Frenchman Philippe Delamare from Le Mans considers sailing as a discipline which has taught him that at sea there is no procrastination, there are no lies. He always knew he would someday sail solo around the world and the Global Solo Challenge provides the context to achieve his lifelong ambition. He is the 29th registered entry for the challenge.
Interview:
Where does your passion for sailing come from?
I was a turbulent child who had to be occupied for a few hours a day… With sailing I found myself in an immediately familiar and comfortable element, where I experienced belonging to a group. I believe that the way was drawn from my first day at sailing school!
What lessons have you learnt from sailing?
Maybe what I would call a mental discipline: you don’t procrastinate, you don’t lie (at sea in any case, once on land it’s something else…)
What brought you to like single-handed sailing?
I get a lot of satisfaction from the challenge that this represents, maneuvering alone while trying to anticipate things, to see beyond the simple movement in progress. Besides, I don’t hate myself or get bored in my company!
What prompted you to sign up for this event?
The conviction that the GSC is for me the right event at the right time, after a life in which I have always known that one day I will sail solo around the world.
How do you plan to prepare for this event?
My recipe has three main ingredients: collecting the experience of sailors who have lived this type of adventure; carefully plan and carry out the preparation of the boat; then confront these two ingredients with reality with numerous navigations to test the recipe…
What do you think will be the biggest challenge?
Successfully start off relaxed, rested, serene, without anticipating the race too much.
Tell us about your boat or the boat you would like to have.
The ideal for me is a balance between speed and comfort, between fun and my abilities, within budget – and safety – and performance.
Do you intend to link this personal challenge with a social message?
I think about establishing a partnership with children, a school, to deliver a message of self-confidence, for the realization of his dreams, to create in them the desire to achieve…
Sailing experience - 100,000+ miles.
About the boat TBA
Text & Image (Southern Ocean waves) courtesy of Global Solo Challenge
Global Solo Challenge: a unique format
The format is unlike any other round the world solo sailing event and will make it fair and exciting for the Skippers as well as easy and engaging for the public and sponsors to follow:
A wide range of boats can enter – 32 to 55 foot.
Boats will be grouped by performance characteristics and set off in successive departures over 8 weeks.
Once at sea, there are no classes. All boats will be sailing the same event. The faster boats will have to try to catch up with the slower boats, the pursuit factor creating competitive interest aboard and a fascinating event for the public and sponsors.
The first boat to cross the finish line wins. The performance differential between the boats is taken into account in staggering the departures, eliminating the need to calculate corrected times.