69 days 1 hour 9 minutes and 38 seconds. This is the time it took Clément Letrez, a first-year UniLaSalle student from Pas-de-Calais, to complete his "Virtual Vendée Globe" on Virtual Regatta and win the university ranking. A performance all the more remarkable as Clément was a complete novice. "It's the first time I've taken part in this game and I've never sailed before," admits the student, who learned the subtleties of the weather on the job and spent some time getting informed through tutorials on Youtube.

"The secret is to anticipate as much as possible," explains Clément, who was able to take advantage of the option pack offered with the registration to the game via UniLaSalle Navy, the sailing association of the Beauvais campus. Starting with the ambition of achieving a very good result, the student put all the chances on his side to compete with the best (he came 1800th overall, out of more than a million participants).

"I used an outside router to help me make the right decisions about course changes. I also relied on the Virtual Regatta programming tool to avoid spending too much time on it," although the student acknowledges that the game is quite time-consuming. "I got up a little early in the morning to make my course changes. On midterm days, I would log on just before and just after the trials to correct my course. Otherwise, I would try to come back every three hours during the day. »

He was also able to count on a good dose of flair... and a bit of luck. "A good weather option allows you to win a lot of places in a few hours. I was 8,000th in the climb back up the Atlantic. It was my weather option by the west of the Azores that allowed me to pass in front and win the university ranking".

UniLaSalle congratulates Clément for this masterfully conducted virtual sailing race.