Paris (AFP)
Confident in his trajectory to reach the finish in Les Sables d'Olonne, longer but faster, Louis Burton, said Thursday in an interview with AFP, "in great shape" and "of attack for the last run "of the Vendée Globe, which should know its winner next Wednesday.
Burton (Bureau Vallée 2) is one of the five skippers who can play for victory at this end of the race around the world solo.
Third in the standings on Thursday evening, he is the only one to sail on this western route.
Q: How is it going on board your Imoca?
R: "That's it, it's bombing, I finally caught, finally I say finally, I caught it when it was necessary to catch it, but it took a long time to get a stronger, stronger wind earlier. I crossed a minimum of wind last night, and in the early morning it started to come in and now it's bombarding ".
Q: Are you confident in your choice of trajectory?
A: "It's true that it was a choice that had to be made right out of the doldrums. There were moments of doubt because the situations, the weather files mean that sometimes it will be more positive. for you one day, more positive for those who left for the other side another day. After that there are constant weather conditions which have made me that choice. For the moment, to date, the constant seems to be respected, I'm pretty happy, we'll see in a few days, in a few hours rather, but for the moment I'm not unhappy ".
Q: How well are you?
A: "It's okay, we're ready for the last run, I've been doing a lot of tinkering on the boat since entering the doldrums, to stabilize the wear parts, replace what needed to be replaced, everything that risked breaking in the breeze like we're going to have, it took me a bit of time, it made me lose too. The advantage is that Bureau Vallée and I are ready for the last I was very tired until I came out of the doldrums, but since then we've been in the trade winds, a North Atlantic trade wind much more stable than that of the South Atlantic, so I took advantage of it to rest and repair the boat as well as possible before attacking the end-of-race strategy. So it's okay, frankly I'm in great shape, I'm getting a good night's sleep where I can sleep well ".
Q: How would you define this last run that awaits you?
A: "It's a speed race, the best ratio between instantaneous speed and speed of approaching the goal. Contrary to the option that I took and which took me away from the direct route, there it will be to find the best compromise between heading and speed. Two, three maneuvers to perform to manage the trajectory to Les Sables d'Olonne so ultimately not that much. But each jibe is a level crossing, if you don't manage it well you will plants. Then you have to be careful, for the past few days there have been more and more cargo, boaters, people. You have to be very careful, collisions can happen. This is another pitfall in which you should not not fall ".
Q: Are you savoring the last few days at sea or are you longing to get ashore?
A: "A bit of both, it's complicated. When things don't go fast enough, I long to be on land and when it does, flat, blue sea, blue sky, 20 knots of wind, the boat gliding at 20 knots, I savor it. It is the eternal dissatisfaction of human beings ".
Interview by Sabine COLPART
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