Eric Bellion: “I am very proud to release something radical (…)

Eric Bellion’s first words:

“I’m still focused on the next step, but there I was moved with emotion when the boat left, to the music, with the whole team… That’s all we’ve built with Mary, all 3 years of effort, we take it in the face. It’s 3 years of work, doubts, Sleepless nights, desires to be abandoned, screaming matches, an invasion.This is my 7^H The project, it still touches me a lot. This boat is the holy grail. When you are a sailor, you have many dreams: completing the Vende Globe and also building your own boat. So building your boat for the Vende Globe is crazy.”

Seek less to go for better

Away from the arms race and extreme choices, the STAND AS ONE monohull is no boat to fly. Someone who has always made the difference is a strength, wanted a reasonable and reliable boat to go far and long. Eric Bellion and his team revealed, today in Port-la-Fort, a IMOCA
imuka
#IMOCA
Unique Appearance: Rounded single-nosed body and straight legs.

Eric Bellion: I’m very proud to be releasing something completely different. It was a big job with its share of problems, but we got it done! United, people are capable of real miracles.

We shared our recipes, our tools, our knowledge, no self-hiding, no secrets. We have innovated humanly and I am convinced it will have a greater impact than technological innovation. In the risk and the unknown we reach. It’s a different project, an outside project.”

This choice of sobriety is the fruit of reflection by Jean Le Cam4^H From the last Vende Globe on the driving boat. The two captains push their cooperation to a point that has never been reached since they combined everything (knowledge, budget, partner, etc.) to build two boats that are 100% identical. To carry out this different and ambitious project, they needed an architect with a vision. David Rayson, the man who modernized the Demons, was the man for the job.

David Raison: “I followed the last Vende Globe and like everyone else, I was amazed by the performance of Jane and the other contestants on old boats or without chips. We saw the budgets IMOCA
imuka
#IMOCA
It burns because these projects involve a great deal of complexity in terms of studies, maintenance and construction. Projects burden financially and in terms of the team. We also save weight because the chips are with reinforced hull, the weight of the chips and structural reinforcements, etc. So the canoe canoe saves weight, time and reliability too.

Doing better, or doing the same with less, has to do with the environmental limits we face. For me, this is a project for the future. It should work because it’s a project outside of our scope. In scope and relevance, it surpasses Vende Globe, Sports andventure
venture

. »

Vende Globe dreams can be reached

The aim was also to prove that it was possible to build a new boat at a lower cost. An innovative vision and approach that should inspire more than one. Lead by example, and inspire young ocean runners to dreamventure
venture

Bahri, to show a different, open and unfamiliar path, this is the final wish of the trio.

Jean Le Cam: “We look a lot at what’s going on in the middle Class 40
Class 40
# Class 40
. This is a great category that has seen gains Speed
Speed
# Speed
significant in a few years. on Rum Road
Rum Road
#RouteDuRhum
or a Trans Jacques Fabre
Trans Jacques Fabre
#TJV2015
see that Class 40
Class 40
# Class 40
Never get behind with IMOCAs, even though they cost 10 times less!

We then strive to go a little faster for a long time but not go too fast for a short while. What matters is the average. This is reasonable in my opinion to go solo on a world tour.

We also wanted to create a project that would be open. Extroverted, open to others. And to do this, we had to make technically simpler boats. Complexity causes us to lock ourselves into a kind of repression. I prefer projects that are accessible and open rather than projects that are imprisoned by their complexity. »

Stand as one, never alone

Eric Bellion has been sailing all over the world’s oceans for over 20 years, and has finished 9^H (and 1^any junior) at the 2016 Vende Globe, but without losing sight of its goal, beyond sporting achievement and the ultimate adventure: to make the world’s most individual competition a team adventure. Six years later, when he swore he would never go back there, Rick decided to create a new IMOCA project with the aim of a second engagement, always with the idea of ​​relaying what the ocean gave him. Managing doubts and fear.

“I didn’t want to go back to the Vende Globe. I didn’t want to pay water for nothing. I need to share people and bring them to live different experiences. The Vende Globe is the only competition in the world that requires you to be alone, very far away, for a long time. If we could In the heart of the only event in the world to deliver a great performance thanks to collaboration and assembly, the show will be resounding. »

Alone, he also won’t be alone in the next big opportunity for calendar 2023: Trans Jacques Fabre
Trans Jacques Fabre
#TJV2015
. Eric decided to race Martin Le Pape in the famous double-handed Transatlantic Race from Le Havre on October 29th. From now on, Eric has only one desire: to find his element and discover his mountain.

Today his boat is STAND AS ONE, the English translation of COMME UN SEUL HOMME, to adapt to partners present on the international scene. Of these, the boat’s co-owner, Rafal Balti Company, played a crucial role in the success of this project. She was the first to join the team. Altavia, Workday, Saipol, Altice and BFM Business support and accompany the navigator in this 3-year program, culminating in racing as a crew and on stages: Ocean Race
Ocean Race
Ocean Race and Volvo Ocean Race
Europe.