Elodie BONAFOUS

For the Bonafous family, sailing is a family affair. "I grew up in a family of yachtsmen in North Finistère, five minutes from the sea. We had a small boat. I did a lot of family sailing when I was very young, with my parents, my little sister and my big brother. We often went away for a week in the summer to the north coast of Brittany. It gave me a taste for, and a passion for, the sea", says Elodie. When she was seven, she asked to join the Optimist club in Locquirec. Her parents were reluctant, but she insisted and won. "I started in the middle of winter, in the worst conditions, and I loved it. I started racing straight away. I enjoyed the competition as much as the sailing itself, and I immediately set about improving my skills," she confides. She rose through the ranks, ending her Optimist career with a bronze medal at the French Championships at the age of 14. "I then went on to do a Sports Studies project in Brest in a 420, but that didn't go very well. I'm not very tall, so I needed a team-mate who was the right size, had the same ambitions and the same commitment, and with whom I got on well. That held me back. I decided not to persevere with the Olympics and to do inshore sailing with an all-female crew," she adds. I set up a project with a small group of women. We did the Open 5.70, match racing, the J80 and the Longtze while I was at STAPS". Skipper of various boats, Elodie has put in some fine performances as part of a crew and was crowned world champion in the J80 in 2017, then university world champion in the discipline the following year. Once she had her Masters in STAPS (adapted physical activity and health), Elodie changed direction. "The other girls had professional ambitions and I wanted to sail, so I decided to turn to solo sailing," she explains.

After some great years in the Figaro, Elodie has announced with Bertrand Queguiner 2023 her ambition to build an IMOCA, a Verdier design built at CDK with MerConcept, with her sights set on the Vendée Globe 2028.