With just a few days to spare, Paul Meilhat could have taken part in the Azimut Lorient Agglomération Challenge, which runs from 10 to 15 September. His Imoca Biotherm will in fact be relaunched on the 13th in Lorient, while he awaits a week later his new pair of foils, launched following the breakage of his port foil on The Transat CIC. Speaking to Tip & Shaft, the 42-year-old sailor, who is about to take part in his second Vendée Globe, looks back over the past few eventful months.
▶︎ Can you remind us what happened on The Transat CIC?
After a great first week, I had a shock in the middle of the race, which wasn’t very violent, as the boat didn’t really slow down while I was making 22 knots, but I noticed that the foil was damaged. As I’d had the same thing happen to me in The Ocean Race before arriving in Itajai, I managed to get the foil back into its chocks better, and there was also an ingress of water, but it was manageable. Even though I was very disappointed because I’d set out to get a good result, I wasn’t too worried, but when we took the foil out the morning after my arrival, we realised that it wasn’t the same thing as in Brazil. The bars were much more damaged, and some had not only come unstuck, but were also broken at 90 degrees, so it wasn’t repairable in the US. We asked ourselves whether we should repair it, but it was very expensive and we weren’t sure what the result would be with this foil, which had already had a weakness.
▶︎ What other options did you have?
First of all, we tried to buy second-hand foils, but you can imagine that with six months to go to the Vendée Globe and before the return transatlantic race (New York Vendée), no team was going to give us their spare foils. So very quickly, we started working on the idea of launching new foils. And we thought that if we were going to spend a lot of money, we might as well try to do something different. Especially as the design of our foils was very old and they took a long time to produce. We finally found the solution with Manuard design foils, which were quick to produce and had a geometry that fitted into our wells. What’s more, as Initiatives Cœurs, Malizia and Phil Sharp’s boat were also equipped with these foils, if we had a major production problem, we could perhaps hope to get one back. The final advantage was that we’d seen that Malizia, which had the same problem as us during the return leg of the 2022 Rhum, had managed an express installation in Alicante before The Ocean Race, and the foils had proved to be very tolerant of the angle of installation, so we knew it worked. The good thing was that we decided super quickly, then Sam Manuard accepted, and finally Avel Robotics didn’t have any orders at the time. So less than a week after arriving in New York, we had ordered our foils and Avel was starting to drape them!
▶︎ How far have you got with the work?
The structural part of the boat is finished, but this weekend we’ll be wrapping up the waterproofing part of the box. We’re due to weigh the boat on Tuesday with the Imoca measurer and we’ve scheduled the launch for Friday. We’re due to receive the first foil on 16th September, the second a week later.
“We’d be very happy
to find 500,000 euros”
▶︎ You say it costs a lot of money, can you tell us how much? And how did you manage to finance these new foils?
I can’t give you the exact figure, but a pair of foils costs around 500,000 euros, and then there’s the whole bilge system, the hours spent modifying the shaft and the composite, a bit of research, you can easily add 30%. We’ve managed to get a bank loan, it’s a risk I wanted to take, for myself, but also for my partner, I owe it to myself to tackle the next Vendée Globe in the best possible conditions. The good thing is that today, the banks have a fairly high level of confidence in our projects, because the market is fairly dynamic, and because they’ve understood that the boat, with these new foils, would increase in value. Now, as we’ve said since the start of the project, we’re looking to supplement our budget. When we launched the partnership with Biotherm, we explained that we were still looking for 25% of the budget, but unfortunately it’s been three years since we found one or more partners to take on this share. But we still believe in it and in my opinion, you have more chance of finding some partners by putting in new foils and having a great Vendée Globe than by reducing the performance aspect. I’m a great believer in the opportunity effect just before the start, particularly during the three weeks in the village. Everything is ready and there’s nothing easier than putting up a sticker, even the day before the start!
▶︎ Ideally, how much would you need?
If we could find a million euros, that would be great, but we know that would mean a lot more planning and decorating the sails. But we’d be very happy to find 500,000 euros.
▶︎ From an outsider’s perspective, it’s hard to understand why you’re having trouble completing this budget, as your partner, Biotherm, is owned by the behemoth L’Oréal, what can you say?
First of all, I think it’s great that Biotherm has decided to get back into sailing. Secondly, when they decided to support us three years ago, we knew what we were getting into. It was me, with full knowledge of the facts, who decided to launch a new boat and to take them on board for The Ocean Race, so you can’t blame Biotherm for anything and they respect the contract. And Biotherm is certainly part of the L’Oréal group, but it’s not a huge company.
“Taking on challenges like these
brings people together!”
▶︎ It feels like you’ve been racing against the clock since the start of the project, doesn’t that get tiring in the long run?
I kind of expected this pace, and I’d say subconsciously I chose it, because when we embarked on such an ambitious project with the budget we had, we knew it was going to be pretty much like this. But I like it, it’s true that we often hit the limits, that I’ve got quite a few grey hairs, these are years that count double and I probably won’t do another ten projects like that. Nonetheless, we’ve all made enormous progress, and there’s an extraordinary atmosphere in the team, which is very close-knit and passionate, because I can tell you that taking on challenges like this brings people together! But in the end, I think that preparing for the Vendée Globe in this way is great, because the Vendée Globe is just that: you have many problems that you solve one after the other, you’re tired all the time, so somehow I’m in the rhythm!
▶︎ In these conditions, what are your expectations for your second Vendée Globe? Do you think you have all the means to win?
All the means, I can’t say that. When you put all the keys of performance in a table, I’m not going to tick all the boxes. Between this foils thing and the budget we haven’t completed, we haven’t been able to do everything we wanted in terms of preparation and we’re only going to have four weeks of sailing with our new foils, which isn’t ideal. Despite that, these foils seem to me to be the right choice, as the boat is going to behave completely differently and be a lot more airy. I probably won’t be any faster in terms of top speed, but these foils will make the boat more versatile. And personally, I think I’m the sailor who’s clocked up the most miles in the last three years, so I feel like I’m ready and that’s the most important thing for me.
▶︎ How do you feel about the competition?
When I look at the field, I see that there are around twenty boats equipped with the latest generation of foils, a good number of which can aim for a podium finish. As for the new boats (new hulls compared to the previous Vendée Globe), I get the impression that they’re still young and I’m not sure that they’ve sorted out all their reliability problems. So if the conditions on the descent of the Atlantic allow us to be fairly close together as we enter the Southern oceans, everything will be open.
▶︎ Are you looking beyond this Vendée Globe?
Yes, of course, firstly because we have a contract with Biotherm until the end of 2025. We really want to do The Ocean Race Europe, but that will depend on our search for a supplementary budget. After that, for now, I’m not looking ahead to the Vendée Globe 2028, but to The Ocean Race 2027, absolutely! We’re working on a project for the next edition, which is a race I loved.
Photo: Anne Beaugé
