Left: Sam shows off the foils that were retrofitted to Initiatives Coeur (then Maître Coq) before the last Vendée Globe in which previous skipper Jérémie Beyou finished third. The straight shafts were used partly to keep modifications to the boat’s structure to the minimum when compared with the complex curved Dali foils worn by the newer 2016-generation. Dali foils will be added at the end of 2019. Above: Davies and De Lamotte at the start of the last TJV in which they finished sixth
accompanying them during their voyage) and stay with host families who devote their time over two or three months to looking after them as if they were their own. The charity pays for the surgery and the French hospitals do everything possi- ble to minimise costs in order to operate on as many kids as possible. When the child has recovered and had the all-clear from the volunteer cardiologists they return home. The cost to save each child’s life is €12,000. Our project really is unique because our
years earlier, Tanguy knew that he might want a replacement for this amazing project and 2015 was a good test for him, to see if things would work out with me at the helm, both with the shore team and the sponsors and also with the charity that Tanguy has always raced to support. Last year was our ‘change-over’ year as
we sailed the TJV again, with Tanguy as skipper for the last time… and now I am on my own. Nothing else in the project has changed (shore team, sponsors and so on) and I am proud to be at the helm of what is a truly unique Vendée Globe campaign. I want to try to explain why and give you an insight into how the project came about. Back in 2003 Tanguy owned a second-
hand Mini 6.50 and was en route to race the Mini Transat, just like nearly every
aspiring French solo skipper. Just by chance his Mini was red and white, and one day someone passed by and asked if he was supporting the charity Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque. He was not, but that set the idea running; since he did not have a main sponsor his boat was available to share a message as he raced across the ocean. Why not offer this opportunity to the charity seeing as the boat was already in their colours! That was the start of a long devotion to this cause. Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque Enfants
du Monde enables children with heart malformations to undergo surgery in France when they lack the technical and financial access to be cared for in their countries of origin. The children come to France on their own (with volunteers
sponsors donate practically all the adver- tising space on our boat to the charity. On top of that, during every major race we run a dedicated social media campaign to raise money and in turn save kids’ lives. For every new ‘like’ or ‘share’ on our Face- book page our sponsors donate one euro to the charity. This means the public can help raise money without it costing them anything, just a mouse-click. This is a win-win situation: the charity
receives decent amounts of money while our project gains more fans and our sponsors get ‘kindness and generosity’ value both within the company (employee satisfaction) and for their public and customer image. The project runs mainly on Facebook, but also uses other social media channels such as Instagram and YouTube. The most important point is that Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque do not contribute a single penny – nor is the project set up in any way to save tax, using the usual charity channels. During previous high-level campaigns I have occasionally asked myself ‘why’ I do w
SEAHORSE 51
JEAN-MARIE LIOT
VINCENT CURUTCHET
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