After just a few hours of sailing with him, you start to get a better understanding of how this guy has got to where he is today. A genius, a perfectionist or just gifted? I’m not sure which…
Franck climbed aboard Dongfeng at the start of the week when we set sail from Melbourne for Leg 4 of the Volvo Ocean Race. He has never raced nor trained on a Volvo Ocean 65 but within a matter of miles our navigator for this leg was fully focussed on the team’s performance and integrated into life on board.
You’d think Franck trusted no one. When he’s not happy with the boat speed, which is very often the case, he comes out of his hideout and pounces on the helm to get a real feel for what’s going on and understand the whys and wherefores.
He has a sharp, keen eye and you can see that his brain is whirring fast…very fast. He scrutinises and analyses the slightest detail and the slightest trim. He doesn’t think twice about going to check the trim of the headsails himself to be sure that the boat is at the absolute peak of her ability.
He may examine everything in detail, getting a hosing down from bow to stern and investigating everything from the wand down to the keel in a bid to track down the disruptive element. We are always too slow for Franck, satisfaction is not part of his vocabulary. There is always better, always more efficient and faster.
You’d think that to succeed you have to be a bit crazy and it becomes borderline exhausting just watching him and listening to him. He never stops. He runs everywhere, despite the smallness of the boat. It’s wearing. One thing for sure though, it has already proven its worth and this excellent sailor forces immense respect.
