Before launching an assault on the elements on this Route du Rhum 2022, Louis Duc can already boast of having overcome the blows of fate. After the sinking of his Class 40 in 2019,
the skipper of Barneville-Carteret is launching a new challenge: a world tour in the Vendée Globe.
The budget is tight, so it’s impossible to start building a new boat. Louis Duc hears of an abandoned boat. An Imoca, in poor condition. This monohull has been victim of a fire at the start of the Transat Jacques Vabre
in 2019.
No one imagines this boat going back to sea. But impossible is not Louis Duc. “It’s an incredible story. We bought this wrecked boat and we believed in the possibility of saving it. We said to ourselves, if we are at the start of the Route du Rhum, it is already good. But we were able to take the start of the Transat Jacques Vabre last year”.
Fate persists. On the way back from the Transat Jacques Vabre,
the loose mast
. Louis Duc la débrouille is once again rolling up his sleeves. He disgusts a second-hand mast at 60,000 eurosthree times less than the price of a new mast. “Historically, it’s a great mast. The last race he did was the Vendée Globe which he had won. It was François Gabart’s Macif mast in 2012 »explains Louis Duc.
“I tried not to doubt”
Throughout his obstacle course, Louis Duc never gave up. “I tried not to doubt. Each step is climbed one by one. It could not have worked, but by putting energy and enthusiasm we are there today”.
On this Route du Rhum, the Manchois hopes to experience a race without hiccups to prepare more serenely for his dream of a Round the World on the Vendée Globe 2024.
A golden Louis brings good luck on his boat
On his boat, not spared by the blows of fate, Louis Duc installed a lucky coin under his mast: a Louis d’or offered by his grandmother.
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“Hopefully that will take away all the bad demons because this boat is on her fifth mast. It has already burned. He also went to recover Jean Le Cam in the South Seas, after which they had dismasted. In short, this boat has been through a lot, but it is still there. And it is getting better and better! »
His boat: Fives – Lantana Environnement (Imoca)
© Maxppp
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Laurent Lairys