Nationalité : française

Age: 36 ans

équipage ABN AMRO

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2004 Transat Quebec to St Malo, Trimaran 60' (Banque Populaire), helmsman.
2nd in 2004 in a double handed transatlantic, Lorient (France) to St. Barth (Caribbean).
2003 Monohull transatlantic record onboard Mari-Cha IV, helmsman.
Volvo Ocean Race 2001-2002, watch leader helmsman onboard the Assa Abloy.
1998 Grand Prix La Trinite and Royan, Trimaran Biscuit La Trinitain.
Winner 1996 Tansat Quebec-Saint Malo, W60 Corum Meteorite, helmsman, watch leader.
Winner 1996 Tour de France a la Voile, trimmer.
1994-1995 Louis Vuitton Cup, trimmer, with Marc Pajot.
Whitbread 1993-1994 with Eric Tabarly, helmsman, trimmer.

Portrait :

Being able to know more than what the instruments are telling you. That’s what I call feeling."

Sidney feels the boat. He is in true form when he can communicate that sensation to the rest of the crew to make the boat go faster. To most of the crew he’s a familiar face and Jan Dekker is even godfather to one of his two daughters. He first got a taste for sailing at 14 when he lived and sailed on an old wooden fishing boat for a year. From then on he fought to achieve his dream of sailing the most demanding ocean races. From dinghies to monohulls to trimarans and more, he’s raced just about everything that sails for the last ten years. Notably, he was watch captain aboard the Assa Abloy in the last Volvo Ocean Race, racking up some very relevant experience.

He’s philosophical about extreme sailing and cautious about the risk of becoming overconfident. “As soon as you feel confident – and you have to be to do good things – you have to beware. One gram of overconfidence and it means problems coming.” Sidney says winning a race lies in how well the crew can communicate their intuition and experience so that they all work to their highest potential. And you can tell how dedicated he is to winning when asked what he talks of the onboard food. “Nothing is important except performance. Taste is not a problem. Better if it is good, but it is not an issue.” That coming from a Frenchman has to say something.