Lalou Rocayol Prepares Multi50 Arkema Boat for the Route du Rhum- Destination Guadalupe Ocean Race

Lalou Roucayrol, skipper of the Multi50 Arkema, will set off on 4 November in the Route du Rhum - Destination Guadeloupe. For his fourth participation in this race, the skipper’s ambitions are clear: to claim a podium place in this supreme event in solo ocean racing. But to achieve this, mental and physical preparation is essential. Just one month away from the start of the race, Lalou Roucayrol is busy with plenty of outings on the Multi50 Arkema in Verdon-sur-Mer, the home port of the trimaran.

Lalou is calm and collected ahead of this looming date, with his boat ready to the optimum degree, and the support of a highly skilled technical team behind him, so he now makes the most of these outings to make the last adjustments to his machine: “It’s all going splendidly. We take the boat out about 3 times a week to check the calibration of the autopilot, adjust the rigging or the sails, etc. This enables me to go over the manoeuvers on board again and again, so they become even more slick during the race.”

My heart rate was around 160 beats per minute then”, recounts Lalou Roucayrol. “This is very fast, which can be explained by the stress but in particular by the lack of sleep. It’s difficult in the first few days of the race to fall into a deep sleep, due to the strenuous physical efforts involved in sailing a trimaran. For this 2018 edition, this has prompted us to plan for suitable physical training on land.” So the skipper alternates running, muscle training and cycling, with three outings a week, in order to be in great shape when he sets off from Saint-Malo!

For more information, please visit www.arkema.com.