Sébastien Destremau onboard Alcatraz IT FaceOcean for Route du Rhum

Long-time Client is in Battling For A Podium Position

As of Friday, November 10th 4:30pm EDT, Sébastien Destreamau, solo-skipper of Alcatraz IT FaceOcean is sitting in 2nd place in the RhumMono division, with 2849.6 miles to go. Keep an eye on his progress in the live Route du Rhum Race Tracker .

Tell us about your project Alcatraz IT FaceOcean.

The Alcatraz IT FaceOcean project is a continuation of my last Vendée Globe. Alcatraz IT were at the time, a short-term partner. After our success, the company’s management team decided to become the title sponsor of my boat in the 2018 Route du Rhum entered in the Rhum Mono Class.

The boat finished the last Vendée Globe in very good condition: we only needed to undertake a few maintenance and improvements works. Alcatraz IT FaceOcean is not a latest generation boat like Charal which is also equipped with North Sails. Alcatraz IT FaceOcean is therefore much simpler to sail and adapts very well to my offshore experience.

My budget does not match those of other boats but it allows me to complete races and follow my passion for sailing.

What changes did you make to the sails?

The sails are new. I am particularly pleased with the mainsail: thanks to the work of the North Sails team, we’ve increased the size by 15%, which amounts to 25m2: that gives us an enormous power boost! We also have a new gennaker, a new genoa…
We don’t use the latest generation sails because our boat is old. So no 3Di for me! The mainsail is an Ultra X 450, the J2 is Ultra X 350, the gennaker is Stormlite 210 and the spinnaker is Superkote 90.

North Sails not only creates products at the top end, but also creates sails for more restricted budgets. I can never thank North Sails enough for their help during the Vendée Globe: they found solutions so that I could make the start line in spite of my small budget. All in all, I don’t think there’s such a thing as a “small” client with North Sails! I have worked with them for 12 years now and I am very satisfied.

What’s your goal for the Route du Rhum?

First off, I hope to just finish without any major technical problems as this race can be very tough on the boats, as it is for the sailors… My team and I hope we can make the podium… and I wouldn’t say this to anyone but my personal goal is to win the Class.

What made you choose North Sails for the past 12 years?

In any sailing race when you’re crossing the Atlantic and you don’t know which route to choose, you just head West. When you don’t know what sail to buy, you go with North Sails: you will certainly not be disappointed.