At the end of the Sables-d’Olonne canal (Vendée) with the docks full of people, on the morning of Sunday, November 10, emotion finally overwhelmed Violette Dorange. Three hundred and fifty thousand fans brandishing banners and flags chanting your name, it’s moving. Especially when, at the age of 23, you embark on your first solo round-the-world trip, non-stop and without assistance at the helm of an 18-meter monohull (Imoca).
The draw that designated her as the last of the 40 participants – including six women – in the 10my edition of the Vendée Globe when leaving the pontoon, allowed the youngest participants in the event to go and see that the Earth is round and full of energy.
In a moment of misty glances and eloquent silences under a gray, hazy sky, Violette, in boots and a red jumpsuit, her long ponytail blowing in the wind, enjoyed the ceremonial ride like an astronaut ready to board her capsule. Not without taking a look at the trophy for the race he dreams of winning one day.
“ Merry Christmas and Happy New Year », she said, mutinous, to her loved ones and followers whom she has no intention of seeing again before having completed her race in three months or a little less. “ I can’t talk “, choked Carole, her mother who, however, swears that she has ” accustomed over the years », while hugging Rose and Charles, his two oldest children.
“We have no choice but to follow it”
“ It’s completely crazy being here », Violette smiled the day before, with her arms on her hips, while measuring the distance traveled without being fooled by the 45,000 kilometers of oceans that lie ahead. If the Vendée Globe were a fairy tale, the pocket sailor (1.60 m) would undoubtedly play the role of “Little Thumbelina”. Not a cent, but there is never a shortage of ingenious projects or ideas to find the means to carry them out.
Since her beginnings in competitive dinghy sailing in La Rochelle (Charente-Maritime), at the age of 7, she has been sowing one by one the small stones that have taken her this far. Be the youngest competitor in the 35-year history of the Vendée Globe? Not even afraid. He was 15 years old, in May 2016, when he crossed the English Channel from the Isle of Wight (United Kingdom) to Cherbourg (Channel), in an Optimist, a 2.33 m “soap dish”. He also achieved three podiums in the junior world championship in 420. Before doing, from the age of 18, a mini-transat (solo racing in a 6.60 m monohull) and three seasons in Figaro (10 m monohull monohull ).
You have 57.6% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
