Sailing: “We succeeded in our coup”, considers Kito de Pavant about the organization of Med Max

Kito de Pavant et son équipe ont mouillé leur chemise pour faire de cette course une réussite. Midi Libre – François Rivier

L’organisateur se satisfait de cette première édition et envisage désormais la suivante. Il a déjà identifié les quelques points négatifs à améliorer et s’avoue confiant quant à la pérennité de son épreuve.

What is your assessment of this first Med Max ?

It is super positive, firstly because we managed to bring together a great sports field, with these two classes which, ultimately, I think, adapt quite well to what we wanted to do. They are a bit similar, with nice boats, with a lot of talent on the water and a fairly similar philosophy, that of boats that should not cost too much, that are both very simple and remain accessible. It is still a lot of money, but accessible.

We had a magnificent start. I think everyone is unanimous on this. It warms my heart, because it was not a given to have so many people on the water, at the start on the docks greeting the sailors, accompanying them on the water all day from Port Camargue to Sète.

Personally, I have never seen so many boats on the water, so it was beautiful to see and I think everyone wants more. Everyone told me: “We should definitely not do this every four years. You have to do it every six months.” I'm not sure I want to do it every six months, because it's a lot of energy, but here we are, we've succeeded. Obviously, there are plenty of imperfections at all levels.

In terms of organization, we were a bit overwhelmed, because there were a lot of people. We wanted to bring together the whole maritime community in this village, in Port Camargue, with all the Latin sailing associations. There were also the kites. We couldn't do everything, but that was the intention, to bring together both modernity and tradition, which is what we did with the jousts and the lateen sails.

On the race itself, what do you remember about it? ?

The race went well, we had rather mild, nice conditions, very varied with wind, with less wind, with a lot of transitions. The sailors arrived here in Saïdia with a smile, so I think that was also one of the objectives.

The best sales reps are the sailors and I know that the vast majority want to come back. They enjoyed the course, they enjoyed the density, they enjoyed the fact that nothing was decided in advance and they enjoyed the quality of the show that we offered them, because passing through the waters of Bonifacio, passing through the south of Sardinia, between Ibiza and Formentera, is magnificent. They regretted a little bit to pass through all these places at night.

And then there is obviously what is happening here, in Saïdia. It's quite nice, we are well received, the weather is great, the conditions are fantastic and, in fact, we realize here all the potential of this marina, the infrastructure that there is, between the hotels, between the marina, the quality of welcome, the folklore that accompanies all the arrivals, from the first to the last.

The marina of Saïdia needed this kind of event to make this destination known, I think that there are many people who will return to Saïdia, whether on a cruise, on a delivery and I hope on a race.

I hope that my dream, which was much talked about in Port Camargue, becomes a dream for others. For the younger generations to participate once in their lives in the Med Max in ten years, in twenty years, in forty years, in a hundred years. This is the wish that we have expressed, that this Med Max becomes anchored in time, becomes sustainable.

You were just saying that it had to be sustainable, popular and media-friendly…

I don't know in what order, but the three go together quite well. First, it has to be popular for it to be media-friendly, and once it's media-friendly, it will obviously become sustainable. We'll take stock with our partners fairly quickly. A little later, not right away, but in a few weeks, and I think it will be easier to convince our partners to join forces to do even better in four years.

So normally, in four years there will be a second edition ?

It's well on its way, yes. What is certain is that the idea is to do this every four years, at least in this format. That doesn't stop us from imagining something else. Maybe in other formats, with a start in Occitanie, a start perhaps in Saïdia, a stage for a tour of Spain, maybe something else, maybe with the two classes, maybe with the Ocean Fifty or the Class40.

The door is open, the riders will tell us. The classes have an important role in what will happen in the next four years.

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