Sailing: like a phoenix, the Class 40 of Hérault native François Verdier will be setting off on another project

François Verdier and Pierre-Laurent Garnero will form the duo on the Class40 Ha Plus Pme – Phénix. PHAre 40 sailing

Anthony Streicher, owner of the boat and originator of the project being injured, it is Pierre-Laurent Garnera who will accompany the skipper of La Grande-Motte at the start of the Med Max. 

What could be more symbolic than participating in a race imagined by Kito de Pavant with a start in Port Camargue on his old boat?
This is the challenge that François Verdier and Pierre-Laurent Garnero will take up on their Class 40, as well as Anthony Streicher on land who bought it but is injured. The Med Max is their goal for the year, as will be the Transat Jacques-Vabre in 2025 and the Route du Rhum in 2026.

Behind these goals, there is a real project. “I am basically an entrepreneur, so I like to develop things. It tickled my fancy to think that in the Mediterranean, there is Kito who is going to retire and that his boat is for sale. There are things to do in Port Camargue and what if we started to create a training center ? And what if we started to bring together the boats, the pointus (Sharp, boats with a pointed bow) in the Mediterranean, so that we can sail together, and do great things”, imagined Anthony Streicher who is in business networking and who started sailing in Brittany.

An idea that became more concrete when he met François Verdier, a Héraultais project manager of the Inshore Occitanie Device (DIO) in La Grande-Motte. They competed together in the Paprec 600 in 2023 on Jean-Pierre Balmes' boat, then moored in the city of Grand-Mottoise.

“It was a bit of a crash test, it went well and so in the end, I said to myself, I want to continue the project, I want to continue with you, would you be ready to continue it? Because that's not my role, I'm not a professional sailor, I'm not the sportsman, I'm more what we call the team manager, the founder of the project”, recalls Anthony who wants to sail a bit more like he did this season on the Porquerolles race, one of the races on the Mediterranean circuit in Class 40. Before injuring his wrist.

"I had surgery. I'm redoing all my electrical wiring, so I have the whole upper body, the nervous system, right arm, left arm to do, to rework, I've lost 40% of motor skills. So me too , I rebuild myself", he manages to joke. He whose project is to promote the Phare40 Sailing association, dedicated to the reconstruction, via sailing, of injured soldiers, gendarmes or police officers and has a phoenix as its emblem.

Second in the Paprec 600

It was Pierre-Laurent Garnero who joined the project with some success since with François Verdier, they recently took 2nd place in the Paprec 600. “We discover lots of things every day, on the boat, on ourselves, on how we operate. In any case, there is something that I like quite a lot on board, it is that I find that we are able to switch positions quickly, there is a kind of little dance that takes place and that is quite natural. We are quite clear on the priority of the actions to be carried out, and it is the one who is best placed who takes the action”,rejoices the skipper based in La Grande-Motte. They also did a three-day training course to perfect their automatisms.

Kito's precious help

They also saved time by taking advantage of Kito's experience, who shared the Massilia Cup with François for a 4th place in the end. “On race preparation, he has a lot of knowledge, what is surprising is that he really prepares his races well, in advance, in terms of the weather, the terrain, the passages, he makes a kind of roadbook where there are points of vigilance, so that is impressive.” They have also surrounded themselves on land with the former accomplices of the organizer of the Med Max, Brice and Hugo.

Enough to experience a serene race whose key word will be “pleasure”, assures Pierre-Laurent. “That's what we want to remember. We want to remember at the end of the race having shared a good time together."

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