Sophie Faguet 24e, Sasha Laniece 25e, Stéphane Bodin 26e

Sophie Faguet, 24th

“We were incredibly lucky on this first solo race in Class40, as we had fairly manageable conditions overall—except towards the end for those who finished a bit later. It was great to get into the swing of things on the boat, with a bit of everything: upwind, downwind, gennaker sailing—perfect for practicing solo maneuvers!

I spent a lot of time with my boat, because I chose the wrong Starlink subscription! From the Chaussée de Sein onwards, I found myself somewhat cut off from the world, without charts and without updated weather data… The first two days were fine because the forecasts were still more or less valid, but after that I got myself into a bit of a mess—I didn’t know when I was gaining places or losing them.

In the end, it allowed me to focus on myself and my feel for the boat, which is actually a good thing! Next time, though, I’ll be happy to work more on strategy.

I struggled to fit in sleep during the first two days, but I was in pretty good shape overall. I waited until we were back upwind to really recover! And as for food, I never really have any issues!

Sasha Laniece, 25th

“I messed up the start—I didn’t hear the countdown signal… After that, in the light winds, I made some good moves. I was happy because I understood what was going on and where I needed to go. My computer crashed right when I had to pass the waypoint, so it was pretty tricky to round a virtual mark without being able to see it!

It’s a good race because I didn’t throw up, which is quite rare for me… I didn’t get seasick, so that’s pretty amazing. And I ate two meals a day—I’m very proud of myself. As for sleep… I can still hear voices, so I think I’m a bit short on that. But I slept whenever I could. Whenever I had the chance, I slept, that’s for sure.

Overall, it’s positive, even if I’m a bit disappointed with the result! There are races where you can make mistakes and recover, but not here. It was always moving forward at the front, so you just kept piling up mistakes—but that’s how it goes. I hadn’t done this in a while, so it’s good—it motivates me to improve. That’s a good thing!”

Stéphane Bodin, 26th

“The great feeling was being back to solo sailing—it had been quite a while since we’d raced alone. It went pretty well, I didn’t make too many mistakes, and I pulled off some good maneuvers. In terms of sleep and food, I found my rhythm straight away—I’m used to solo sailing.

It was great—when I’m out on the water, I’m happy!”