This is the start of the Transat Jacques Vabre, in Le Havre, this Sunday, November 7, 2021. 15th edition of this transatlantic double-handed race. The skippers who for the first time will set sail for Martinique. They are 158 on the starting line. Among them, a navigator from the Ile de Ré Antoine Cornic. At 42, this is his first participation in Imoca on the Jacques Vabre with a boat in the colors ofEbac, manufacturer of box springs and mattresses in Niort.
We are a small thumb of offshore racing in terms of budget but we are very proud to be there and to work as we work
“The biggest race when you race offshore is to find partners”, summarizes Antoine Cornic. “Ebac had the wish to do something in sailing in the years to come”. And the company philosophy pleased the skipper. “Ebac retreats plastic waste for the manufacture of its mattresses. It is very important for me their way of seeing things because it stuck to our project which was to be as low impact as possible. We may be one. sport where we are carried by the wind, we are still quite a polluting sport. We have carbon boats, made from resin “, explains Antoine Cornic.
For example, the energy on board the boat is made by a hydrogenerator, a propeller at the back of the boat that spins and produces electricity. The skipper also recovered the sails of other boats : Charal, Heart initiatives … “The boat is based in La Rochelle, I worked with the people from La Rochelle, we avoided having too many people traveling”, he says. And to communicate, a hashtag has been launched #Wake up by Ebac “to say that plastic in the sea is enough”.
Objective: Vendée Globe 2024
In Antoine Cornic’s sights: the Vendée Globe 2024. “There is such enthusiasm today. We will go from 33 places to 40 places in 2024 and there are already 45 projects announced. So qualifications, therefore an obligation to navigate very very early and for us to start in 2021 with this Jacques Vabre deckchair “. With the ambition “to finish it”.