carto.png
Loading

Live map

Ollie Heer: “I know that I can always keep the boat going.”

6 nov. 2022 - 12:15|Reading time : 5 min

PORTRAIT 2 oliver heer.jpg

© PKC Media

Ollie Heer is probably unique among the aspiring IMOCA skippers who will shortly start their first ever Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe. Whilst many of his young counterparts are setting off on their race with many unknown elements, as past boat captain for Alex Thomson, the young Swiss skipper already has tens of thousands of ocean miles on IMOCAs under his belt and possesses a correspondingly comprehensive range of technical skills.

Experience and skills aside Heer is also armed with a quick mind and clear, pragmatic determination. Multilingual - German, French, English and Chinese spoken here – he has a business management degree and gave up a real world business career to pursue his dream of racing the Vendée Globe and pursuing a legacy for his sailing mad businessman father who died suddenly aged 52 in 2014.
“ Life is too short and you have to do what you really, really enjoy and not work in a job you don’t love, hoping to just tick things off on your work list every day.” Volunteers Heer who started sailing at five years old in an Optimist on his native Lake Zurich, “My dad passed away at 52 and he was a very passionate sailor and that is where I got the passion from. He wanted to do Transatlantics and things and so I feel like I am carrying on his love.”

As boat captain Heer sailed over 40,000 miles on Thomson’s IMOCA and was first on the scene in Cape Town when the British solo racer retired from the last Vendée Globe. It was on the passage home that Thomson advised him to leave and pursue his dream,
“Alex told me to quit. In January 2021 when we sailed home from Cape Town that was when he told me. He did not really tell us he would retire but I know him well and that was a subliminal message I was feeling. He said ‘Ollie if you want to do this, now this is the time. And so I had a good think, I thought ‘I am young, have good technical knowledge and I enjoy speaking to people’. I think I am a good communicator, I am not introverted. I asked my wife and my mum and they both said yes straight away. My wife Therese worked for the Boss team and so has been at Vendée starts too and so she knows what this is all about. She said ‘Ollie, let’s do this’. We have had a professional approach since the very start.”

Start delayed or not, Heere has sucked up the energy from the huge crowds and, having been to several major race starts, is well acquainted and at home in the hubub, “I have been loving being in the race village in the middle of this madness. I think you have to. There are not many events like this in the four year cycle of the Vendée Globe. And I am convinced you should enjoy it and it not stress you out. It should give you energy and motivation for when you are out there.”

His boat was built in 2007 as Gitana 80 for Loick Peyron and most recently was Romain Attanasio’s on the last Vendée Globe. Heer took it on in late April, “ I know this boat well. I have sailed 5,000 miles since the end of April. There are so many small steps along the way that I think I have done well, each stage is a milestone reached. And as a boat captain and being Swiss I am already very meticulous, especially having worked for Alex Thomson you have an attention to detail. On a technical level I am meticulous, when I go through a boat I know what needs changing and where and when.”

Presently he has funding through to the end of the Route du Rhum cycle, a mix of personal funding and small sponsors, but beyond, through the Vendée Globe, Heer needs decent backing. But he is very positive and has good business connections in the German part of Switzerland especially,
“Recently we have come very, very close. In Switzerland the decision making process is quite slow. But the feedback is positive and having more Swiss projects for the Vendée Globe definitely helps. I am the first Swiss-German to take on the Vendée Globe right now and there is a big split in the country between French and German. Alan helps massively with his last two campaigns but so too does Boris as we share the same media landscape with Germany. And so due to Boris in Germany, in Zurich a lot of the business guys know the Vendée Globe. The Swiss German part is ready.”
He contends,
“I hold a lot of public speaking meetings and keynote speaking and the public are fascinated. A lot of people are really interested. And I think there is a lot interest because it is a relatively simple project. There is a great narrative, a good story. People ask me what my goal is on this race, and sure, I want to do a solid performance. But at the end for a campaign like mine it it does not make too much difference if I am 12th or 17th, there is not much difference. One of the most important things for me s to tell an honest account of sailing these boats solo. If I can be honest and show the human side of it, the authentic side of it, I know there will be a certain positive resonance in Switzerland and outside of France.”

Looking to the races within the IMOCA race he says, “The cool thing is there are 10 daggerboard boats and if, if I could be in the top three or four boats I would be very happy, but there are good guys like Eric Bellion, Seb Marsset, Bnej, Szabi loads but it will depend on the weather. And If it is VMG upwind or VMG downwind the retro fit foilers are not that much quicker than us. We might sail slower but we can sail with a better VMG, less load going through the boat, less likely to break the boat.

And compared to his former Boss? “Alex I would say I have a very different style of sailing, Alex was quite aggressive and he is mentally so, so strong giving 110 per cent. I am naturally a little more conservative. If I have to risk to be a little, little bit faster I will think twice about it. But the good thing is I know these boats, I know the noises, I know when it feels right and doesn’t fee right. And I can fix everything, I know that I can always keep the boat going.”

Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

copy

Go top

You may modify your preferences at any time, and remove your consent to the use of cookies.You can consent to the use of these technologies by using the « Accept » button.