At sea (AFP)
More than two months already spent alone at sea and Armel Tripon has "the experience of a decreasing life", having to ration his food and nourishing his "soul" with readings, podcasts and music, as he explains in his logbook for AFP.
The Nantes sailor, who is taking part in his first solo round the world trip on a brand new boat capable of flying (L'Occitane en Provence), is in eleventh place on Thursday (out of 26 skippers still in the race).
"67 DAYS OF RACE! In the end, it is not that long, given the sustained pace of the race. There is always something happening, whether tactically, strategically, meteorologically, technologically, philosophically, spiritually! It is enough well done all that! There is just a catch on the fueling! There I was reckless.
Gone with 75 days and a few more days of freeze-dried.
Come on, I manage by cheating a little to last 80 days!
And today, I'm betting on 85 days of racing, so I have to ration myself to keep enough to eat for the last week!
Good thing the heat is rising, I can easily skip lunch, with a few cereal bars instead!
If the fishing is good in the Atlantic calm, if there is calm, I will be able to taste fresh fish.
Unfortunately, I have been running out of green tea for a long time, and coffee and black tea give me palpitations if I abuse it, so I'm missing out on a nice time during the day, with cupcakes and tea!
On the other hand, I manage my stock of dark chocolate until the arrival and will probably run out of cheese from the Doldrums, which is my biggest drama!
Bodily, I do not suffer from anything, my back which sometimes plays tricks on me is solid from the start, I only have a slight tendonitis on the elbows to disturb my serenity when I maneuver, but it is from the Indian and I live well with it, I force a little less on the maneuvers by using a more geared speed to the winch column and force myself to drink, drink and drink again this infinite water drawn from the sea!
It always impresses me to drink seawater so simply, water that could kill us, we make it by desalinizing it, our antidote!
Overall, I experience a decreasing life, with 3, 4 liters of water per day, a few exchanges on the internet to maintain a social life despite the confinement, a drop of food, an infinite contemplation of nature , to feed my soul, to fill it with beauty, to read or listen to podcasts and other music as distractions.
My hands are my main concern, I live in good company with l'Occitane en Provence, which provided me with 3 tubes of cream, their iconic product!
I also forgot my buttocks, sitting 80% of the time, friction and humidity are pernicious and require constant vigilance not to get wet and scratch irremediably!
Without doubt the real difficulty is the management of sleep, not easy to find a restful sleep when you are awakened every hour or every 40 minutes, I admit that a few times, dead tired, I dived for 2 or 3 hours of continuous sleep, when the wind was stable!
And I immediately saw the gain in my ability, lucidity, and alertness;
fractional sleep wears down the body.
That is to say 67 days at sea, alone, it is quite insane, to be so far away from his family, beautiful and courageous wife and children, who find the time long on land and my very slow progress on this map of the world.
Our regular exchanges via whatsapp make this distance easier and I follow their life as children and adolescents with more detachment than normal, being monopolized by the race.
I sail along Brazil now, where 17 years ago, I recorded in my logbook, on my little 6.50 m boat, my desire and dream of going around the globe on this race!
I had the same appetite, this same thirst to learn, to discover, to discover oneself, to fully experience a human and sporting adventure in a strong communion with nature!
I love to fill my eyes with this landscape in perpetual and unchanging movement since its creation, these same clouds, these same waves, these same stars make our human condition so small, so humble that it necessarily raises the question of our place on earth ".
Interview by Sabine COLPART
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