Wattuneed sponsors the greatest human challenges thanks to onboard technologies and renewable energy. Today, they make it possible for as many people as possible to live their dreams of adventure.
Find out more about the crews and athletes we support!
Édouard De Keyser - Zero Fossil Energy 2023
An avid sailor since the age of seven, Édouard has always dreamed of the ocean, inspired by his family's vacations in Brittany. In the middle of his university studies, he took a sabbatical year to get his first taste of the ocean, crossing the Atlantic Ocean on a solo mini-transat. This enriching experience inspired him to repeat this decisive feat.
This great dreamer wants to win the "Global Solo Challenge", a round-the-world race he will undertake in mid-September 2023. The WATTUNEED team has decided to take part in Édouard De Keyser's ecological project. His big dream is to sail the "Himalayas of the sea".
After working a good part of his life, he decided to take part in a race using as little fossil fuel as possible on his sailboat. This man from Brussels will set off for the "Three Great Capes" and Antarctica, a perilous voyage into the unknown, confronted by winds and waves that have capsized many a sailor.
Of course, the more developed safety conditions of our time, and the previous experiences of other sailors, will enable him to achieve his goal. For five months, his mind and body will be put to the test. Alone, but with training, he has decided to take the risk.
Edouard de Keyser
Quentin Vlamynck - Objectif Mini Transat 2015
A young skipper full of promise!
Having started sailing at the age of 10, I've always felt the urge to take to the open seas, watching the start of major ocean races from more or less a distance, with a quick stint on a dinghy to learn the basics, but a lot more sailing in a liveaboard. I also have my sailing instructor's certificate, and supervised a club Optimist team for a year. At 21, I've set myself the challenge of being on the starting line for the Mini-Transat 2015.
Aiming for the open sea
Organized every 2 years, the Mini-Transat is a solo, unassisted transatlantic race aboard 6.50m sailboats. Created in 1997 by the British sailor Bob Salmon, the race links Douarnenez, Lanzarote and Pointe-à-Pitre, and is off the beaten track.
It's a prestigious race that recaptures the adventurous spirit of the first transatlantic races, since competitors have only the minimum technical equipment necessary for the crossing! Even today, this regatta is the pinnacle of the Mini class.
A real school for single-handed ocean racing, the skipper has to be versatile and autonomous, but also perform well to meet the demands of a race reputed to be as difficult as it is formative! A challenge for which Quentin is ready!
Jacques Riguidel - Around the world
A man of sensations
For Jacques Riguidel, single-handed sailing is a journey of self-discovery, a fundamentally human adventure. "Listen to the wind, observe the sea, decide, foresee, anticipate, think, live your dream day after day. That's the price of freedom, and happiness too.
Jacques Riguidel is not looking to win a race. His round-the-world voyage is not based on the confrontation of competitors, but rather on the search for oneself... After putting his pragmatism to the test through meticulous preparation, the sailor will once again set out to sea in search of solitude, sensations and emotions. Sailing brings the pleasure of gliding along, the pleasure of feeling the boat move as best it can with the wind, watching for clues to understand the boat's reactions. Jacques sails the open sea with the minimum of instruments, limiting himself to the bare essentials. Indeed, instruments are a barrier to sensations. This requires a receptive, vigilant state of mind, as well as constant concentration. Travelling is the opposite of dreaming, it's concrete, deeply human, physical: the body transmits its sensations to us, and we learn to grasp them. Travelling is not something superhuman. On the contrary, it's human in the extreme.
A man of reflection
Jacques Riguidel's round-the-world trip serves as an example and a warning of the urgent need to work to save the planet. We live in totally different worlds, with opposing values. Here, we're luxury tramps in maritime orbit; over there, we're frozen consumers, modest and resigned, well programmed from childhood to consume, acquire, accumulate and protect ourselves." [excerpt from Around the World in Solar Energy, 96th day] Jacques' first circumnavigation of the globe was already remarkable for its economy of means. With his second round-the-world voyage, Jacques is once again embarking on a useful adventure. For our judo sailor, what sailing and judo have in common is the optimal use of energy. Sailing applies this fundamental Judo principle insofar as it transforms wind energy into speed. For the sailor, the idea of optimizing energy corresponds to a way of being. Jacques' technical choices illustrate a major idea: you can do great things with limited means. Big projects don't have to mean wasted energy. The sailor wants to travel differently and show that it is possible to do the Grand Tour with a minimum of energy. An offshore sailing boat is like the earth in the universe. It has the sun's energy at its disposal, and must respect the balance between production and consumption.
Hervé Moine and Éric Decellières (Team France 2) 58th Gordon Bennett aeronautical cup
"Every balloon flight is a new adventure, with all that it entails in terms of discovering new limits: those of mankind, those of meteorological tools, those of our aerostatic vessel. We will take part in the Gordon Bennett Aeronautical Cup with the utmost commitment, i.e. pushing all the cursors to the known limits when necessary, and with a certain taste for the adventure still possible today in this mythical race".
Hervé Moine (Nord - Pas-de-Calais et Picardie)
The youngest competitor in the famous Gordon Bennett race, ranked 5th out of 18 international crews, 668 km against 1,402 km for the winner, his instructor!
Experiences
- Hot-air balloon: 350 ascents for 360 hours.
- Gas balloon: over 60 hours.
- Aérophile balloon at Disney Village (France), Parc Citroën (France) and
- Pattaya (Thailand) with 1,700 ascents for 350 hours.
- Amateur gas balloon and hot-air balloon builder.
- Professional hot-air balloon pilot.
- Currently training in a repair and maintenance workshop for
- balloons in northeastern France.
Éric Decellières (Burgundy)
- 1st flight in 1991.
- Hot-air balloon pilot since 1993.
- Gas balloon pilot since June 2010 (Instructor Vincent Leÿs).
- 200 flying hours only (lots of organizational activities...)
Departure from Vichy of the Gordon Bennett from August 28 to September 6, 2014. Each balloon takes off from a podium to the sound of the national anthem, and the applause of the public. Attracting thousands of visitors to the launch site in the 1920s-1930s, the Gordon Bennett Aeronautical Cup is still extraordinarily popular today. Balloon travel is still the stuff of dreams!
Yann CLAVERIE - Mini Transat 2015 PROJECT
- Date of birth: October 02, 1976
- Training: Mechanical engineer (Polytech' Lyon 2000)
- Profession: Supply Chain Manager
- Sanden Manufacturing Europe (Tinténiac - 35)
- Qualities: persevering, passionate and rigorous
I first sailed a dinghy 20 years ago in Le Havre. Since then, I've developed a real passion, which led me first to cruising, which I did as skipper on my First 30 for 7 years, then to racing, which I started in 2004 on various IRC boats (X302, X332, J80, J105, First 33.7, Sun Fast 32, etc.). I've been drawn to Mini 6.50s and what they represent for a long time. So it was only natural that I should seize the opportunity to acquire one in 2012, with the aim of getting started in solo ocean racing.
Everything is now in place to successfully complete this ocean racing project, so GO GO GO!!!
Around the world in a zero-emission sailboat
Béranger, François, Martin and Pierre
Four friends, graduates of business and engineering schools.
The idea is to transform a 1978 sailboat into a totally energy self-sufficient vessel, capable of crossing the globe without a drop of petrol.
The challenge: to install systems that are industrialized and therefore available to all. Proving the reliability of green technologies used at the ends of the earth to promote sustainable mobility, and using their limited means as young graduates to demonstrate the accessibility of these practices to the majority of yachtsmen.
PRESERVING THE ENVIRONMENT
A global ecological approach: equipment and products used, food, respect for ecosystems, etc. Marine scientific missions: beaconing, sampling, ecosystem observations.
RAISING AWARENESS
A bi-monthly web series combining navigation, discovery of stopover regions, encounters around the world and presentation of ecological actions both on board and on land. Numerous schoolchildren and hospitalized children follow the project: a continuous link with the crew and educational activities to discover nature and how to protect it.
Electric propulsion and energy autonomy" video:
Here's how Amasia, their boat, moves autonomously and responsibly.
A Wattuneed solar installation, Naviwatt electric propulsion, ATMB wind turbine, ODC Marine storage system, Sevcon motor controllers, Leroy Somer electric motors.
Four on two deckchairs
Eléonore, Arthur, Alexandre and Timothée are four long-time friends with a passion for sailing and adventure. They have set themselves a major challenge: to sail around the Atlantic Ocean on a boat they have restored and transformed themselves.
TRANSMISSION
At the heart of this adventure is a mission of solidarity: to pass on their passion for sailing to sick, disabled or school-going children. In contact with some forty children, they will take them on board their boat in Marseille, then write an interactive logbook for them every week for nine months. Through reading and writing, they offer them a new way of learning and discovering new horizons!
CONNECTION
Connection is a more entrepreneurial goal. Business school students, these four young people will be sailing in partnership with several nautical start-ups to help them expand and boost their clientele in the areas where they will be traveling.
DEPARTURE AND PROGRAM
Departure is scheduled for September 2016!
The choice of boat is probably the most important thing on their minds during these long months of preparation. They need to find a boat that will enable them to cross the Atlantic twice in one year.
They'll be setting sail from Brittany or the Mediterranean, depending on where they find the ideal boat! The first stage will be the Iberian Peninsula or the Strait of Gibraltar...
