In front of him, the ocean as far as the eye can see.
He lowers his head and the camera with it.
The viewer's heart twists.
Under the feet of Arnaud Boissières.
The void.
In fact no.
The deck of his boat, at the same time very far and unmissable on the blue of the waves.
Almost 30 meters above the waves, the skipper (“La Mie Câline - Artisans Artipôle”) of the Vendée Globe is busy repairing his mast.
“It's been about an hour that I am up there tinkering, he explains to Internet users who will watch the sequence.
There is a beautiful view.
"
Very spectacular, the video was widely shared on social networks.
"I went up to repair a hook
(Editor's note: hook)
for the headsail," says its author, contacted by phone while he was sailing towards Brazil on Monday.
I prepared for an hour and a half, I checked everything to make sure I didn't forget anything on the bridge, waited for the right weather slot… and started to climb.
There, you don't think of anything, you stare at the top of your mast.
And you climb.
"
Vendée Globe: when the skippers repair their mast at a height of 30 m
Like Arnaud Boissières, other Vendée Globe skippers such as Romain Attanasio (“Pure-Best Western”) or Thomas Rettant (“LinkedOut”) were forced to spice up their round-the-world trip with a rock climbing session.
“It often happens that there are things to be repaired up there, but we never go there for fun,” says skipper Kito de Pavant.
In a two-person or crewed race it's easy, you have someone to pull you up with a rope.
But on a single-handed race like the Vendée, you have to pull yourself up on your own and it gets complicated… ”
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To reach the heights of their Imoca, the sailboats of the Vendée Globe whose height between the top of the mast and the water reaches 29 m, the sailors use climbing equipment.
With a pedal and a lever, they rise little by little above the deck of their boat.
“I must have taken 40 minutes to get to the top,” says Boissières.
Sometimes you go up just 10cm, because you can be slowed down by your harness or slowed down by cables.
"
Always stressful phases.
In the community, some are particularly apprehensive about exercise.
Fabrice Amedeo ("Newrest Art et Fenêtres") trained to overcome his fear with a climbing coach.
But the dizziness was stronger than the sailor, too tense at the idea of climbing the mast of his boat at night and in the open sea, which made a U-turn towards Les Sables-d'Olonne a few hours after his departure.
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Anne Liardet, eleventh in the Vendée Globe 2004-2005, had embarked on the race a ladder of straps that she unfolded when she had to reach the top of her ship.
"It weighed a certain weight, but it was the weight of security," she says.
With that, I was well equipped to make my repairs.
Without it, it would become too much of a joke for my taste.
Once, I found myself suspended above the void, catching up with just one hand.
It was hot… "
In their ascent, the skippers must also deal with the mast itself.
Too much wind, and "you become the weather vane at the top," Pavant smiles.
But not the slightest breath, warns Arnaud Boissières, and "you lever the mast".
"There, you become like the top of the somersault", continues Anne Liardet, who has already surprised herself to take advantage of the view from above to contemplate the ocean and the curvature of the Earth on the horizon.
On the ground, we count the minutes
To avoid making the case too dangerous, the sailors scan the weather for the right window.
If it is necessary to go up, it is better to have to do it off Brazil than approaching the Kerguelen Islands.
When the sea is agitated too much, the operation becomes unthinkable anyway.
“It's already too dangerous to be on deck sometimes, so in the mast…, says Marcus Hutchinson, team manager of Thomas Rettant.
But the longer we delay going there, the more urgent it becomes and the less comfort we are potentially when it comes time to go.
"
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On land, the teams that supervise the skippers often have the habit of warning the race director when their sailor begins to climb.
“We count the minutes until he tells us he's come back down”, describes Sébastien Marsset, team manager of Romain Attanasio.
“We calculate the time needed for the repair,” continues Marcus Hutchinson.
If we don't hear from him after this time, we start to worry.
We can ask the race director if a competitor can change his mind to see if he has fallen into the water or if he is injured.
"
"As if I were walking for the first time"
Equipped with a helmet and sometimes with elbow and knee pads, sailors come out at least covered in bruises from the exercise.
In the stories of these ocean climbers, the tense muscles, the cold that numbs the hands and the risk of injuring oneself during a repair where you sometimes have to play with the knife at a height of almost 30 m come back.
“When you have finished and you put your foot back on the bridge, you feel all the nervous tension that escapes,” explains Anne Liardet.
In 2012 in the Vendée, Jean-Pierre Dick was filmed, haggard, after two hours spent on his mast.
"The repair is done, I'm going to sleep, ciao," whispered the sailor.
“I got on all fours in my cockpit when I got off,” says Arnaud Boissières.
Then, I drank two liters of water to recover from the effort.
And when I straightened up, it was like I was walking for the first time because I was so stiff.
»The price to pay for maintaining your boat on this round the world trip.