In the Vendée Globe, Barrier is setting off with "useful kilos for science"

Alexia Barrier aboard TSE-4myplanet, the oldest Imoca competing in this 9th Vendée Globe.

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• Alexia Barrier has set herself the goal of breaking her Imoca record on a round the world trip in less than 98 days.

• The navigator embarks on board scientific instruments and a "bread of religions" to encourage young people to fraternize.

Originally from Biot in the Alpes-Maritimes, holder of a master's degree in sports management after studying Staps in Nice, the sailor Alexia Barrier took the start of her first Vendée Globe.

A sporting but also human and scientific adventure for this sailor who has already completed fifteen transats, including five solo.

She spoke about it to

just before leaving Les Sables d'Olonne on Sunday.

Your confinement will be total, without possible exemption, and probably longer than three months ...

Yes, but the difference with confinement is that I chose it!

And honestly, I feel better at sea than on land.

I don't have the impression of being a prisoner in my boat even if the human warmth, the family and the friends are lacking at times.

The difficulty is to find the resources, the motivation in all circumstances.

You have to have an inner sun to find the strength to go out and adjust the sails or repair equipment when it's cold and raining.

You have to have the ability to mentally hold out for three months of racing.

You leave with a goal that may seem modest: 98 days, or three weeks more than the best time ...

You should know that in the Vendée Globe, there will probably be at least 50% of the boats that will not finish the race.

So arriving is already a performance!

During the last edition, the last one had taken 124 days… Much more than 98 days… And then the record of my boat, which is the oldest entered this year, is 98 days.

So I'm aiming for 97 days!

And I fully intend to come back in 2024 with a new more competitive boat!

Is this “old” boat a choice imposed for budget reasons?

Completely.

I bought it on credit two years ago, without a sponsor at the time.

I started like that, with very little financial means, but I managed to qualify for this Vendée Globe.

I have found a partner with TSE since the end of August, which has given me the means to make the boat more reliable and to have equipment.

We can expect a competition in the competition with the other old boats entered.

We are seven.

For twelve years, Jean-Pierre Dick was the “Azureen” of the Vendée Globe… and he was often the victim of damage.

How to avoid suffering the same fate?

Nothing can be done about collisions with what are called OFNIs, unidentified floating objects.

The difference I have with Jean-Pierre Dick, who had very efficient boats, is that I go slower!

So in case of shock, I can expect to have less damage.

But anyway you can always dismantle, hit something, tear a sail, a billion things can happen!

That's why you have to take advantage of every minute, and be aware of how lucky you are!

Have you had some big hard times at sea?

Once I broke a mainsail batten at the top of the mast, 29 meters away.

I had to climb all the way up to be able to lower the sail.

Another time, I had to repair the hard drive with tweezers, with instructions transmitted by satellite phone, with the boat pitching… These are a bit rock'n'roll moments!

There is stress, but we surpass ourselves, we repair ... Then we collapse to the bottom of the boat, we cry or we cry.

Why are you carrying scientific instruments?

I created the 4myplanet association to preserve my playground ten years ago.

I was disgusted to see so much garbage at sea… I decided to collaborate with scientists.

I therefore embark instruments to collect data in areas where there is none, in particular between the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn, because no boat sails there.

I will also deploy “profilers”: a buoy that collects weather data, another that dives to 2,000 meters, and a third that works on temperature and salinity.

These are extra kilos on board, but useful kilos for science!

And you also take a few grams of sourdough ...

It is a baker from Antibes, Jean-Paul Veziano, who created this "bread of religions", with a Jewish baker and another Muslim.

It is not religion that interests me but brotherhood: I am going to throw this bread into the sea as one throws a bottle into the sea. I hope that this gesture will give a little joy and inspiration to the young people. generations, and perhaps want to look elsewhere than towards violence.

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