For the 41 year old Japanese solo skipper Masa Suzuki, this Route du Rhum Destination Guadeloupe will be the biggest challenge of a sailing career that is moving step by step towards a what seems set to be a low budget, no frills 2028 Vendée Globe.
A lifelong sailor since he was an Optimist sailing kid e moved from Tokyo to France in 2018 as an essential step towards the 2019 Mini Transat in which he finished 24th. He completed the Globe 40 double handed race round the world between 2022 and 2023.
Right now completing the Vendée Globe, the famous solo, non-stop lap of the world is his ultimate goal. Though he is good friends with Kojiro Shiraishi, the first Asian sailor to complete the Vendee Globe who is now about to take on the crewed The Ocean Race on a new IMOCA, Masa has no plans to follow further in Kojiro’s wake. In completing the Route du Rhum – he would become the first Japanese IMOCA skipper to do so as Kojiro retired in 2022– and then finishing the 2028 Vendée Globe with his old but proven twenty year old IMOCA which was launched first as PRB and which finished the 2024 race in 26th in the hands of Louis Duc.
Masa a year ago your completed the two-handed race to Martinique as you bought your IMOCA from Louis Duc, how do you feel about now going solo, it’s a big step for you? “I'm so excited to join the race this year because this is my final goal to join the Route du Rhum as I need to pass the qualification for the Vendée Globe. But unfortunately I couldn't do enough training this year because I haven't got a main sponsor. But I have many, many, many small sponsors. So I have to save all the money. Finally I could launch the boat at the end of August and I prepared everything, including the qualification for the Route du Rhum in just in one and a half months!”
That is a very tight time frame, do you feel ready? “It was very packed, very rushed. But fortunately, I haven’t had any big problems for the last month and now I passed all steps to join this race. So now everything's ready to go. I did the Défi Azimuth and I didn't finish the 48 hours race. had the problem about my keel control systems. I retired from the race and I repaired that. It was a good experience ahead of the Route du Rhum because if I hadn’t done the Défi Azimuth there would have been problems during the Route du Rhum. So it was a good experience for me.
And this is your first big IMOCA race? I have done the Transat to Martinique, but how I will do here is a good question as the last solo race, I did was Mini Transat in 2019. I feel a small pressure, but I'm very excited to be getting a new experience with IMOCA for this year. So yeah, it's a good feeling but sometimes I feel a bit of pressure, for sure I do. I have only done the 1,200 miles qualification, also the race and some delivery miles, maybe I did a total of, let's say, 2,000 miles solo, it is not enough. My goal is to finish without damage. And then so my goal is to make a qualification for the Vendée Globe meaning I have to cross the finishing line in less than twice the time of first boat. And of course I could see not that this new generation of foiling boat is super fast. So I need to make a good speed for sure.
“ my wife said, I can, I can try just one time.”
Did you manage to make any updates to the boat? Well my plan was to keep Louis Duc’s settings. So I didn't change many things. I already know the because I did the two handed Transat already with Louis.
What's the appeal, why the Vendée Globe? It's my, it is my final goal in my life. And the biggest, biggest, biggest challenge. I already decided to join the Vendee Globe after my Mini Transat transit 2019. I started to Class 40 to do the Globe 40 , around the race, around the world race. And now I want to do the Vendee Globe. It is my last challenge. And my wife said, I can, I can try just one time. So it is my first, first challenge and the last chance. And so I bought the IMOCA last year, but I sold my house. I sold everything that I could sell it. And I used all of my budget as I can. So now I'm betting everything on my Vendee Globe for my, all of my life. So it's my biggest challenge in my life.
But your ambition is to get more Japanese sailors into offshore and ocean racing as well? Yes I have a good, good coach, Kojiro Shiraishi. But he now has almost biggest team in the IMOCA fleet. And there, I am almost the smallest team in the IMOCA, fleet. He has the newest boat, but I have an older boat. It's a much different situation. But he helps me a lot I'm very happy to have a good friend. And so he's very kind to me. And now we have more and more Japanese sailors coming through and living in France, four Japanese guys did a mini-transat already. Including Kojiro and including me, we have seven offshore sailors in France.
What’s your plans until the start? I just want to maintain the boat until the departure. The boat is almost ready, so just I want to do a deep check before departure. I have some big pressure because it's a big race. But in St. Malo I found two Japanese restaurants, so I'm happy to go there I will enjoy the Japanese restaurant before departure. And my biggest sponsor, my wife, she will come to San Malo, she lives in Japan, and works in Tokyo,she travelled to France maybe four times in the year.