Sailing: “The priorities were that it be sustainable, media-friendly and popular,” assures Kito de Pavant about Med Max

Kito de Pavant s’est inspiré du meilleur des nombreuses courses à laquelle il a participé pour monter la sienne. Midi Libre – MiKAEL ANISSET

He is the most famous representative of the Mediterranean in the sailing world, so he could only be at the origin of this offshore race on the Big Blue which will start on Sunday September 29th from Port Camargue.

In what state of mind are you a few days before the start ?

I'm pretty satisfied, overall. It's a lot of work in anticipation. Organizing a race, whatever the race. I feel like we've done a good job. We have a village in Port Camargue for the start of the race, and also a village in Saïdia on the Moroccan side. So we have to manage both. It's a lot of work, but we have a good team that works hard to make sure everything goes well. We ultimately manage the hazards, but we're a bit used to it.

How did the idea of ​​organizing a race come about? Did it come as your career progressed ?

In fact, sailors are contemplative, so we still spend a lot of time thinking. I spent a lot of time thinking about lots of things during my deliveries between the Mediterranean and Brittany, to take the start of this or that race, a Route du Rhum, a Vendée Globe, a Transat Jacques-Vabre, a Solitaire du Figaro, and so on. And it seemed to me that we had been a little forgotten in the Mediterranean. A little forgotten by ocean racing, that we were the poor relations of ocean racing.

We have lots of pretty ports, we have lots of pretty boats, we have lots of talented sailors, but we didn't have a big, lasting, popular and media-friendly race. And we try to fill the void, quite simply.

From the idea to the realization, how did it happen ?

The idea is there, it has been anchored in my head for quite a long time, a few years, even a few decades. A few years ago, we had brought together a small think tank with people from the French Sailing Federation, people from here who are working hard in Port Camargue and La Grande-Motte to keep ocean racing alive, plus people who are a bit influential in the region to talk about this project. Little by little, the thing took shape.

The course, we considered things whose basic idea was indeed to link the three continents that border the Mediterranean, Europe, Africa and then Asia, so the Middle East. But given the geopolitical context… 2-3 years ago, we were more advanced with Turkey. We were looking towards Tunisia but also getting closer to Malta, which is the scene of another race called the Middle Sea Race starting from Valletta.

And then we had an opportunity that came from the work of Christophe Carniel, who is my partner, with Vogo. He had some important meetings with important Moroccan leaders and he talked about this project. Morocco is promoting a concept, let's say, of sports tourism. The country is looking to bring in events. And that makes it quite easy to get people talking about destinations that are a little unknown in Morocco, including Saïdia and its region which is very little known. They invested in a place with quite significant infrastructure, with two magnificent golf courses, a marina that can accommodate thousands of boats. A bit like what was created here 50 years ago, a bit of the same kind. And so the idea of ​​being able to host a race, even if they don't know it at all, it's really very very new for them, they were rather favorable.

They approved a budget for us to host the race. And that allowed us, from February 2023, to come and see Occitanie and tell them, here is the project we have been talking about for ten years, there may be a possibility of doing it. The Region also approved the port, the town of Grau-du-Roi, as the starting point for the race. The town approved its support, the Gard department followed suit, and above all, in the meantime, I had obviously contacted the runners, because it is not enough to do the race, the runners, the classes must also be enthusiastic about the project. So that's a lot of work.

In view of your experience, what elements were important for the organization ?

The priorities that were mine from the beginning, and which are very much shared by all the players in the race, were that it be sustainable, that it be media-friendly and popular. And that starts with the popular. The popular means that you have to welcome the public. So the basis of my thinking was how do we welcome the public. And the platform to bring the public. When you bring the public, the media follows. And if the media follows, the sustainability of the thing will make the players happy. And that was the leitmotif from the beginning.

We are ambitious, that's not a dirty word. We try to dress this race with all the elements that concern a big race. I try to finally take all the elements that I find positive in all the races I have participated in. We are innovating a little on this race with zero registration fees. On most races they become exorbitant. We need the runners. It's our form of business. We had to make a big effort to bring people.

We also have “prize money” of the order of 100,000 euros that are on the table for the runners. I tried to take the good ideas from all the organizations I participated in as a competitor. And I also wanted to have a very Mediterranean team. We want to highlight that too. That is to say, in the Mediterranean, we are capable of doing things and we have very competent people for.

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