Initial reactions from Jérémie Beyou on his arrival

“(...) it was a unique format. The course had never been sailed before. Inevitably there were a fair few unknowns with the added pressure of not knowing if you and your boat are ready for the Vendée Globe, because it’s coming up fast! I’d put pressure on myself all on my own, it was important for me to sail well… I was tense for the whole of the start of the race and then gradually relaxed into it, but it wasn’t easy to live with the whole time.

 The "giving your all" aspect of the Figaro comes in handy. I’m a grouch by nature, it does me good to moan, to show that each time I was leading, there was a reversal of the situation and the conditions favoured those behind. It’s also a way of never letting up. The day where you give up and tell yourself that it’s not serious, that’s the day you go off and do something else!

 There were some reversals in the situation between the three of us, myself, Charlie and Thomas. We sailed the race together. We were virtually within sight of one another the whole time. Your turn, my turn, they too sailed very well. But it was important to pull that last little move, the gybe that I initiated yesterday and which everyone mirrored. After that, you had to position the last trajectory right. You had to want it and me, I wanted it really badly. 

I’ve learnt about myself, about my confidence in the boat, about the way to undertake manœuvres. With the manœuvres, you know how to do them and you’re in harmony with the boat. When the boat goes fast and slams, you’re not too afraid. It was a good way for the pairing formed by Charal and her skipper to reconnect, because it had been a long time and last year only comprised double-handed races. Sailing singlehanded is drastically different. However, this confidence in the boat in the Vendée Globe, if you don’t have it, you can’t secure a result.

This victory comes as a great satisfaction. I’d piled a lot of pressure on my shoulders. I’m someone who needs to sail a lot, to do lots of competitions, to be in contact with my boat and it’s fair to say that since the Transat Jacques Vabre, amidst the refit and the lockdown, I no longer had my bearings so I’d put a lot of pressure on myself. Here, managing to do things right and secure the win, I can kind of settle down a bit. I no longer feel this pressure on the eve of the Vendée Globe start. I know where I’m going, how you have to get there and that, that is a great victory in itself.

One image that I retain from this race: the final tack to the finish, it was champagne sailing! There was 17/20 knots, 120/130 degrees to the wind, the boat up on her foil, flat seas and there, Charal was really great. It was fantastic."