When I brought Louis Torreilles on board, the plan was simple: get me ready for sailing around the world alone. We would work on manoeuvres, sail double-handed first, then in “faux solo” mode, with Louis aboard but me doing the work. The races were should help us to expirience the boat and my capabilities. This should help us to optimise our performance.
Then we found ourselves at the front from the very first start, and everything changed.
How it started
Louis and I met almost by accident. I needed someone to help deliver Stella Nova from Greece to Port-Camargue, and Chris Kerl, who had sailed with Louis in the Med Max, gave me his name. We clicked straight away. Louis had a full Class40 season behind him, including the Transat Café L’Or. I had a very fast boat and a lot to learn. Our paths crossed at exactly the right moment.
The first real hint came in spring, at a training camp in Port-Camargue with Kito de Pavant and seven other Class40s. For the first time I thought: we can fight with these boats.
Close, closer, first
The Paprec 600 St-Tropez was the opening race of six, against fourteen Class40s. We led for most of it, then lost the lead in the final third. Third place.
At the CIC Med Channel Race we were ahead again until the last hours. We finished second, ten minutes behind the winner.
Two podiums, and two races we could have won. That hurt, but it also taught us something. After every race Louis and I sat down and looked honestly at what had worked and what hadn’t, and took that into the next start. We sailed our own race instead of watching everyone else’s.
At the Massilia Cup Offshore – Destination Barcelona we were fourth after the first race. Nobody aboard stopped believing. In the second race we stayed focused, followed our strategy completely, and won the overall classification.
That was the moment the Trophy became real.
The final act in Malta
For the last two races I handed the boat over to Louis. At the Rolex Middle Sea Race he sailed with Benoît, Pierre-Benoît and Edgard, locked in a tight duel with Optimus Prime for much of the course. They sailed a nearly perfect race. When Stella Nova crossed the line first, the Class40 Mediterranean Trophy 2026 was ours, ahead of Inherent – Phare 40 and Flamingo Rosso.
This title means a huge amount to both of us. It belongs to everyone who worked for this team and believed in it, and especially to Louis, Patrice and Pierre-Benoît Chillaud, who kept Stella Nova at her best all season.
Next: the Atlantic
Stella Nova is heading into the Atlantic. First the AZAB, solo from Falmouth to the Azores and back. Then the dream this whole season was built for, the Global Solo Challenge.
We didn’t set out to win the Med. But we got there by doing the work.