An update interview with Ambre Hasson ahead of the Sables - Les Açores - Sables 2024
by David Schmidt 16 Jul 2024 16:00 BST
July 19, 2024
Ambre Hasson is the skipper of the Classe Mini On the Road Again II (618) © Nora Havel
In France, singlehanded sailing is something of a national obsession that culminates every four years with the solo, nonstop-around-the-world Vendee Globe. Building up to this massive race takes years, sometimes decades, and—for many skippers—the journey begins in the Classe Mini. This ultra-competitive class of 21-foot offshore speedsters embraces both production and prototype boats, and (amongst the prototypes) often showcases cutting-edge technologies that eventually trickle their way up to the IMOCA 60s that are used in the Vendee Globe.
In the North America, however, singlehanded sailing is a rarer pursuit. Rarer still is the American skipper who moves to France to immerse herself in the Classe Mini scene (read: Lorient), but this is exactly what Ambre Hasson has been doing since 2023.
While Hasson has fewer years of sailing under her seaboots than she does fingers on a single hand (she learned to sail in 2020), this isn’t hindering her plans to race solo across the Atlantic Ocean aboard On the Road Again II (618), her Finot-Conq designed prototype, in the 4,020 nautical mile Mini Transat 2025, which stretches from Les Sables-d'Olonne, France to Guadeloupe.
To prepare, Hasson, who is Franco American and fluent in French, has been living in Lorient and sailing a ton. Her 2024 racing resume now lists the 250 nautical-mile Plastimo Lorient Mini (April 4), which she sailed doublehanded with co-skipper Albain Pouliquen, the 500 nautical-mile singlehanded Mini en Mai 2024 (May 20), and the doublehanded, 600 nautical-mile Mini Fastnet (June 9), which she sailed with co-skipper Geert Schouten.
Next up is the 2,600 nautical mile Sables - Les Açores - Sables 2024 (July 19), which she will race singlehanded.
This is the third of four interviews this year with the American Classe Mini skipper as she prepares for next year’s singlehanded Mini Transat. (The first two interview can be found here: www.sail-world.com/news/272800/Ambre-Hasson-on-her-Classe-Mini-campaign, and www.sail-world.com/news/274710)
I recently caught up with Hasson, via email, to get the latest on her preparations ahead of the Sables - Les Açores - Sables 2024.
Can you please start us off by talking about what a typical week in the life of an ex-pat Mini sailor living in France looks like? For example, how many days per week are you able to sail? And how do you typically fill the rest of your time?
Well sailing happens in seasons. Right now, [it’s] race season so it’s very intense.
This summer I’ve sailed over 2,500 nautical, and in between I’m constantly working on the boat, either fixing things or improving things. We’re pushing these little boats to the limit, so we’re constantly battling wear and tear. There’s also the logistics of getting to the start of each race, which takes time. And then that leaves a little bit of time for sleep!
How was the Mini Fastnet? What were your best experiences and your less-than-great moments on that doublehanded 600-miler?
The Mini Fastnet was amazing. I felt like I really started to push the boat and race, we were with a fleet of much newer boats the whole time. We had some amazing downwind legs, it’s impressive how much further beared-down I can go compared to other boats while maintaining speed.
We did get surprised by a squall and ended up with the spinnaker in the water, and the boat at 90 degrees. That’s always a bit impressive when you’re standing up on your winch and there’s water coming into your cockpit. But we managed to get the spinnaker back in without any damages, and then [we] launched the smaller kite and went back on our way.
What would you say are the biggest lessons that you learned during the Mini Fastnet?
I’m realizing I need to make the boat less demanding so I can be more efficient with my energy.
For example, my daggerboards are a bit hard to pull up and down and the line is so small it cuts into my hands. So, I’m going to adjust that system so I don’t waste energy there, and [so that I] have more energy to tune my sails.
What kind of work is required to shift On the Road Again II’s gears from doublehanded mode to singlehanded mode? Or, is the shift more mental than physical? Can you please explain?
The boat is completely designed for single-handed racing. And frankly you can tell when you’re double-handed [mode], just in the cockpit [it’s] hard to maneuver with two people sometimes.
So, it’s mainly a mental shift, you have to anticipate everything and manage your energy because you can only rely on yourself. You have to be extra precise with the maneuvers because a small mistake can become a big mistake very quickly.
Can you please tell us a little bit about your recent 1,000-mile solo qualifier? What were the biggest lessons that you learned over those miles?
What an adventure that was! Sailing up to Ireland, down to the Bay of Biscay, and back up to Brittany is no joke. I had a few technical problems, but it was great to see that I could handle all of them with what I had onboard.
For instance, the hydraulic arm to my pilot fell off in big seas (which is always the best moment haha), and I had just the perfect bolt to put it back in place, so that gives you a little moment of satisfaction. And then there’s a passage by L’Ile de Ré, where you have to pass under a bridge and there’s a fair amount of traffic.
When I got there, there was a huge squall with thunder and lightning and I actually decided to turn around to let it pass, which I can tell [you] is frustrating because no one likes going to wrong way, but it was definitely the right call. And later it was a stable 15 knots and I was able to tack my way up to the bridge and pass it.
It ended up taking all day to get around that island, but safety was more important at that time and I made the right call.
How are you feeling about your preparations ahead of the Sables - Les Açores - Sables 2024? For example, have you done any work to acclimatize/fine-tune your sleeping schedule/strategy? Also, what’s your plan as far as caffeine goes on a race of this magnitude?
I’m feeling a mixture of anticipation and excitement. This is going to be my first oceanic race, so it’s a different scale. I keep imagining arriving at this beautiful green island in the middle of the Atlantic, it’s going to be insane. My solo 1, 000 nautical mile qualifier really helped me fine-tune life onboard — I finally found my favorite sleeping spot where I’m perfectly tucked in.
And when it comes to coffee I don’t drink it much at sea, even though I drink a lot of coffee on land. I enjoy it for the taste, but it can be dehydrating which you feel enough at sea.
What’s your plan for food on the Sables - Les Açores - Sables 2024? Freeze-dried? Also, do you have any “reward” foods packed, say chocolate or any nice cheeses, et al?
Ahh food is a big topic! It’s mixture of fresh food like tomatoes and cheese and charcuterie that I usually eat for lunch. And then I have frieze-dried meals that I eat for dinner. And yes, [I] definitely have reward foods, like milk chocolate with salted caramel.
Do you sail with a Starlink panel or any other sat-comms? If not, how are you accessing weather GRIB files? (Or, if sat-comms are not allowed, can you please answer this question instead: 2,600 miles is along racetrack—how do you access weather forecasts?) Also, how important is weather routing to your overall strategy?
That’s a great question! In order to keep the Mini Class accessible, we have very limited technology onboard. So, we do as much weather routing on land as we can and then at sea we use an SSB [Editor’s note: single sideband radio] to get weather reports. We get the location of the big weather systems and then we have to place ourselves amongst them to figure out what the wind is going to do.
Is there anything else about your preparations ahead of the Sables - Les Açores - Sables 2024, or about your season to date, that you’d like to add for the record?
This is my biggest race so far — 2,600 nautical mile — and so the preparations are a bit more intense than for my previous races. I’m anticipating everything that could go wrong to make sure I have a solution for it.
So, for instance I finally took all the play out of my rudders, to minimize the chance of breakage. It also means bringing a lot of extra stuff onboard to cover any scenario, so I have a lot of spares parts, also a huge pharmacy with things like antibiotics and a scalpel, a carbon repair kit, and many more things.
[Editor's note: Hasson's website is www.ambresails.com, her email address is ambre@ambresails.com, and her Instagram handle is @ambre_sails.]