“At sea, we don't reinvent life: the days go by, one after the other.
They are linked incredibly quickly!
I, who feared boredom, have come to be afraid of not having time to take advantage of this unique adventure that is a Vendée Globe.
But without chronological reference, we no longer count the days as elsewhere.
Are we Monday, Wednesday or Sunday?
A maneuver, a gyration of the wind, an unforeseen event to be managed will dictate the days much more strictly than a consideration of the calendar!
Alone, this feeling of being out of time comes very quickly, and after more than a month at sea I can now say that each day seems to strengthen it a little more.
So much so that I have the impression that life on land is only a vague memory and that my daily life will be forever linked to this little carbon box which spins at high speed on the Indian Ocean, my Banque Populaire boat.
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Clarisse Crémer, new wave sailor
Admittedly, I find myself dreaming of a meal of earth (a pizza with goat cheese in this case) or of a long hot shower (it's been 15 days since I really washed), but I didn't seriously believe.
My daily life is the gybes, the small gennaker shipments, the pillow wet with salt, the birds of the southern seas which follow me tirelessly ...
As a child, as time passed much slower, I had this feeling when I was separated from my parents for the holidays: the time of reunion seemed so far away that I considered it highly improbable.
A posture of defense to force yourself to be in the present moment?
Surely !
Anyway, I love and cherish this feeling of being on an endless treadmill, I have no other will but to move forward, not to be somewhere in particular but because that's what defines me as a sailor.
That is all !
"