in the years to follow. “But the real turning point comes a little later, I will limits, leave your day job, spend 3 weeks in solitude upon the ocean and tell you about it.” As if Fabrice needed more experiences and reasons to then to experience these wild emotions upon arrival in Guadeloupe, it’s decide to quit hounding the Parisian pavements! When he turns 30 years super, it’s crazy”. Yes, Fabrice, you are a little bit crazy! Spending 3 weeks old, Jacques says to Fabrice that he must sail other boats. full of suffering and misery for just 20 minutes of pleasure at the end, and wanting to make a career, livelihood and life out of it… you must be a BETTER ALONE little crazy!” It is in 2008 that Fabrice sets his sights on the Solitaire du Figaro to take part in the duo Transat AG2R between Concarneau and Saint-Barth. “An experience FABRICE’S AMAZING DESTINY that went so badly that I said to myself that I wasn’t ready for the Solitaire”. He Despite that, Fabrice is a person who likes a challenge. The network of was going to take part in the Solitaire du Figaro with 3 days of solo navigation committed business leaders that he built up at Le Figaro helped him to as the only preparation. He came last in 2 out of 3 events, “taking the tarps” in find partners to fund his racing. He convinced his sponsors to im hiagher, light winds but managing to get bigger, further, focusing on out of it, dodging rough weather Fabrice Amedeo à the world tour in IMOCA. With conditions.“I said to myself: l'arrivée du Vendée a Vendée Globe successfully youaren’t good at regatta but Globe 2016-2017 completed in 2016, he will you’re good at sailing, you must Fabrice Amedeo upon be on this same racing line continue. So, I threw myself into arrival at the Vendée Glob2016-2017e in 2020, and his first Route the Route du Rhum 2010in class du Rhum in IMOCA this year. 40. During this period, I was still Today, Fabrice shares his time a full-time journalist for Figaro, between Trinité-Sur-Mer where of course.” Of course! We were he prepares for races during a little taken aback by this ‘I can the week and Paris where he do everything’ approach but joins his wife and 3 daughters today’s sailors are getting us over the weekend. Yes, the more and more used to it and choice between fully living Fabrice later tells us that ocean out his passion is admittedly racing is one of the only chal- selfish, but he is showing his lenges that a man or a woman children that in life you can can throw themselves into just fulfil your dreams. He believes like everybody else, seriously that he is a better father and entertaining the idea of success. being fulfilled means he can Let’s not be jealous, we could give the best of himself to his also do it! But all the same: “This girls: “It’s wonderful to have race, it was a personal Mount lived many lives in one life and Everest, I was saying to myself: to have had many professional there you go – you are doing a lives which all are radically solo transatlantic race, you are different, and which corre- doing the Route du Rhum! And spond to many dreams. It’s I kept reminding myself, I’m completely crazy that this has leaving home but I’m telling my wife not to worry, it’s one time only, there won’t happened to me!” So, let’s lead crazy lives. Fabrice shows us that to a be a second time”. brave heart, nothing is impossible! THE LIGHTBULB MOMENT AN INCREDIBLE WIFE “During the 3 weeks, I was exhausted, but you honestly can’t understand And the question that we’re all thinking… if it was easy for Fabrice to nego - how exhausted! It was so hard! I took the northern route and therefore took tiate with business partners to find fi nancial support, how easy was it to all the blows along the way, I hit trade winds and faced battle after battle! convince his wife to follow him, to deal with his periods of absence from And during these 3 weeks I kept asking myself, ‘but what are you doing the family home and to live with his risk-taking? “I have an incredible wife, there?’ At last: the doubts, failures, discouragements! Before crossing the who naturally took some time to accept my decision because it was hard! finish line, I did a regatta tour of Guadeloupe the entire night and from the She married a journalist from Figaro in Paris and now she finds herself island I could only see glimmers, there was something mysterious about it. with someone who has competed in 12 trans-Atlantic races and a world In the early hours of the morning, a few hours before I arrived, the sun rose race…” To arrange the first Vendée Globe inSprng 213,i 0 F tabrice he saiorl over Basse-Terre and in this moment, (it was a revelatory moment, one that called upon the great writing skills of Fabrice the journalist. Just after stands out in my life), Iwas flooded by an incredible wave of emotions, and his youngest was born and his wife was still on maternity leave, ignoring I said to myself, things make sense. And I decided to set sail once again, his poor tactical choice regarding timing, he wrote a letter to his wife that instant. In this very moment, I made myself a promise to continue explaining his passion for sailing and his desire to take part in the Vendée ocean racing.” Globe. When he returned home that evening, she said to him, “I am here for You could rightly think that the man, physically exhausted, had confused you and will support you”. She is always there, always supporting him and a calling to the sea with the relief of coming to the end of these 3 weeks of will be cheering him on with their three girls for his next Rhum and Vendée. affliction, but he explains: “It’s amazing to excel yourself, push back your We will too. Will you? 29 TOIL EIRAM-NAEJ©OTOHP