“I’m coming out of three years of hell.” Nicolas Rouger, skipper of the Imoca Tomorrow is far away, has just come from far away, from very far away. The 47-year-old sailor from Marseille, who will start the Route du Rhum for the second time, in Saint-Malo on Sunday November 1st, thought he would never be on the line for this legendary transatlantic. And for good reason: after a 33rd place in the 2022 edition, and with the objective of the Vendée Globe 2024, Nicolas Rouger has come to a complete halt in his plans for 2023.
On August 5, 2023, his boat came out of the water in Corbières, a private port in Marseille, for a refit operation. But a blow from Mistral wins. The hull is split and hundreds of thousands of euros are needed to repair the damage, an amount he does not have. The horizon is darkening: a legal battle begins with port officials and discussions with insurance companies lead to partial financial coverage, while debts pile up.
“I would have fallen asleep at the helm of my boat, I would have assumed responsibility”
However, Nicolas Rouger has never given up, even though he must reinvent himself. Failing to sail, he challenged himself to climb the seven highest peaks on each continent. He has already ticked off three, including Aconcagua in Argentina at 6,962 meters above sea level. “The hardest part is behind me,” he assures us. “I am not responsible for what happened. I would have fallen asleep at the helm of my boat, I would have taken responsibility, but here I refuse.”
“The important thing is to look ahead and where I am today. When you suffer great misfortunes, beautiful things often happen afterwards.”
Nicolas Rouger, skipper of the Imoca Tomorrow is far away
at franceinfo: sport
Magic of altitude, the wind finally changed. Last summer, the skipper received an invitation from the organizers to start the Route du Rhum. “It changed everything. Partners called me to support me. They too had lost everything at 40 before rebuilding their lives. My story spoke to them,” says Nicolas Rouger. So everything accelerated, the partners ready to commit, the hope reborn, and the preparation of his new boat... which will not be finished until the end of September, only one month before departure.
No matter, Nicolas Rouger did not hesitate for a second to embark on the adventure. “You have to know how to seize your chance and luck favors the bold,” he likes to say. Far from aiming for a place in the ranking with his Imoca centerboard, Nicolas Rouger simply wants to "sail like a good sailor and arrive at Pointe-à-Pitre" in Guadeloupe.
A cultural project in support of the sports project
Thanks to this opportunity, Nicolas Rouger was able to relaunch his sporting project, as he had built it in 2021, supported by the art world. Artists were indeed involved, at the time for its Route du Rhum 2022 - Vendée Globe 2024 project, such as IAM, legendary Marseille rap group, who agreed to give the title of one of its hits Demain c'est loin to its boat.
The painter Hervé Di Rosa created a work of art on his mainsail. "Everything happened very quickly. I went to see Hervé [Di Rosa] to propose this slightly crazy idea of painting my mainsail so that it becomes an immense work of art, and that it is then cut up and sold. Each part is signed by the artist and becomes a real work of art by a recognized artist", recalls the skipper.
The city of Marseille then associated his name and image with his project, and he signed a partnership with the Aix-Marseille Academy, which will allow 650,000 students to follow his journey. Despite the forced pause of his sporting project, Nicolas Rouger has always defended the accessibility of culture to as many people as possible and upheld the values of inclusion and diversity. “Through this proposal, I wanted culture and art to finance these kinds of great adventures,” he defends.
“The greatest weapons of tomorrow are culture. Without culture and education, not much happens. And this sail can appeal to a young audience, or not so young, and provide access to culture.”
Nicolas Rouger, skipper of the Imoca Tomorrow is far away
at franceinfo: sport
“From the start, I found this wonderful idea, that it be a work of art which finances these boats which cross the ocean. This project is a sort of artistic crowdfunding, rejoices Hervé Di Rosa, who notably created the poster for Roland-Garros 2012. And I like the first times, even if the first times are often not always successful. But Nicolas has always been determined, even after the many problems he had to overcome.”
“At one point, I thought that the project was over,” admits Hervé Di Rosa, who hid his pessimism from Nicolas Rouger at the time. Many people had already bought part of the paintings to finance the boat, which was therefore broken and irreparable, without insurance. But he never lost confidence in himself and in his project.
A mainsail cut into 180 pieces
In 2022, Hervé Di Rosa painted on a mainsail 29 meters high and 8 meters wide, for a total surface area of 180 m². On it, we recognize the painter's signature characters, little cyclopses, called the Renés. “It was a big bet for me too. We had little time and these works, signed with my name, were going to end up on the market, remembers Hervé Di Rosa. We had to create a work that could live in a single piece and also by being cut into 180 pieces of 1 m² each, and that each piece had a character.”
The original work is stored at the Paul Valéry museum, in Sète (Occitanie), and will only be cut up and given to its new owners - partners, companies and collectors - after the 2028 Vendée Globe. Nicolas Rouger sails with flocked canvas on his sail. Crossing the Atlantic with the original work involved too many constraints and risks, starting with its damage in the open sea. “It took tens of kilos of paint to create this work, which makes it very heavy and too unwieldy for navigation,” points out the artist, who needed “two, three months” to complete it.
All of the works, each sold for 20,000 euros per square meter, have already found a buyer. “This unique price allows buyers to treat themselves to a work by Hervé Di Rosa, to have their name on the hull of the boat and to participate in the adventure for a small budget, which is rare on a Route du Rhum project,” underlines Nicolas Rouger.
Despite a path strewn with pitfalls, the Marseille sailor has since this summer found the right direction in Saint-Malo, before looking further afield. "My desire is to do the Vendée Globe in 2028, he projects. I want to tell a beautiful story, to say that in life it doesn't matter where you come from or who you are, when you want to do something, you always succeed. You always have to listen to yourself." And never give up.
