the South Seas. Once again, he manages to repair during the Christmas week, offering himself the most beautiful gift to continue his journey. Two days later, the skipper had to sacrifice his gennaker while facing one of the biggest depressions since the start. In fact, the southern seas push him into his entrenchments and force him into constant attention. “I did not imagine them as rough, he says. The depressions are much more powerful, the water is cold, the nights are short. We are where the common people do not go”. With patience and abnegation, sometimes at more than 45 knots, Fabrice manages them, he who crossed Cape Horn for the first time of his existence on January 16. “It’s a great moment of my life,” he explains. But the race is far from finished and the ascent of the Atlantic is long and demanding, especially since Fabrice must ration his food. “I was a little naive: I left with much less than expected,” he explains at the end of January, at the latitude of Rio de Janeiro. Yet, he faces the “north highway to the house” despite a capricious weather. “I did not think it would be so hard to go up the trade winds” . But Fabrice said he was “strengthened” and “stronger mentally” by the adventures he had already experienced. This gives him the courage and the determination to cross the finish line and put an end to the most exalting adventure of his existence. “I recorded every day with a dictaphone. I want to write a book, to put words on this incredible adventure.”

HIS DAILY. Sharing at all costs!

Loneliness is not a brake on sharing, quite the opposite. Even in the middle of the elements, the skipper of Newrest-Matmut exchanges without counting, in writing, on the social networks or videos. His satisfactions, his moments of happiness, his states of souls, his doubts … And then there are these bubbles of lightness, these videos sent as bottles to the sea that give the curious people a glimpse of life at sea: a shave in the middle of the Atlantic, a shower in the South Seas or a new haircut along the Brazilian coast. All with its playlist, these tracks that accompanied him throughout his journey and contributed to the public’s adhesion. There is the must-see Guns’N’Roses or a famous “You’re My Heart, You’re My Soul” sung and danced shirtless before facing the South Seas.

THE STORY. A friendship born on the water

From the first evening, they were edge to edge. Fabrice Amedeo and Arnaud Boissières have lived this round the world most often side by side. At Cape Finisterre, at the crossing of the equator and even at Cape Horn (only four hours separated the two men), Newrest-Matmut and La Mie Câline did not let go. A closeness that has created, over the days, a strong relationship of friendship. “After the equator, we started exchanging,” explained Fabrice mid-January. “I must admit that when I do not have my little email from Cali (the nickname of Arnaud Boissières), I miss it!” . Arnaud described Fabrice as a “guardian angel” . “We watched over each other” confirms the skipper of Newrest-Matmut. Arnaud Boissières arrived Friday at Les Sables-d’Olonnes, one day before Fabrice knew the same joy.