D minus two before the start of the Route du Rhumthe single-handed transatlantic sailing race, which will start on Sunday noon from St Malo and head towards Pointe à Pitre in Guadeloupe.
A 2022 edition which, once again, will be followed very closely by the company Outremer, from La Grande Motte. Not only because it has made four boats entered in this edition. But also because among these four boats, there are above all “We Explore”a boat ordered by Roland Jourdain (twice winner of the event) from the Grandmotto company.
This 18-meter catamaran is made up of 50% linen fiber. A technological feat. The main advantage of flax fiber is that it consumes much less energy than fiberglass. A very eco-friendly boat then….
And this morning, about thirty overseas employeesfly from Montpellier, direction St Malo, where they will attend this Friday afternoon, at 4 p.m., the official baptism of We Explore, and then Sunday at the start of the race.
“We offered everyone to come, and if necessary, we would have chartered two buses to go up to Brittany. 30 employees applied, so we got on the plane” explains Maryline Rattier who organized this trip to St Malo.
A delegation in which all trades will be representedfrom the painter to the engineer.
A big first for some employees
Some, who were hired a short time ago in the company, go discover the world of offshore racing for the 1st time.
This is the case of Franck Godin, system manager, who previously worked in industry.
“It will be a great first for me. I expect to discover a lot of things. And then it’s also a great first in terms of technology, because we don’t build linen boats every day !”
For others, on the contrary, it is a tradition.
Nicolas Barraut, who coordinated the work, alongside Roland Jourdain (the skipper has come to La Grande Motte at least fifty times to supervise the construction of We Explore), has already attended the start of the last edition of the Route du Rhum in 2018.
And when asked what is most important to him, the christening of the boat, or the start of the race, he replies without hesitation and laughing: “Both! But we’d also like to attend the finish one day. We’ll have to talk to our boss about it!”
The baptism of We Explore will take place on the quays of St Malo at 4 p.m. this Friday afternoon, in the presence of Roland “Bilou” Jourdain, and the start of the Route du Rhum, Sunday, at 1:02 p.m. sharp.
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Robin Christol
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Robin Christol