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- Another question, Axel ?
-Yes, have you been surprised by Francois ?
- Yes and No. I knew that it was somebody who had well prepared his Vendee with his team
well surrounded, well advised, and we leaves few place for chance.
On the training camps we did at Port La Foret, it was always hard to beat him
We saw it on the BtoB transat, he won his first singlehanded race
So well, he arrived quickly to the top on the IMOCA circuit
so for me at the start it was a favorite, even if he didn't had the experience I had, or Vincent or Jean-Pierre
or Alex or others. I knew that on a Vendee he was really able to do something very good
after ... I was surprise by the fact that he did very few mistakes
he always had been fast, never had been down, anyway it wasn't visible on the water
and so we were telling ourselves, it's not possible, he never gives up
and even when I was ahead, like in the South Atlantic
and the firsts gates where I was leading the race, I was telling myself, he's going to switch off at one time, but no, he was coming back again and again
so well. And there I told myself, it's going to be a tenacious one until the end
and well, after it was a great battle !
-Let's go, another question
over there
- Yes Armel, you are just a few to have sail round the world like this.
Are you aware that doing a round the world like this in less than 80 days stays something extraordinary !?
How many are you to have gone under 80 days ? Today two ! It's titanic
Are you able to have enough hindsight to tell yourself, finally I've done something, wow, awesome !
- No, I don't realize in fact. I think that today for me what matters in the the race time it's the result
because, well, we just arrived, and tomorrow we are going to read the press, and I know very well that it will be Francois the winner
and me I'll be second. But it's the game, it's like that, there's a winner and a loser
It's like at Melbourne, it's Djokovic who won and Murray lost
it's the game !
- You even know the result ?
- Oh me I know everything ! It's not a good week-end. Federrer lost, French handball lost, me I'm second, I was a little bit ...
It's a little bit hard ... but well ...
But after, in the coming weeks, we will be able to analysis what we have done
The number of miles per days, the averages, indeed the 78 days ...
As Camille said, I did 89 four years ago, here 11 less
Yeah, I don't realize yet. The race has been leaved intensely during those days, finally we didn't saw the time passing
and not really had time to breathe out, and didn't really had time to analysis this, I think that we are going to wait a little bit
- Question ?
- Yes Armel, I swear I won't bother you !
First, when we look at your trajectories and those of Francois. We see that you had more tight trajectories, you did less miles on the water than Francois
So this will be the technical question. And I have a less technical question
Height years ago, Jean Le Cam arrived 6 hours after Vincent and said "we can be disappointed but we can't be unhappy", so I'd like to know if you are happy ?
- Yes I'm happy, for sure. For me, for all the team, Banque Populaire which is supporting me since 2 years now. For sure I'm happy
I can only be happy, cause already it's a victory to have finish. I think of all the skippers who are here, we came to welcome us
It's really nice, I think of Marco of Kito that I've seen earlier, Samantha also sent me a message on the water earlier
I also know what is it to withdraw and not being able to live the race until the end
So I should not ...well I was speaking about disappointment earlier but well, there's lot of happiness in all that.
After it's sure that on the water, yes, I've attacked a little bit more the high pressures
Play a little bit with the limits of the wind, having more tight trajectories, cause also as I was saying earlier I had a sailed which was allowing it to me, I had a code zero
which is a sail for light wind. So I was knowing that in those condition I was able to go fast and cross quickly those areas
It's sure that for Saint-Helena's high, there has been moments of doubts
I never panicked, it's sure that it was coming back by behind, it wasn't easy
But finally I didn't lost a lot and it played out quite nicely
where I was rather happy was on crozet gate,
where the fact of having attacked in the west, for me it was a nice play, a little tactical play
I thought I was going to gain more. Finally I just gained a few miles
But yes, I was happy to be able to do tactical plays, there was not a lot, but there was some
and that's what passionates me on the water, that's what I'm doing offshore racing
Trying to plays with the weather, find the best possible trajectory, the optimum course has we say
That's what I'm looking for ! We never achieve it, but we get close to it from times to times
And here Francois has found the optimum course better than me
- Okay, other questions ?
-Armel, Jacques Veder from "Ouest France"
Was there a precise time when you told yourself, in regard of the trajectories, the weather, where you told yourself "that's done, I'm not going to be able to come back"
You were always saying at each Vendee Live "I won't give up I won't give up"
But is there one moment those last days were you told yourself "it's done, I'm not going to be able to come back" ?
And second thing, there's lots of people who were believing in your return, do you know that you are the reason why St-Paul cathedral as gone out of stock with candles
- Listen .. eh... for me the race, we'll say that ...
I believed being able to come back in the doldrums, I came back a little bit
and after I was really believing in the Azores high, people have put candles in St-Paul, Quimpert, Lorient, well, a little bit everywhere in Britanny there was lightened candles, but it hasn't been enough.
And that's right that when I started to look at the routings around Cape Verde
and I was seeing that the high was going to be quite simple, we were going to go by the west
to pass the Azores archipelago, and after that's not that it was straight line but well ...
more than 100 miles to catch up on Francois, knowing that he was fast.
that he was making only few mistakes, yeah that's sure that it was going to be difficult
So yes indeed, we are always telling ourself, and I think that it's important, until the finish line
we never know, things can always happen. And I think that we saw it again today, if I had been 20 miles from Francois this afternoon
I think that the end of the race would have been stressful cause there wasn't a lot of wind on the finish line
It would also certainly had been different in his way to negotiate the finish line
But anyway that's true than at Cape Verde I started to tell myself, it's going to be hard, it's going to be hard, yes.
-Questions ? yes one and after Claire
-Ok, I've understood !
- In french
- Bravo !
- I've progressed with english during this Vendee Globe, it's incredible !
But I'm going to answer in French anyhow, sorry !
- Improve in geographic and english !
- Yes exacly, it's like at school ! So the problems I had with the sails
So I had, as I was saying, a gennaker which was stuck, in the Pacific
I don't remember exactly where it was, but I think between two gates, West and East Pacific
So a gennaker stuck up, the hook wasn't un-hooking
and we were going onto reaching, beam reach in strong wind
so for sure with the sail in front up, it wasn't good
cause first, there was the risk that it unfurl itself, and two the drag slows the boat.
so I climbed in the mast two time, to un-hook up there, it wasn't easy
cause, it was in the Pacific, but the conditions were ... there was a slot there, I have been really like there
it was a moment where the wind was getting softer before it blows again, so I climbed quickly
and after, I had the problem that I was speaking about previously, the lashing
on the big gennaker which broke in Le Maire strait, it has been difficult to put it back on.
where I lost time. And after the equator, ... the doldrums sorry, where my genoa
stayed stuck also in front. The genoa is the biggest upwind sail that we are using.
and as soon as we ease the sheets a little bit or as soon as the wind comes in, we drop it to avoid the drag
and I wasn't able to drop it anymore, so I was a little bit down with speed
even if it was less penalizing that a gennaker. Otherwise the rest worked well, I didn't lost any sail
nor teared one, all my sails are aboard, usable.
after it's more problems with hooks, but for that we are going to work with the specialists in the coming weeks
- A question in the front, from Claire, who under her nice cap is going to take the mic.
- Do it short, do it short
- I didn't understood everything, but Camille, tell me ?
- In fact it's a little bit the question I asked Francois earlier, you had quite a lot of problems but never told anything about it. It was always everything is good aboard BP or Macif
what Claire was asking you is if you were hiding this not to give any advantage to your opponent ?
- Yes, indeed, the goal is to not give our weakness, our weak points, and saying that everything is alright, that's sure however a little bit of bluff sometime.
But hum ...
I think that in terms of performance, all the problems I had didn't penalized me, I had no major technical issue.
which could have made me loose a lot of miles, and that I could have hide
So I think that when I was saying "everything is alright", I wasn't far from the truth, even if there was fixing to do
after, indeed, I made the list of the thing which happened to me, I had several
little troubles, I thing that everybody had his share of it. But I think this is part of the race, of the Vendee, the toolbox is often out
we have spare material aboard, which is useful, and we have from times to times the technical team which is here to give us solutions to repair.
Me I had a hydrogenarator mount which broke the third day of the race. We talked a lot of the hydrogenerators, especially the problem that Bernard had.
And I think that ... I don't question the hydrogenerators, it as been very useful to me, I still got fuel aboard, even if we didn't took the quantity for an entire Vendee Globe
But I think that it's more the mountings, I think that we underestimated the forces and the traction that it can have at high speed.
And I think that my mistake was to leave the hydrogenerators down when we were going too fast
so it acted as a fuse, and the third night it broke a mount, so I had to build another one.
So I did a little bit of composite aboard, I'm not a composite specialist, but the work was rather good, I've been congratulated by my team for the work made.
So .. I've a nice mount at the finish, which was very useful during this Vendee Globe !
- Great Armel ! A last question, cause you have still lots of solicitation
and people from BP's comunication told me we had to do it quick, a last simple word, how is the guy going ?
- Well I'm good ! I'm better than four years ago !
Four years ago I passed out a little bit 2-3 hours after the press conference, cause I had lost a lot of weight, no here I'm okay, I'm okay !
Indeed I'm tired, I din't slept a lot last night, as I said, the night was intense !
and I worked hard today to be with you tonight ! So, well, no no, I'm fine, I'm happy to have finished
I gonna have to digest all that, all those emotions
and well, I thank all my team again, Banque Populaire which is going to support me for the two coming years, we announced a program which is very great
we have rendez-vous in a few months for the Figaro, and the Route du Rhum in 2014 on a big trimaran
so we are going to rest a little bit, but after it's going to come fast.
and well, it's great I'm enjoying it, I'm an happy sailor, and congrats to Francois who did a great race
he deserves his victory so I'm happy to be second after him.
- Here, the smile of Armel Le Cleac'h
Second of the Vendee Globe, Banque Populaire, BRAVO !