Above: a relaxed-looking Yoann Richomme racing the Figaro Solitaire back in 2014 as a much envied member of the Macif Figaro ‘scholarship programme’. Yet in a quirk of how French sailing sponsorship can evolve, in the latest Vendée Globe, while this very smart ocean racer was bested by only one person, it was his friend Charlie Dalin who was now competing under the Macif colours. Left: Richomme’s Koch/Finot design Arkéa Paprec was the first new Imoca for the previous double-winner of the Route du Rhum in the Class40; by then he had more than paid his dues, grabbing Imoca experience at every opportunity as he worked for that first Vendée Globe entry. Here he is co-skippering Groupe Apicil in the 2019 Défi Azimut with paralympic gold medallist Damien Seguin
like to do and contribute to,’ says Yoann. ‘For quite a few of us it’s tough to think
about walking away from these well-struc- tured, well-financed programmes – hence the need to think carefully. But the inten- sity of this whole Vendée cycle has been unprecedented in terms of how much time the boats have spent at sea in the run-up to the actual start in Les Sables.’ While he welcomes this, because it is a
sign of a mature Imoca circuit, Yoann is also acutely aware of the toll it’s taken on him as well as on those who have manage- ment responsibilities. ‘Two guys in my team are seriously questioning whether they’ll do the next one,’ he adds by way of reinforcement. Yet, somewhat paradoxi- cally, among the options that he’d consider should he decide not to race in 2028 lies the idea of… managing a team. ‘I’m fortu- nate to have a profile that allows me a variety of choices. I could become some sort of mercenary sailor, or get into project development, or do what Yann Eliès does with his mix of coaching and selling his onboard talent for high-level races.’ Race direction could also be interesting,
he says, but there is a clear desire to keep a level of freedom and/or to add an explo- ration dimension to whatever he may decide to take up. ‘However, for now I have a 2025 season to finish,’ he snaps back into present mode, ‘and I’m really looking forward to that.’ Listening to his team’s comments, it’s obvious that Yoann has played a central
role in bringing cohesion and taking every- body forwards with him – the notion of leadership comes to mind and there’s something of a rugby team spirit about the way people involved in the Arkéa cam- paign describe it. Beyond the mere managerial element
Yoann invests time and effort in drawing new people into his world: this also mani- fests itself in the articulate manner that he adopts to explain weather patterns, tactical decisions or technical details. Some readers may remember his regular
Oeil du Vendée (Eye of the Vendée) chron- icles in the 2020 edition, which he resur- rected at sea this time around for a few episodes. ‘I step in because I’m frustrated by the fact that organisers don’t really give the public the tools to really understand what’s happening on the racecourse. ‘I fully get that the media in general
gravitate towards the adventure side of things – it’s beautiful and needs to be high- lighted – but the race organisation should consider it a responsibility to enlighten the public, not err too much on the poetic side. ‘This is where I was coming from with
L’Oeil du Vendée, recorded and produced in my garage, but I was not expecting to attract such a big audience!’ One very notable thing this year was the
difference between the French and the English-speaking version of the Vendée Globe’s daily show: whereas the race appeals to a very broad spectrum of spec- tators in its country of origin, it remains
more confidential and primarily draws in the sailing crowd outside its borders. As a result, there is quite a big discrep-
ancy in terms of comms: more sunsets, questions about ‘voyages of discovery’ on the French side (which is overall biased towards non-sailors, hence the ones in the know flock to Yoann’s broadcasts), more technical considerations and jargon for the anglophone version (whose captive audi- ence is here for details and analysis), mostly hosted by my Seahorse colleague Andi Robertson. ‘The crazy thing is that when I was in Les
Sables for the 2020 edition finishes I was almost treated like the sailors!’ Yoann remi- nisces. ‘Sponsors, team members and the public were coming to congratulate me for L’Oeil, I just could not believe it at first. ‘I genuinely think that it’s partly the rea-
son why I landed my current contract and team – as a potential relationship was first mentioned during those celebrations [ed: Sébastien Petithuguenin, Paprec’s big boss, is a fine sailor with a technical inclination, which also probably played a role]. Curi- ously, there is no real online sailing channel in France, perhaps because it’s present in the general media landscape, albeit at a superfi- cial level? I guess you can add that to the list of things I may do one day,’ he laughs. Getting back to the campaign that led to
this phenomenal second place in his very first Vendée, Yoann stresses the fact that everything was compressed. ‘We leaned heavily on Thomas Ruyant’s Vulnerable
SEAHORSE 41
CHRISTOPHE BRESCHI
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