(Photo Jean-Marie LIOT / DPPI / MACIF) Coming from a marine background, he is naturally drawn towards this element, where he turned when he had to make his career choice, but that passion might also have led him to other horizons. « If I was not a professional sailor, I would certainly be involved in something related to the sea. I am a trained engineer, so probably I would be behind a computer and in an office creating boats, designing them, realising them….or else with my head in the clouds studying the weather….but if I had a completely different passion, I would probably have foind myself in the mountains. That would not have surprised me. Those two worlds are pretty different but also with some similarities. « | ||||
(Photo Jean-Marie LIOT / DPPI / MACIF) This year, François is focusing on his first Route du Rhum, and his last race in the IMOCA class. « My first memories of this race were the arrival of Florence Arthaud in 1990. I was lucky to travel and live on a boat when I was a child and I went to Guadeloupe the year before. We cruised across the Atlantic as a family, and a few months later, I was watching the victory of Florence on the TV. She had just crossed the Atlantic. She arrived into the same area that I had been in, the same island, the same beach. Those formed strong memories in the mind of a young boy of 7 years of age and its true that I hold onto them very dearly, as I was very affected by all of that. » | ||||
(Photo Jean-Marie LIOT / DPPI / MACIF) « What is beautiful about our sport, is the number of fantastic events and good memories. If I have to focus on one, its a bit anecdotal but its my favorite and thats the |