Imoca and Ultimes who will start the Route du Rhum have followed courses in Port-La-Forêt. Christian Le Pape, the boss of the pole France, gives an interview and sweeps wide. Upcoming transatlantic competition from training structures, changing classes, abolishment of 1,600 government positions envisaged by the government ...
Accredited by the Ministry of Sports since 1995, the pole Finistère Course Offshore Port-La-Forêt ensures the training of the best French skippers, and recently opened abroad. His students, Michel Desjoyeaux, Jean Le Cam or Franck Cammas to François Gabart or Vincent Riou, trust the greatest victories on the oceans of the world, whether in Figaro, Imoca or now Ultimes who take up the torch in the multihull of the class Orma gone. Interview with Christian Le Pape, the boss of this unique structure in Europe, who from the beginning directs destiny and expresses himself after the last series of courses organized in anticipation of the Route du Rhum.
Christian Le Pape, the particularity of 2018 Rum training courses was more intense than four years ago, right ?
Ah yes ! It has already been because we had two series, the Ultims and the Imoca, which had never been done. So it was a first, so obviously we were a little tense, but it has made transfers of know-how, skills that for us is super-interesting: we can on a lot of points transfer a series to another, with a wealth of exchange unparalleled. In any case, we had never had it before. It's stimulating.
That is, transfers ...
Between categories of boats, and for us too! In the Ultimate, things have been done that can also apply to Imoca, for example procedures. We know that it is very heavy in terms of routine on Ultimate, we have in particular developed procedures of departures with countdowns of 30 minutes, which we did not do before and which serve a lot in terms of efficiency. The same in terms of decomposition of maneuvers in Ultimes As there is a lot of inertia on the Ultimate, it highlighted some points that o, n did not see too much Imoca. It was very interesting for the coaches, and also for the skippers who found the coaches to be more sharp and competent. It's virtuous, all that!
What was the specificity for the Route du Rhum?
We must not forget: it is a solo race, East Atlantic North in November, the problem has therefore for us to be closer to reality. And the end of the season in Brittany was not very windy ... It's especially that which facilitated the organization of the courses, but was not really in conformity with what could be a departure on the 4th November, where we can very well have a big plum on Saint-Malo without being able to work on this reality. We can regret this uncertainty, but for the rest we went thoroughly in medium and light conditions. We did what is called fractional, with very intense, dense sessions, where we draw on its technical and technological reserves, and the skipper was particularly mistreated. I am not very worried about the weather. They have procedures, routines, know-how they can apply even if there are 35-40 knots at the start. We worked rather well.
And for the Ultimate, you worked on the geographical simulation of this departure!
Yes, we developed road books by simulating the parts prohibited to navigation where it was not possible for the runners to enter. It was an interesting intellectual game that the skippers lent themselves quite easily. In any case, we did what we said, and that is rather not bad when we see the inertia of the Ultimate, where also the runners are a little more on the reserve compared to the exchange of information that can be Imoca skippers, what they can give, not give. We pushed them very far in the exchange, it is a shared success. The goal was to go as far as possible so that in terms of exchange and performance they are prepared. In both series, we got what we wanted to do.
These great trimarans have also brought you a new breath, accompanied by new ways of thinking ...
A little revelation, compared to what people were looking for because they do not find elsewhere this type of confidence: three of the four participants came from the Challenge Espoirs Crédit Agricole fifteen years ago (Sébastien Josse and Armel Le Cléac ' h) and more recently Challenge Espoirs (François Gabart). So we knew them all, so obviously in terms of trust and participation, we all know what to expect. And Thomas Coville, who is quite corporate and goes to the bottom of the exercises perfectly played the game. Without simulating. We found common ground!
It's comforting, reassuring for you, to find these three on some of the most beautiful racing boats in the world?
Completely! From a sporting and economic point of view, we know what we have been selling to our partners for 20 years! High performance sport is a lever for economic development, so we are not mistaken. We have the best runners, on beautiful machines, also because they are project managers. Since the beginning, we have been focusing not only on offshore racing performers but also on people who are able to mobilize X million euros with partners who are convinced. Offshore racing fallout is interesting for everyone. For the sponsor, but also the territory between Lorient and Brest through Port-Laf ', is largely beneficiary of all this windfall of economic closely linked to the high level. But for this, it takes sailors at the top level to be able to lead such machines. We can see that the Ultimate is not given to everyone! It is a quite exceptional feat.
You mention project leaders, they are also business leaders, and must demonstrate great human qualities ...
Pride is to have been able to detect talents, and in the structure, with their peers, elders like Bilou (Roland Jourdain), Michel (Desjoyeaux) or Jean Le Cam, they are not in a mold but in a shared approach and driven by strong human values in terms of respect. That's what we as coaches have been trying to convey from the beginning and that's what we can be proud of. From this respect. I have always told the riders that I do not ask them to love me, nor to spend evenings with me, but that he respects what I propose because the whole team (the coaches Jeanne Grégoire, Julien Bothuan, Loïc Ponceau) puts the best of it. Everything shines, and we arrive at the end of an adventure matured for more than 20 years.
When you look in the rear view mirror of those 23 years, that you see what the pole has become, what does it inspire you?
National and international influence. See today's riders from the pole solitaires out of a very French-French approach invest the Anglo-Saxon world of the Volvo Ocean Race shows that they became bankable all over the world and in projects in crews. The trend of the next Volvo, on Imoca crews reduced to four or five, also makes the profile of a very versatile Figariste will be even more bankable compared to people from the Olympics or the world of the crew . That's a real pride. And also being able to gather, federate people who want to work together. Sometimes it surprises us a bit. In Ultimes, for example, we wondered what we would do in this thing where the sailors have X coaches, sports directors, but we are a link to make the mayonnaise, and it is the skippers who were applicants . Casually, if we are not there to organize, program, it does not happen much. For us, it's hyper-stimulating, hyper-rewarding. So I take, I enjoy ...
And these sailors make you feel good!
Yes, when we look at the charts, we are today at 16 victories on major events, with more than a dozen different winners. It means we did not work for one! We could have said, at one time, all these years of the beginning of existence of the pole, that with members like Michel Desjoyeaux, Jean Cam, Franck Cammas a little later it turned only around them, but we started on an opening cycle to the world! At first, it was very village, we were shooting a little between us, and it was the time of the bet. It was to show that alone it was feasible. Port-Laf 'was very sclerotic, and we opened to Brittany, to France by recruiting Franck, then to foreigners since Sam Davies joined us soon enough. And today, we have English, Germans, Australians ... We said: "Come share, exchange, and we will be much stronger together! So we now have an international approach of people working hard together, in a certain way, and it works.
Other structures were created in Lorient, Vendée, La Grande-Motte. It is a spur for you, a competition, a sting of reminder or a simple sharing in particular according to the supports practiced?
It's quite a bit. But we do not quite do the same job. In terms of public recognition, there is only one pole France and it is here, it means that in terms of sports synergy the Federation supports its major pole which is in Port-La-Forêt and to my knowledge it is not questioned by anyone. Lorient has a slightly more public approach because there is no selection of people who participate in the training, which are rather Class40 and Mini. It is complementary, and the state of mind is different. At one point, we wondered about a notion of territorial globality. But we realized that rather than having everything together and having a gait unit, it's stimulating for runners and coaches and it creates a sense of belonging that brings people together. Without exacerbating the tensions and rivalries, it is super interesting to have this little stimulation between runners and coaches. So we are in a sort of status quo. We respect what is very well done in Lorient, La Grande-Motte and Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie, but it's different, it's for different audiences. The pride we have here is transversality. We have a logic of high level, we do not accept everyone, we gather the excellence and it is found in our detection Bretagne-CMB or skipper Macif in Figaro: we take the best, we put them together. We keep this virtuous logic, which applies to all stages of the device. Coaches, sailors, politicians ...
Saint-Gilles and Grande-Motte also train Figarists, it would still hurt you if La Solitaire falls to one of them and not to one of your members, or an independent Englishman like Alex Thomson wins the Vendée Globe ...
We will not necessarily sublimate, but a rider of the pole has won all editions of La Solitaire since 2003 and Figaro 2. This is not by chance. Whether it is a rider from elsewhere who wins the first stage or the first edition of Figaro 3 in 2019, obviously, that would question us! When Morgan Lagravière (a member of the Vendée pole and from the Olympic industry) was champion of France (in 2012), I made a frieze in a balance sheet meeting, with all the stages retracing the history of the pole month by month, Recruitment, results, to make a good impression. To say that it happened once, but that it should not happen again. We put in place a different way of working.
What have you done ?
We are questioning! And the first challenge was to increase training volumes. As we do in other sports. In football, we did not train every day forty years ago! On the Solitaire du Figaro, when we started, there were amateur runners doctors, pharmacists, dentists, who almost competed with more professional runners. So we thought the best way to beat them was to train more because they did not have the time! The first two years, amateurs were still in the top 10, in 1996-1997 we had one in the top 15, in 2000 one in the first 25 and almost abandoning amateurism today. What an amateur now doing in the 20's is exceptional. So we proved that we were part of a pro approach. And we also worked a lot on weather modeling with Adréna, with extraordinary responsiveness because as soon as we asked for a modification of the product, two days later we had it. It was a fantastic period of development, we had a boulevard ahead of the competition. This software has given us supremacy for five years. And there, for some time, we have a little more in detection, with Britain-CMB and Macif. They gave up in the Vendée, we have a bit of that in the Mediterranean without finding the partners at the same height, we also see that a Pierre Quiroga is once again trying to seek the status of skipper Macif ...
What is your view on the evolution of the boats, and this race for the technological shallot that considerably increases the costs? This is not likely to discourage companies to invest, and potential talent that will not find the financial means, for example in Figaro 3 where already the class wants to impose two autopilots by boat?
Yes, in part ... We must not forget that the main ingredient of all this is the loner. It's still human, and there are very few people who can run machines like the last Imoca or Ultimate. It may limit the pool, but it also goes in our direction of excellence, which is to prove that lead such machines is not within everyone's reach. There will be an impressive delta between right drifts Imoca and foilers of the last generation. It will take the best pilots to lead them, and our goal is to have them. It can only serve our purpose. Financially, we have some doubts, but we can see that in fact if the pilot is good and the project interesting, we also make people dream.
But to acquire even a Figaro 3 will not really be within the reach of everyone ...
Yes, but when we see that OC Sports wants to make a common line between IRC3 and Figaro 3 on La Solitaire, we are the opposite of this movement. I am divided, we can not put on the same starting line of Formula 1 and Formula 3, but why not ... The sail is different and I somewhat relaxed, measured my remarks in relation to that. I think we must also continue to associate on the Vendée Globe projects of pure adventure, mixed adventure-sport projects, and projects of the highest level. At the next, we will have five or six winning projects, with drivers who are unanimous in terms of competent, a dozen mixed projects, people who are in pure adventure, it suits me. I like it, because it's a solo world tour, it's magical, each at its own pace, and an exceptional sporting dimension with high-tech boats. I was very worried a year ago, because we did not have a skipper who had proven himself in Figaro and who had the budget to go with a winning project, there we have. Today, I find it very balanced.
You plan to withdraw after the Vendée Globe 2020-2021. How are you preparing for your succession, knowing the government's plan to remove 1,600 positions from your state executive profile?
It is a state executive who should normally lead a pole France. It means you have to find one. But when we look at the policy today, there is a lot of concern. The state plans to eliminate half of the technical frameworks available to federations, to reduce the budgets allocated to these federations, and I think that is very worrying. It's not about me as a person. But statutorily, as a public servant, I represent the interest of the public service with all the neutrality that that implies. If ever a private or associative framework had supported this device, it could not have worked. He would have been forced to make choices I never made in terms of partnerships, to favor one partner over another, or even to be financially involved in the success of a runner. Because of my status as a public servant, I consider myself safe from all that. We had a background work and a vision that were possible thanks to this status. If I leave it, if my job is not filled, I will be very, very worried about the future.