It has to be said that our lives as sailors are often hard: very limited hygiene, when there is any..., nights of sleep that would make me go crazy ashore, really strange food, and not to mention those who get seasick.

And yet we go back.

And I can assure you that we're not masochists.

We go back because it's an incredible luxury to live only in the present. It's a rare commodity to be confronted with oneself all the time, and there's no room for cheating. It's an extraordinary luxury that all our mundane gestures take on such importance. It's an enormous pleasure to get out of your 'comfort zone' all the time. Not to mention the joys of pure gliding and the smell of the sea.

So we sailors have to share. One of my rock star sailors, Thomas Coville, says something that I find very true: "If you're only good to yourself, you're only good for anything". So I'm here to share the essential idea, no pun intended, that you have to love the Other, even if they're different. It's not easy at all, in fact that's why there are wars. But sooner or later there is peace. Difference is also a strength.

To the kid who was told "it's not for you" or "it's not possible", I'm doing ocean racing too. Admittedly, we're currently in last place. But we're hanging in there. I'm getting there, differently but I'm getting there.

And we have a great opportunity to make people dream.

And in the end, the difference is letting go of your childhood dreams. Who would have thought that one day I would get a hug from Kito, my other sailing rock star, on the morning of the start of a race.

Under Mallorca, Wednesday 2 October. 2024 1 h UTC.