Ellen MacArthur interview part1

Sailing a 60ft trimaran will be a steep but exciting learning curve for the British solo sailing heroine

Shortly before setting off on Alain Gautier's trimaran Foncia in the Challenge Mondial Assistance, Ed Gorman talked to Ellen MacArthur.
mfs: Let's talk about about the trimarans. You're heading out on a 2,700-mile course on the Mondial Assistance Challenge - what's this first race going to be like?

EM: I'm not sure, actually. Having done the Fastnet on Primagaz (now Bayer en France) I'm excited because I know a bit about spending a few days on one of these boats. I know it's going to be very tough and people are going to push very hard. But, having said that, some may hold back a bit because it's the first race of the season and the boats aren't 100% yet and there are still some problems - that might be an issue.

mfs: What will your role be?

EM: My role is primarily to do the navigation and to talk to our weather router - Lee Bruce in the States, and to learn basically.

mfs: Will you drive as well?

EM: Yeah, I have done. Initially I'll drive with Alain (Alain Gautier, skipper of Foncia-Kingfisher) next to me, just to try and teach me the best way of doing it because obviously it's a race situation and not a little practice - it's the real thing. But we'll see how I do. We've got some good time out there so I'll be able to learn about the boat and hopefully I'll come back knowing what all the ropes do and so on - I'm halfway there already but there's a bit to go yet.

mfs: What's it like for you, gelling in as part of a team after being on your own?

EM: I don't find that so hard especially because I'm learning so much. Sailing with Alain is fantastic. We've been friends for a few years now and worked together, so it's not like you're making new friends through and through and don't know anyone on board.

mfs: But you don't find it at all intimidating with some of these guys and thinking 'can I do what they can do?'

EM: No. I can't do what they can do yet - for sure - everyone knows that. I'm not hiding it. It's the absolute truth. But at the end of the day, life's about going out there and learning. I've got a lot to learn before November (the start of the two-handed Transat Jacques Vabre when Ellen and Alain will race Foncia two-handed to Brazil). But that's the aim - to learn it.

mfs: Is the power of the boats as apparent to you when you are sailing them as it is to us watching from the sidelines?

EM: Yes. They are incredible - very, very powerful boats. Their stability is derived from their width, but there is no keel so when the wind pipes up and the boat starts to heel, you feel this tremendous power. There's a very fine line between going fast and going out of control and we'll be on that line the whole time - that's how we race. When you are fully crewed you are living on the edge the whole time.

mfs: To a British audience this fleet might be a bit of a mystery. We don't have these boats and it's a French fleet crewed by French sailors. Some people might find this a bit bizarre.

EM: I think the best way to describe it is probably that the Vendee Globe is a high performance rally and these trimarans are basically the fastest things of their size on the water that can go any distance. They are the Formula 1. I know we've said before Kingfisher is a Formula 1 in the Open 60s, but the trimarans are a different breed. They really are fast machines and they generally do shorter races which means lighter and faster boats and you can push them very hard.


Tommorrow - Ellen talks about fame, new plans and what life is like, post-Vendee Globe