Vendée Globe: Oliver Heer - "It would be brilliant if a non-Frenchman won"

The Swiss are not new to the Vendée Globe. Resounding names such as Dominique Wavre or Bernard Stamm stand for the white cross on a red background in the most important solo race around the world. But, as 36-year-old "Tut gut." skipper Oliver Heer says in an interview with YACHT a week before the start: "They were all French-speaking Swiss. I'm the first German-Swiss to take part."

Vendée Globe with three Swiss

Oliver Heer and his 14-strong team are currently preparing for the Vendée Globe in the start and finish harbour of Les Sables-d'Olonne, along with 39 other skippers and their racing stables. The countdown has long since begun. Like the Olympic Games, the toughest regatta in sailing only takes place every four years. From 10 November, three Swiss sailors will be in the running for the tenth edition: top ten candidate Justine Mettraux ("Teamwork-TeamSnef") on her debut, Alan Roura ("Hublot"), who at 31 is still young on his third participation, and Oliver Heer.

The members of the Swiss trio have known each other for a long time. Eleven years ago, Alan Roura took part in the Mini Transat 2013, the same race as Justine Mettraux. And when Alan Roura bought Alex Thomson's "Hugo Boss" for the upcoming tenth Vendée Globe, which will start the race as "Hublot", Oliver Heer was boat captain for the Thomson bullet. Four years ago, Olli Heer was in the same role at the Vendée Globe start in Les Sables-d'Olonne, looking after "Hugo Boss" for his boss at the time. Oliver Heer now has his own racing team.

His Imoca "Tut gut." is one of the older non-foilers, is a Farr design from 2007 and has already borne such famous names as "Gitana 80". Olli Heer names his three goals in the current Sunday interview, as well as the reasons why Boris Herrmann is a role model for him. And says that the chance is greater than ever that non-French riders could deny the organisers and hosts their subscription to the Vendée Globe victory.

Suddenly there are hundreds of thousands of French people." Oliver Heer

Olli, one week to go until the start. How are you feeling on this last Sunday ashore before you'll be alone at sea for several months?

I'm doing very well! Everything is going well. It's about time...

Are you motivated by the streams of visitors in Les Sables-d'Olonne, the enthusiasm of the fans?

There are hundreds of thousands of people here. These crowds here in the harbour... It's incredible how the French love the Vendée Globe. The good thing is that I'm not completely new to this circus. I was here four years ago with the "Hugo Boss". So I knew what was coming. The Race Village suddenly makes the whole thing very real. For three years, the Vendée Globe is always a little bit in the future. Then you arrive here in Les Sables by boat and suddenly there are hundreds of thousands of French people. And you have a lot of appointments. Then your mind slowly realises that it's about to start. The VG wouldn't be the same without it.

Do you also have a Panini collector's book with stickers of all the skippers and many more motifs?

As the skipper, I even received a completed Panini booklet (laughs). With all the stickers. But I sign hundreds of these booklets here every day. It's just brilliant, a great story.

• Vendée: Panini premiere with Boris Herrmann as a collector's hero

There is a lot of talk about favourites shortly before the start. What are your favourites for this edition?

There is a large group of favourites for this Vendée Globe. There are eight to ten boats that could win this Vendée Globe. The thing is: If you're sailing for the win - I know that from Alex (ed.: Alex Thomson) - then there's a very good chance that you'll be eliminated. Because it's win or nothing. That's why some of the contenders won't make it to the finish. But what is very special about this edition is that it is the first Vendée Globe in which non-French sailors also have a very good chance of winning.

Boris can win the Vendée Globe." Oliver Heer

Who do you have in mind?

I'm thinking mainly of Boris. And also Sam Goodchild, Sam Davies and Justine Mettraux. They all have what it takes to sail at the front and possibly win the Vendée Globe. We have already seen that: The Figaro was won by a non-Frenchman for the first time in a very long time in August this year. With Tom Dolan, it was an Irishman who won. Then we have Cal Finlayson. He's also part of my team and is now here with me in Les Sables. He won the two-handed mixed offshore world championship in Lorient a month ago. Now it would be brilliant if a non-Frenchman won the Vendée Globe.

• Boris Herrmann on his opponents - "Almost perfect preparation"

Are you in good contact with Boris?

We talk from time to time. I think what Boris does is brilliant. And I'm also riding his wave a bit. Although there are three Swiss people in this Vendée Globe and Swiss people have taken part in the Vendée Globe before, they were all French-speaking Swiss. I am the first German-Swiss to take part. When I give a keynote speech or a lecture in Zurich, when I talk about the Vendée Globe, I often experience it like this: If people know about the Vendée Globe, it's through Boris and not through the French-speaking Swiss. That's why Boris paved the way for me a little.

What makes Boris Herrmann so successful?

I think he does brilliant communication work and brilliant sustainability work. And I'm sure he's also copied a bit of what Alex did. I think if you want to be very successful as a non-French team, you have to do the communication work and all the commercial work at a very professional level. Team Malizia does this exceptionally well.

Three Swiss are in the running for this edition. You also want to conquer the German-speaking part of Switzerland with the Vendée Globe theme. Have you already succeeded?

I've also written on my hat that I want to communicate as much and as well as possible. Of course, the sporting goal is very important for this Vendée Globe, but the communication goal is also very important for me. When I started three years ago, nobody really gave a damn about the Vendée Globe. And now I've been on national television a lot, on all the national radio stations. All the big media houses have already reported on it.

The great thing is that the Vendée Globe actually makes it easy to fascinate people. Because it's such an easy story to grasp. Sailing around the world alone and non-stop is something that even people who don't know anything about sailing can understand. People can visualise it. If you compare it to the America's Cup - I was just there in Barcelona - it's much less tangible. People find it difficult to follow.

You sail one of a good dozen non-foilers. Your boat will soon be 18 years old. Where do you classify yourself in terms of sport?

Arriving at my first Vendée Globe is my top priority. We already have plans and are in dialogue with certain sponsors for an Ocean Race campaign. I don't want to push too hard, at least in the first two thirds of the race. Because you can't win the race in an instant, but you can certainly lose it in an instant. I would love to be in the front pack of non-foiling ships at the finish.

We are a start-up campaign. We started with nothing." Oliver Heer

Will the performance differences between the foilers and non-foilers be huge?

You will see it in the tracking: There will be a split between foiling and non-foiling ships immediately after the start. These will be the two fleets. I would very much like to be in the front group of the non-foiling fleet.

• Before sailing around the world - Boris Herrmann explains the modifications to "Malizia - Seaexplorer"

You won't tell us your exact budget, but perhaps you can put it into perspective?

We are a start-up campaign. We started with nothing. Now our budget is in the high six-figure range per year over the last three years. If you want to categorise it: the best and biggest teams that are sailing for victory have around five to six million euros a year. We have a fraction of that. We have to constantly make decisions and set priorities.

Can you give an example?

When we order a new sail, we can't take any risks. It has to be a defensive or conservative design because we can't afford to order a second mainsail if the design is wrong. Being on a small budget makes the whole campaign a bit more complex. But I think our title sponsor Burgerstein Vitamine came at the right time in the summer. We had just enough time to change or upgrade the most important things on the ship. And now I think the ship is in very good condition. I think it's in the best condition of the last eight to twelve years, i.e. the best over the last three Vendée Globes.

Who is your sailmaker of choice in this Imoca world where the majority of the fleet relies on North?

We decided in favour of Quantum. We obtained various offers and had meetings with various brands. We started this process just under a year ago. On the one hand, Quantum's price is quite competitive. But even more important for me is that the after-sales service is very good. They are based in Lorient in La Base and have built a large new loft there. They are on site. What I would have feared if I had opted for North: all Imocas do their refits at the same time. This means that all sets of sails from all 40 Imocas have to be serviced in the same two or three months. As a small team, I would have always been at the back of the queue.

That's not the case now?

Quantum has been very proactive. They have given us constant support. My ship is normally moored in Port-La-Forêt. That's 40, 45 minutes away from Lorient. If I have a problem with my sails, I can call them - and within two hours the designer will be on my boat. This service is priceless. I don't know if I could have got the same service at North. It's very important for me to have a good relationship with the sailmakers.

I am now the first boat to sail with a complete set of Quantum sails. We have already sailed two transats with the sails and they are still in good condition. If the sails are still in good condition after the VG, then they will certainly have a good project and will hopefully be able to equip more Imocas.

You don't have much Southern Ocean experience before your Vendée Globe premiere. Where do you go for advice?

Of course, I talked a lot with Alex, but also with other skippers. Especially in Port-la-Forêt, the cohesion between the skippers is very good. But the question also leads directly back to the subject of sails. It's about having the right ones for the Southern Ocean. We are limited and are not allowed to take more than eight sails with us. Now the question was: do I take a large A2 and only a small gennaker? Or do I leave the A2 at home. And have a small gennaker and a very small gennaker instead?

We leave the A2 at home." Oliver Heer

I decided in favour of the two small sails. To keep the pressure on in the crossover. This means that if I lose one of my small sails, it's not a game stopper for me. I would normally sail the A2 up to 17, 18 knots. Now we've made our masthead gennaker a bit bigger. With a larger profile. And decided to leave the A2 at home. Simply to make sure that we have the right sail configuration for the Southern Ocean. And so that I can also prepare my J2. That I don't use it in the Southern Ocean. Then I still have the J2 in good condition to sail up the Atlantic at the end.

You had a pretty tough "Road to Vendée Globe", you had to fight for partners and also the starting place...

Everything went pretty well until the Transat Jacques Vabre last year. I had to give up after rig failure. That was a decisive moment, because I realised that without a finish in the TJV, I wouldn't be able to compete in the Retour à La Base either. It was clear that this would put me a long way down the qualification list. But I'm also a pretty methodical and rational person. I looked at the qualifying list and thought 'Okay, if I can finish the two remaining races in the spring, I'll still be number 40. (Editor: the record fleet for this edition was limited to 40 starters from the start).

Did that keep you going?

I knew that if I did a good job and there were no nasty surprises, then I should get that 40th place. But the challenge was always in my head and meant a lot of mental stress. So it was definitely a huge relief when we got the start confirmation on 2 July. It's not just about my own benefit and that of the team, but also that of the sponsors. We had a few partners from Switzerland. But many of them were very reluctant to extend their commitment until we received confirmation.

But then it gave your Vendée Globe campaign a real tailwind...

Two weeks after the start confirmation, we found our title sponsor. And suddenly things were also going better financially. So just in time to order new sails and for the summer refit to get the boat ready to race. It was a stressful two years. It's still stressful, but I'm living my dream.

My autopilot only behaved strangely for a second. That was a very bad second." Oliver Heer

Nevertheless, the two spring transats also threw up some tough challenges before the start confirmation came...

The first one was very tough: the Transat CIC. We did a lot of electronics updates last winter. We still don't know exactly what happened, but my autopilot behaved very strangely for just one second. That was a very bad second. And maybe I had too much sail area up there. I wanted to be a bit too fast. So I rolled the boat on its side and lost all my electronics. I had to sail the last 1300 nautical miles without electronics.

There was no plan B for me." Oliver Heer

Sailing a 60-foot Imoca without an autopilot and without a navigation system, without software and without a computer is not easy. You're back to the old paper chart. I navigated my way to New York and made it to the finish line. But once again: the motivation was so great. Only the finish line mattered - within the time limit. I knew I could do it. Once you internalise that... It's incredible how much strength and energy you can muster.

Having survived all this should give you a lot of confidence for your Vendée Globe premiere...

In any case. I have learnt that even after a blackout, I can still bring my boat over 1300 nautical miles into a safe harbour for the boat and for me. That gives me a good feeling of security for the Vendée Globe. And it also showed me the weaknesses of my boat. My battery system, for example, was a big weakness. The way it was laid out. We changed that in the summer.

And now you - you and your boat "Tut gut." are ready for the most difficult sailing test?

(Laughs) I don't think you're ever 100 per cent ready. Not even if the Vendée Globe only took place every five years. There are always jobs to do. You can upgrade this or that. I'm ready in my head. The boat is in very good condition. I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous at all. It's my first time. Anyone who would say they're not nervous would be a bit crazy.

Can you tell us your premiere goals?

I absolutely want to get there and achieve the best possible result. Then I want to tell an honest and authentic story. Especially to the Swiss who are not yet familiar with the race. And the third goal is the sustainability programme of our campaign. We are wearing sensors on the boat, similar to the boats of Boris Herrmann or Fabrice Amedeo. I want to collect as much data for science as possible. After all, there is always the possibility of not being able to finish the race. Then I don't want to feel like I've achieved nothing.

Here Oliver Heer shows the course on which the Imoca fleet will sail around the world:

The dock tour of the Vendée Globe experts in Les Sables-d'Olonne - at around minute 28:40 they also take a look at Oliver Heer's boat "Tut gut. Sailing":