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(par Martin membre Sailingobjectives depuis mai 2023 et membre de l’équipe de la Palermo-Monaco 2023)

« When Jon asked me in March if I’d be interested in joining the crew for a race from Palermo to Monaco in August it sounded like a great adventure and so far off that I didn’t really need to think about any of the reality of actually doing it (i.e. not really knowing how to sail), so it was easy to say “Yes please!”

As the months passed by and the race got closer and more real, previously supressed questions slowly became unavoidable; Where/how do I get the necessary sailing equipment? Where will we sleep? How will I contribute to the team with so little experience? Do I need any qualifications/certification? Will there be a toilet? Where is Palermo?…

With borrowed sailing equipment and an easyJet booking solving the first and last of my questions, I landed in Palermo early on Sunday morning. The next two day sallowed for pre-race meetings, preparing the boat as well as some nice meals in Palermo before the scheduled race start at midday on Tuesday. 

There was a mix of stunning boats at the Gulf of Mondello starting line, ranging from the 100ft long Blackjack (crew of 20) down to two smallest 30ft boats including us onthe Poisson Garou (crew of 6). Following a couple of false starts, the race began proper at 12:50 with the larger boats quickly disappearing over the horizon. The sunset as we left the Sicilian coastline behind and headed Northwest into the night. 

Following 36 hours in the Tyrrhenian Sea without sight of land, we saw the sunrise over the East coast of Sardinia early on the Thursday morning. Moving North up the coast under spinnaker when possible, we passed through a mid-race gate around midnight before following the pack of boats through the Maddelena islands overnight. At this point, and with wind speeds reducing, the Lemanique low-windracing experience proved valuable as the Poisson Garou managed to overtake two other boats overnight, sailing away from Sardinia up the West Coast of Corsica onthe Friday morning. 

After sailing halfway up the Corsican coast, we then headed North Northwest out into the Ligurian Sea and towards our final destination in the early hours of Saturday morning. The initial low wind conditions strengthened throughout the day to over 20 knots and we spent the final 6 hours of our race sat lined up on the Leeward (new word) sidedeck, often drenched in the warm Mediterranean salt waters while Frederico and Jon took turns surfing the swell towards Monaco. »

We arrived over the finish line on Saturday afternoon after just over 100hrs racing. It was only after bumping into the race winners on the GBR boat (“Joy”) that we understood that; 1. We had come in second place, and 2. The GBR team had taken a late-race gamble (which eventually paid off in their favour) to switch away from their original “Route Direct” strategy as they had been falling far behind PoissonGarou. 

Having sailed very little up to a year ago, I would never have imagined it would be possible to participate in such a unique experience; Having the opportunity to learn how to sail whilst traversing “idyllic” (an adjective which quickly became comically overused) seascapes, seeing dolphins, turtles and whales playing in their marine nature reserve,competing against professional crews piloting some of the most advances yachts on the planet and sharing this experience with some remarkable people was….er….idyllic. 

Thanks to Josh, Greg, Rene and Jon as well as special thanks toFrederico for his support in making the Poisson Garou available for the SailingObjectives project.