Three winters ago, Yannick Bestaven was curled up in the “wild boar” position at the bottom of the hold of his boat tossed by the southern seas, but on the way to a surprise and rustic victory in the Vendée Globe. In less than three hundred days (departure on November 10), he returns there, eyeing the double. Since his large monohull with long foils is under winter construction for several weeks – for a general check-up – before the start of the English Transat on April 28, the 51-year-old from Rochelais was able to honor the 29th Sea Trophy with his presence mountain of Alpe d’Huez, where skilled enthusiasts of water and snow mingle sportingly and culturally.
We hardly expected him to surprise as much on the slopes as on the seas. It was not really giant in slalom, nor transcendent in night climbs on sealskin. Other sailors like Franck Cammas or Thomas Ruyant are more energetic on the boards. But it is in the spirit of Yannick Bestaven to be forgotten in order to emerge from his lair in time. The man – fall from his bike – and the boat – structural problem – had a shaky year. To better surprise once again?
“Your name has been disappearing from the rankings a bit lately.
I still had two or three problems. Physical already with my bike accident which stopped me for three months. Then with the small technical glitch on the boat which prevented us, with Julien Pulvé, from completing the Jacques Vabre transatlantic race. 2023 wasn’t a great year, but it wasn’t really better before the Vendée Globe victory. It’s not worrying.
“To win a Vendée Globe, you have to finish it, and to finish it, there is no secret, you have to have a solid boat”
So how is the man?
He’s getting older but he’s doing well. I’m not far from being 100%. I’m doing all the sports I loved doing again. Skiing here, kiting, wing riding, mountain biking. I got back on track. The physical, the mental too, always with Eric Blondeau. We know where we are going.
And the boat?
Nickel. Small structural problems (breakage of an interior partition). It better happen now. The lesson of the pre-Vendée races is that everyone is strengthening their boats. We all initially get excited about the weight of the boats, but to win a Vendée Globe, you have to finish it, and to finish it, there is no secret, you have to have a solid boat.
“I wanted a boat in the water early so I could use it”
However, up front, certain boats, like those of Thomas Ruyant, Charlie Dalin, Yoann Richomme or Jérémie Beyou, seem faster.
It’s always a little frustrating. But that’s normal too. We, with Maître Coq, have a new boat but on old designs, from before Vendée Globe, those of Eleven Hours (skippered by the American Charlie Enright, launched in the summer of 2021). We didn’t have the big financial resources of certain teams to develop new hulls, nor the time, because I wanted a boat in the water early so I could use it. The last time showed that it is not necessarily the top speed that is important in the average.
We know the commitment, even the pain, that a Vendée represents. You earned it. Do you still have the gnac to reinvest emotionally?
It’s the desire to take advantage of it. The result is secondary even if I want to do well. Finishing is already a great victory (he gave up very early on for his first attempt in 2008 and did not find sponsors for the following two editions). I know very well that I will not have the possibility, at least alone, to do many trips around the world. I’m going there to relive that with pleasure and passion. This is why reliability will be extremely important because the less you tinker and the less you are in the red, you take advantage of the environment a little, you play with the weather options. Of course, if you think about the wall in front of you, you tell yourself that you’re never going to climb it, you shouldn’t look too hard.
“I dreamed so much, when I was little, about the Vendée Globe, that I want to relive it like a last ski descent that you do on Sunday evening with your friends at the end of a great weekend”
I’m trying to prepare the boat to be more comfortable, even if that doesn’t exist, let’s say it’s more acceptable. It is completely closed, I am dry, except when I go out on the deck through my flying saucer style doors. I have shock absorbers on everything that supports me, armchair, etc., maybe we will put a heater on to dry things. I don’t believe in performance when you’re suffering even if sometimes you act a little wild. I dreamed so much, when I was little, about the Vendée Globe, it took me so long to bring together sponsor and team to get there, that I want to relive it like a last ski descent that you do on Sunday evening with your friends at the end of a great weekend.
Does that mean it would be the last?
I think. I would like to pass on, manage the rest with a promising young skipper who will waste less time than me setting up these complicated projects. Never say never but I have the idea that I won’t leave again after this one. Winning two in a row would already be a lot…
The move from the guy you’re not expecting, can it be done twice?
I hide, I don’t show myself, I make myself forgotten, so much the better. There are zero favorites in such a long and complicated race, with so many external elements that we cannot control. No one can say they have everything set up. There are so many unexpected things. There will be disappointed people. »
2024-01-26 12:19:38
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