Nick Moloney, Roland ’Bilou’ Jourdain, Ellen MacArthur et Mike Golding

Photo : G.Martin-Raget

 Ellen MacArthur on the possibility that this may be her last solo race on Kingfisher : "The way I’m trying to see the race at the moment is that we haven’t started it yet and, sure, it is likely to be my last solo race on Kingfisher but we’ve not actually made it to the start yet or crossed the start line and once we get across the start line we’ve got a long race to Guadeloupe. At the moment, sure, it is not the most positive of feelings but at the same time we’ve got a race to do and that is what the focus is.

Although I am not planning to do any single-handed races on Kingfisher in the future and at the moment we have set the plan until 2006 but that is not to say that I won’t race her again in some shape or form - at the moment, I’m not planning to but never say never."

 Ellen MacArthur on what might happen to Kingfisher : "I think it would be pretty sad to see her sitting in a museum - maybe in 30 years time but at the moment I think she’s happier out there on the water."

 Ellen MacArthur on some of the modifications to Kingfisher : "Over the last winter were the biggest changes we made. We made the boat 350 kilos lighter by changing the rigging, the size of the keel bulb and the keel itself. So she’s got a new keel with a slightly longer foil Foil #foil which weighs 200 kilos less and taken 150 kilos out of the rest of the boat

 Mike Golding on the changes to Ecover : "Well, the main thing was to put the mast back up after Lorient Lorient L’actualité du port de Lorient et de sa région. (!) and making some modifications to the mast principally removing the diamonds and, obviously, like Kingfisher our efforts have been to remove weight and windage and improve our stability more for performance reasons combined with the safety of the boat. But other than that our boat is already quite highly developed anyway and there is rather less room for us to make changes that actually move us forward. The biggest one is the rig changes - getting rid of our diamond spreaders will definitely improve our upwind performance but it will be small. It is small changes but lots of them.

 Ellen MacArthur on the heavy weather forecast for the start : I think the Route du Rhum Route du Rhum #RouteDuRhum is renowned for starting in strong breeze - it starts in November like the Vendée Globe and the strategy has got at the end of the day to get west - that is the way everyone sees it. If you look at all the routes from the boats in the last 3 or 4 Route du Rhum Route du Rhum #RouteDuRhum ’s the old traditional view of head south, get into the Trade Winds and get across the Atlantic is not the way it has been run the last few times. The boats have got better upwind and, therefore, we are able to make more ground upwind before heading down to the Azores. And that’s not to say that it couldn’t change this time but at the end of the day if don’t look at the old routes and see how they have fared on them then you would be wrong to do that. And it’s not the same race it was 20 years ago but there is a lot of area for improvement and choices in that getting west and if you look, for example, at Bourgnon’s route last time and the time before, so 1998 and 1994, they are very different and yet they both still using the same view of getting west and going south.

We’re still two days before the start as well so its not like we know exactly what’s going to happen, the weather is evolving every day.

 Mike Golding on the weather at the start : "Obviously, there are differing weather reports for the weekend and quite fairly big changes but clearly its going to be potentially strong for the first few days and it is going to be a westerly airflow so clearly your job is to get as far as you can against it before you get the shift.

 Mike Golding on the spectacle in Saint-Malo : "I don’t think in all the racing I have done, including the Vendée Globe, I have ever been to an event where the start is so clearly big with the public. From a competitive standpoint, apart from the Vendée where we had 24 starters, I have never seen anything bigger. It is clearly a huge and amazing event."

 Nick Moloney on the spectacle in Saint-Malo : "I just can’t believe it when I survey the dock and the crowds. It’s amazing to see the boats, particularly the investments that have been made. There is so much invested in this side of the sport even though in the rest of the world it isn’t really as accepted yet.

You walk into the marina in Saint-Malo and it is full of Formula One teams and Formula One sailors. The investment is based in most cases on the résumé of the supporting company, in my case Offshore Challenges, and the single résumé of the skipper and that’s incredible when you look at other events I have done in the past [America’s Cup America's Cup #AmericasCup and Whitbread round the world race] where the funding is drawn on the résumé of some incredibly high profile person, like Dennis Conner, and a crew of up to 22.

The rest of the world, the Volvo Ocean Race included, need to be present at these events and see how these events are organised and how the campaigns are run."

 Nick Moloney on his thoughts for the start : "For me, this is just like the start of the Mini-Transat Mini-Transat #MiniTransat [in 1999], the reservations I have for the start [with the forecast] is huge, but we have worked really hard over the last few months on Ashfield Healthcare at sailing upwind in strong breeze [the expected forecast] and I know the boat is great at that.

The big fight for me won’t be the course as I’ll sail and race everyone but it will be trying to keep it together in my head as this [solo sailing] is totally new to me."

 Mike Golding on how the profile of this area of the sport has been raised in the last two years : "The last Vendée was the seminal point for this class of boat in the UK and, undoubtedly, Ellen’s success has raised the profile and made it more apparent. The golden era of solo racing in the UK was around the time of Robin Knox-Johnston and Chay Blyth and we kind of lost the thread slightly and the French took up the baton.

That stemmed from Eric Tabarly winning the single-handed transatlantic race and when he won that he came back as a national hero and was paraded through the streets of Paris. People in France took him to their heart and the whole of the sport changed. What Ellen did was raise the profile of this type of sailing [in the UK] and make it easier for the likes of Emma Richard’s [sailing Pindar in the Around Alone] and others to find support.

None of us competing here are capable of funding these campaigns on our own. These projects are driven by sponsorship and sponsorship demands a return and increasingly we are seeing the possibility to give a valued return to sponsorship in this arena of sailing."

 Mike Golding on single-handed sailing : "The unique thing about this type of sailing is that it encompasses athletics, tactics, competition, adventure and personalities intertwined. Most sports don’t offer that. Formula One motor racing has competition and personalities - when you can see them - but it doesn’t have adventure."

 Roland Jourdain on the special relationship between single-handed sailors : "There is a rule of sport in sailing that you have competition on the water, but you must help the other person when there is a problem. We all know that when we are far away from land and something goes wrong it can be a big, big problem.

You can suddenly become very small [in a vast ocean]. This isn’t a relationship that exists in sports like football or tennis. After a match they pack their bag and leave for home."

 Nick Moloney on the bond between competitors : "You have races like the Sydney to Hobart or Fastnet and although the communications aspect has reached great heights, you can’t really bring home the power of emotion, or the pain of the cold so you bond quite closely with your competitors as there is another guy who has the same wet clothes or same chilled bones.

Prior to the Route du Rhum race I have met everybody along the dock in the 50 fleet and although it’s a silly cliché, we’re all in the same boat. You look into the faces and aspirations around you and you become united like that. You talk to them about the boat, the weather, preparation and suddenly you’re not alone."

 Roland Jourdain on the spirit that exists in the Open 60 fleet : "One year ago in the EDS Atlantic Challenge we broke our mast on the leg to Boston and the whole fleet waited 24 hours at the start of the next leg so we were ready, you won’t see that in other sports."

 Roland Jourdain on the future : "I’d like to do another Vendée Globe race, maybe in a new yacht or this boat. This boat was built from the mould of Catherine Chabaud (Whirlpool), but otherwise I had a blank sheet of paper. We have been three seasons now and have leant a lot."

Mike Golding on the future : "I’d like to go back to the Vendée and have a another stab. It is obviously dependent on sufficient support and funding. We’re really delighted that Ecover have reaffirmed their commitment to the project and we’re in deep discussions about going on from here.

Our project is going to need additional partners in order to go to the next stage and build a new boat, which is the aspiration.

I feel that our platform is certainly second generation and by the next Vendée third generation and if I do the Vendée again, I’ll do it with the view, as I did before, that I want to win the race. I wouldn’t be happy of doing it for the sake of taking part. It’s too hard a race to put yourself through without a chance of winning.

 Nick Moloney on the future : "The primary goal right now for me is to finish the Route du Rhum. I have aspirations to do the Vendée. It’s important for me that this race is fun, and to finish, I don’t know how mentally I would sustain the focus if I had two DNF’s [did not finish] in two solo races.

I put a lot of pressure of myself, as it is a dream and somehow I’ll make that race as it’s part of my dream, but how direct a path it will be will depend on this race.

The perfect world would be to fire off two red flares as I cross the line in first place and roll into sponsorship and production of a new Open 60 that will be faster than Mike [Golding] and Roland [Jourdain] !

The switch flicked when I sailed into Brest Brest #brest on Orange at the end of the Jules Verne and right now I can’t see beyond the Vendée.

 Ellen MacArthur on the pressures of racing : "The pressures always be there, four years ago when I did this race it was my first race with Kingfisher as a sponsor we’d only had Kingfisher as a sponsor for a few weeks, we didn’t know Kingfisher at all and when we proposed the sponsorship to Kingfisher we proposed the Vendée Globe but we said there is a race in four weeks time called the Route du Rhum and you can use that as a test sponsorship and Kingfisher agreed to that. So four years ago I was sitting here with something to prove because if the Route du Rhum hadn’t gone well then the sponsorship for the Vendée Globe wouldn’t have gone forward. So there was an immense pressure four years ago - and that was to communicate the race, to do well in the race, to get to the other side and it was my first single-handed race in a big boat - it was a 50-foot boat like Nick (Moloney) is racing and I’d never done that before, raced a boat that size across the Atlantic on my own so it was a massive challenge. And I think as you develop as a person and go through the various different stages which was the OSTAR, the Vendée Globe you learn a lot from them. The OSTAR which was the first race I did alone with Kingfisher and the pressure during that race was massive. It was the first time I’d raced her on my - she’d never sailed against any of the other boats before. We got to the start line and all of a sudden you’re sitting there thinking this is it - am I going to be faster because you didn’t know and that in itself was another pressure, the Vendée Globe was another pressure but its something that we learn to deal with.

We are all sitting here knowing in 48 hours time we’re going to be out there on our own for best of two weeks - we’ve got to get of the English Channel and you sit here and see the waves coming over the sea wall - there’s a lot of pressure because at the end of the day everything comes down to us once that start gun fires.

 Nick Moloney on the start : "No one just arrives at the start so there is so much work that goes into the boat and the person being here - whether it’s the shore team or communications back at the office or the skipper, the level of expertise is so high that everybody has had huge long, hard roads to get here and especially for this race, in-house at Offshore Challenges, and I know its exactly the same at Ecover and Sill, there’s just been an array of work on the boat, flat out for months and months, and now its show time."

 Ellen MacArthur on her motivation : "I never cross the start line - I hope I never do - its not just in my mind to say I am here to win the race. I know Mike’s very different in that and I remember at the start of the Vendée being in an interview with Mike and Mike said he was here to win the race and I knew that I wasn’t there just to win the race. I was there because I wanted to take part in the race, I love taking part in these races - its awesome, and sure if you win or come second or third, that is a bonus. But first and foremost I am here because I love it and that’s the hunger. You know, I love sailing alone, I love being out in the ocean on my own, I just love doing this stuff. Sure, when I get out there the stops are all pulled out and you’ve got that one focus on the finish. We’re all the same in that respect but I guess that’s the way I manage things in my own mind.

 Ellen MacArthur on the previous year and the future : I can’t deny that last year was very hard for many reasons - like Nick says when he focuses on the Vendée and he can’t see beyond on that - well, although we had some plans beyond it, it wasn’t sure what was going to happen afterwards and dealing with that wasn’t easy. At the end of the day this is your job and at the same time I was trying to write a book and the demands were flying in from all directions. Just trying to be that one person whose all those things are trying to be taken from is very, very difficult and, again, I think that’s helped us. Last year helped us to be in a better mind set and we hope it will help Nick to be at the start of the Vendée Globe with a better mind set because we understand more about that now. We all agree that we have learnt so much even this last week just being here - its incredible - and just all those things just help you to continue to do what you love doing and what we all love to do with as much energy as before. Things have to change, for sure, but it doesn’t mean to say that the core goal isn’t the same because it is - I can’t wait to get out there !"

 Ellen MacArthur on pace of this race compared to the Vendée : "It’s the hardest question - before the Vendée we were walking down the pontoons and everyone was saying how hard is everyone going to push in this race and nobody knew what the levels would be. In the OSTAR we did a sleep study and I slept for just over 4 hours in 24 and to sustain that over three months is pretty hard - you would not be in a good mental state at all. And that was the thing - how hard were you going to push. It’s a question for every race. I imagine this to be more like the OSTAR but who knows we’ve still got to get through the storms and get to the other side.

Its always a balance when you’re out there - you can push really, really hard but if you’re knackered and you miss the next wind shift, you stuff it. And the positions really can move because at the end of the day you’re going to have to sleep out there, and you might sleep at that crucial time when the weather fax might come in or the second ridge of pressure that’s building over your head or whatever, being able to see those things really can shift positions around. So I agree with what Mike says to a point, particularly with the strong south-westerly flow that’s going to be there - there are very few major breaks to take because you are basically upwind at the end of the day so its going to be a bit of a slog to start with."

 Mike Golding on the pace : I think with the start as forecast - the temptation with so many boats is to push hard even though the weather is quite severe but the risk of doing that is quite significant. The problem is if you don’t push someone’s going to get away with it. And if you don’t push, you end up behind and you’re not going to be up there. So it’s going to be an issue on Saturday night, for sure."

 Roland Jourdain : "It’s natural for us to be here together today. We know each other pretty well since the start of the Vendée and we follow each other on each race. I met Nick on the EDS Atlantic Challenge last year. He co-skippered Kingfisher for some legs and in the US when we broke our mast he helped us a lot and all the other crews waited for us to repair our mast before taking the start of the next leg. This is very unusual in other sports and, I think, this is the "sailing spirit". I am also very happy to share everything with the Anglo-Saxons ! I sail for 20 years and before that was only between the French. The English are very professional and we have a lot to learn from each other so it’s really good."

 Ellen MacArthur : It’s not over until it’s over. Even if someone is leading during all the race, he’s not sure to be the winner in the end. There is a lot of good skippers and any boat can win in the IMOCA Imoca #IMOCA class. Mike Golding is very motivated and he knows his boat very well. Dominique (Wavre) has a new rig and Sébastien Josse is racing on a good boat, the ex-Sodebo of Thomas Coville. All these skippers can be in the match.

 Roland Jourdain : Concerning Yves parlier’s record Record #sailingrecord on the mono class in the race (1994 in 15 days, 19 hours), I think our boats today are probably a bit better but Yves knew his boat very well and he was really fast. Everything will depend on the weather anyway.

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