They wore out the bottoms of their foulies on the same banks as Vincent Riou, Armel Le Cléac’h and Yann Elies. They form part of this generation of talented sailors, who have gathered together experiences from the Solitaire du Figaro to the Jules Verne Trophy. They’ve dreamt of being able to make the start in 2012 and are putting the necessary means in place to achieve that. Sébastien Audigane, Charles Caudrelier and Nicolas Troussel will be giving their all to be ready for the challenge in 2012, or even 2016 if need be…
Sébastien Audigane’s little enterprise
Sébastien Audigane is a methodical guy. From years spent preparing for the Olympics, he has retained an obvious sense of discipline the minute it comes down to achieving his objectives. He also knows, from being in that position himself, to what extent the search for financial partners is an even tougher sport than battling it out on the water for first place. From his wealth of experience he draws two lessons, which he strives to apply to the letter. First of all, you must never stop sailing. For the past two years, Sébastien Audigane has been a committed protagonist in the IMOCA world: sailing with Kito de Pavant in the Istanbul Europa Race, he also accompanied the skipper from La Grande Motte in the Transat AG2R from Concarneau to Saint Barts. Indeed the latter was an opportunity to spend long hours sailing between Brittany and the West Indies, exchanging ideas about the reality of a Vendée Globe. It’s the same line of thinking which drove him to accompany Marc Guillemot in the Tour of Spain… and win the event in style.
However, as sailing alone is not enough, Sébastien has already put together the core of his future shore crew. A partner to help him to canvass future sponsors, and a small team who are already working on the project’s main targets: technical management, logistics, communication, Sébastien Audigane can already depend on collaborators who have made a name for themselves in the environment. A guarantee for a possible backer.
Nicolas Troussel’s step by step climb
Nicolas Troussel has opted for a slightly different route. For the double winner of the Solitaire du Figaro, it was necessary first of all to make a clean break from the series which enabled him to make a name for himself in the world of offshore racing. However, the Figaro still lacks media exposure as regards the general public should you want to go on to more ambitious projects. As such he has opted to change tack and devote himself to other challenges, the results of which he hopes will enable him to finally access what he dreams of. Still supported by the partner which allowed him to unleash his talent in the Figaro, he has opted to take the start of the Route du Rhum, which remains the most legendary of all transatlantic races. Due to a lack of budget he will be racing in the Class 40, where his sights will be on a podium finish, or even victory, which would enable him to reel in a few potential contacts. His current partner, a large mutual bank, is continuing to support him and is making use of its networking facilities to assist him in his plight.
Charles Caudrelier’s project
Charles Caudrelier meantime, had a plan to set in motion an approach based on the Analysis of Life Cycles. In collaboration notably with the Ecole Polytechnique in Lausanne, he wanted to promote an ecologically responsible project where everything was closely examined in ecological terms: the boat’s ability to be recycled after racing, analysis of the build site so as to limit the carbon footprint of materials, research into innovative materials from recycling, the removal of fossil fuels to favour renewable energies for running the boat… In short, an ambitious project which aimed to find a way to reconcile respect for the environment and performance. Due to a lack of sponsors, Charles has temporarily opted to focus his attention on other projects. Co-skippering a 60 footer with Marc Guillemot in the last two Transat Jacques Vabres as well as the Tour of Spain, he’s continuing to remain in direct contact with the IMOCA monohull environment… If he doesn’t make it in 2012 then he’ll be back in 2016, even better prepared to do battle.
From Vendée Globe
