France Blue: What is the role of a race director in sailing?
Francis Le Goff: It’s a bit of a conductor of the maritime part at the head of a race management team. My job is to make sure that everything was ready in Saint-Malo to receive the sailboats, to also make sure that the start will take place under the same conditions. These are 138 boats that will have to be placed on a starting line and then monitor the entire race from Saint-Malo to Guadeloupe.
We are a team of six in order to be able to follow the fleet on the Atlantic minute by minute if necessary. And then for the arrival in Guadeloupe, it will be a question of ensuring that the protocol and the security corridors are in place – because there is an incredible enthusiasm in Guadeloupe – so that the arrival takes place in the best conditions. And finally also ensure that the sailors will each have a place in the port. It’s not nothing to think about all that because there are 138 boats to put in the port.
**France Bleu:** On the race part, once the sailboats are released towards the open sea, the watch is continuous?
Francis Le Goff: The day before is 24 hours a day. It is always a team of two people who watch the screens and all the fleets. We have alarms that are based on the speed polars of the boats. If the boats are moving slower than they should in relation to the wind, it sounds. So we have tools that allow us to keep an eye on this or that or that point because it’s difficult to monitor 138 boats at the same time. From the moment they leave on Sunday, I’m going to get back to the ground very quickly in front of the screens at the race headquarters and from 8 p.m., we’re going to get into a quarter rhythm.
And from Wednesday, people from the race team will already be taking flights to Guadeloupe and reinstalling the PC by a shift so that there are never too many people on the plane at the same time. . So that at the end of the week, for the arrival of the Ultimates, everyone is on site. But it is not because there are arrivals that we do not continue to watch. It’s only a very small part of the race management that will make the finishes. The other part will remain concentrated, certainly in Guadeloupe, on the course of the other competitors.
France Blue: How many days are you taken up with your role as race director at the Route du Rhum?
Francis Le Goff: In any case, it started two years ago and it is gaining momentum as it goes, especially the last year. Because there are a lot of things to do, especially in Saint-Malo with the local authorities to prepare for this departure. Now, it’s been a month before the start that the whole team is almost full time on the subject. And it will only stop with the arrival of the last competitor, around the beginning of December in Guadeloupe. There will also be prize giving at the boat show so this Route du Rhum will be over at the end of the year. And even if the next edition is very far away, the debriefings are done immediately from the first quarter of 2023 and we are already relaunching the next Route du Rhum.
France Blue _:_You are director of the Normandy Sailing League. Are you detached? Do you hold both functions at the same time?
Francis Le Goff: Yes, I do both at the same time. The Normandy Sailing League has grown enormously. It has also grown as we are more and more involved in offshore racing. I now have about twenty collaborators at the Normandy Sailing League with an assistant director who has full powers during my absence – in this case during the month and a half when I will not be at the League.
But we also have great IT tools that allow us to stay in touch. I never quite lose track. Yesterday, delighted to welcome a group of the sea is yours from the SNPH (A sailing school in Le Havre) here and allow them to visit the village. I also had the chance to see some referees from the Normandy Sailing League who have passed through here, to be in contact with the president. And then just now, I was also with Charlie Dalin who is going to Imoca, with Cédric Château who is one of my work colleagues who is going to go to Class40. The link is never broken. And above all, it is also the Normandy Sailing League which intervenes on its behalf in sea logistics. I have eight people who are here to manage both the land part of the land logistics and the sea logistics part. also a good contract for the Normandy Sailing League.
France Blue: You were race director for the Transat Jacques-Vabre, on the Figaro circuit, on the Vendée Arctique this summer. What does your first Route du Rhum represent as race director?
Francis Le Goff: Well my faith. I take races when I have already experienced them in the past as an assistant. This is my fourth Route du Rhum. I did it with three different race directors who brought me a lot of things. It was Jean Maurel, it was Gilles Chiori. It was Jacques Caraës during the last edition. They have different ways of working. And then the riders who are here also come from the Figaro circuit for many of them. I got to know them. I know how they work. All of this allowed me to become a race director on the Route du Rhum. So it’s because I feel confident, have enough maritime recognition to be able to embark on the adventure of the Route du Rhum.
France Blue: And what personal pleasure does this job give you?
Francis Le Goff : That of leading teams because I can’t do much without them. This is also the challenge. It was a logistical challenge to bring all the boats here to Saint Malo. It is also a challenge to follow them on the whole body of water. And then when I think back to the Normandy Sailing League too, it gives it notoriety and know-how. This shows our know-how. It then allowed us, on other occasions, to work in areas other than sailing, because we have know-how in logistics. Personally, I am very proud to complete this Route du Rhum. Many race directors have been there. They were all very, very recognized. I hope to have taken the best of each and to be able to offer all the sailors the best race.