When imagining a virtual sailing game in 2006, Philippe Guigné was far from imagining the enthusiasm it would generate among several thousand budding skippers.
Philippe Guigné is a veiler, a real one. He knows how to trim a sail, reef a mainsail, or quickly shock if a strong gust causes his boat to list. But far from the barbaric terms of navigation, Philippe Guigné also knows how to share his passion. “When two sailors talk to each other, we don’t understand anything they say. I wanted Madame Michu to be able to go sailing”insists the entrepreneur. This Sunday, November 10, at the same time as the 40 Vendée Globe skippers, more than 400,000 virtual participants chose their course on Virtual Regatta. If these new sailors can cast off to take a virtual world tour, it is largely thanks to him.
From football to sailing
As a teenager, Philippe Guigné was already an entrepreneur. “At 16, I sawed optimist poles to make pool cue cases. Then I did all the tournaments in the region to sell them”says the fifty-year-old. In the early 2000s, as the Internet entered homes…
