Les Sables-d'Olonne (France) (AFP)

Seasickness does not spare sailors, even the most experienced who set off on Sunday in the Vendée Globe.

This inconvenience is likely to increase with the ... confinement and on the new generation boats of this round-the-world solo and non-stop.

A rocking boat, disturbing odors, headaches, a paler face, an overwhelming feeling of discomfort, nausea and then vomiting.

Seasickness is the result of a conflict of sensations, between what the eyes perceive and what the balance organ located in the inner ear says.

Motion sickness, the medical name for seasickness, Jean Le Cam (Yes We Cam), who will start on Sunday in Les Sables d'Olonne of his 5th Vendée Globe, is experiencing.

"It happens to me. It depends on the conditions. It's mostly in the first 2, 3 days. I vomit straight away so I'm not bothered. It's very rare people who are not sick, it's exceptional , it is an anomaly ", explains the sailor to AFP.

New to the Imoca fleet (18m monohull dedicated to the Vendée Globe), Clarisse Crémer (Banque Populaire X) had the painful experience.

- "Marshmallow" -

"I hardly had it in a mini (6.50 m boat) and in a figaro (10 m). There, in Imoca I still have it quite a bit, things move differently", says the 30-year-old sailor. years.

"Finding yourself with marshmallow legs in very physical boats to throw up every 2 hours, having a hard time doing anything, it's a little hopeless. I'm on medication but it's not magic either. ! ", she continues.

Also a rookie in the Vendée Globe, Armel Tripon (L'Occitane en Provence) admits that he "often gets seasick at the start of races".

"It's stress. There is a first night to pass. You have to continue to eat and hydrate, you lose a lot".

Seasickness can be aggravated by anxiety but also by cold, fatigue.

And can turn into a nightmare.

"These are moments of suffering for people who unfortunately undergo that", underlines Louis Burton (Office Valley 2), spared from seasickness due to "his very bad inner ear".

"I have sometimes been with teammates who suffered from it, it made the maneuvers complicated. I think that if I had that, I would not do an offshore race. We suffer more movements, there is a form of anguish that appears with the speeds and the goat jumps that boats make, ”he reports.

- At the dock longer -

The behavior of Imoca on the water increases seasickness, what is more, with the new generation of the fleet, which can spin at crazy speeds thanks to the foils (appendages that raise the hull above the water) .

"Those who ride our foil Imoca, they never fail, they throw up everything they can. Me no. I'm not saying that I don't feel smeared but it comes from stress and it goes quickly", says Sébastien Simon, skipper of a brand new sailboat + steering wheel + (Arkéa Paprec).

"These are boats with very particular reactions, a bit like the pirate ship at the fair. 90% of people who go on board and spend a little time end up being sick", adds Thomas Rettant (LinkedOut), at the helm of one of these machines.

"I am lucky not to be seasick, I have started something on this boat but I have the impression that it is more a time for marina", remark- he does.

The time to sail away is what these sailors will miss.

Due to the confinement, the skippers stayed at the dock much longer than they ever did before a race.

"If you sail every day, you no longer get seasick. If you stop for 3 or 4 days, you quickly become an earthling again. This whole stand-by period before departure is complicated", slips Jérémie Beyou (Charal).

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