Vendée Globe  
93 days 22 hours 52 minutes

SOH Imoca 60′ VISITORS – French kids on the board, preparation, sails decoration

12th Oct.  Nándor Fa audio – in English and Hungarian about the last few days strong preparation…

Nándor Fa – audio in English

 

MAINSAIL – new decoration – new logos – SOH team in action

SOH team with the VG official Sodebo Logo on the mainsail

SOH team with the VG official Sodebo logo on the mainsail

 

French little kids visited the Spirit of Hungary Imoca 60′ boat

Patrick Viau – technical manager of the Spirit of Hungary  – audio in English

 

Tamás Mérei (worldwide Hungarian cellist and media expert is cooperating partner of the SOH team – interviewed Patrick Viau – written interview by T. Mérei

School kid: „I want to sail in the Vendee Globe today”

Patrick Viau, technic chief of the Spirit of Hungary team welcomed small kids in Port Olona.

Patrick, how came the idea to invite kids from kindergartens and from primary schools to an Open 60?

I am working as a sailing instructior in a club where we teach kids as well. The director of the club asked me if I could manage to get the possibility to visit an Open 60.

How old were the kids who visited Spirit of Hungary, and how many wanted to take part on this program?

The kids were 5 and 7 years old, and 26 of them came int he morning, respectively 27 of them came int he afternoon to Les Sables d’Olonne.

How could you manage that many kids at once in the boat?

We devided them for smaller groups. One group went on to the deck to see how sailors do maneuvers, the other was in the cockpit looking the stearing system, working place, tools, and the third one was inside the cabin. They could see how skippers sleep, cook, how does the cockpit look like. And then of course the groups have changed positions.

What was the reaction of the kids, did they enjoy the program?

Yes, absolutely! There were super impressed, happy, many of them were first time in their life in a boat. In fact they were rather sad when we had to leave after almost 3 hours.

I am sure they had a lot of questions…

Yes, of course. The thing they did not understand is that why these sailors go around the world alone? Why they dont let a friend help them? But many questions were regarding sleeping, how sailors manage to go to the toalet, what kind of food they can eat, etc. And also, what happens int he night, when they can not see where the boat is going.

Could these kids actually understand what it means to sail 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and that for three month?

Well, that was difficult for them. Their sense of time is not the same as for adults. They try to imagine it, but already based on their questions you can tell, time is not in their focus.

And what did they think about the whole Vendée Globe, were some of them who would have wanted to do it in the future?

In fact there was one 5 years old guy he started to cry because he wanted to take part in the race immediately, today, with him at the helm of an Open 60…  🙂