Having an impressive career in sailing and off-shore events, Mathias Louarn has nearly 20 years of experience working with MaxSea and TIMEZERO software. In this interview he talks about why he has stayed with TIMEZERO for all these years.

Mathias Louan – Race Director (Credit: Le Télégramme)

Can you tell us a little about yourself?

Mathias Louarn, Race Director for numerous races, such as the Figaro and Mini 6.50 and a heap of other off-shore races that pass through or along the coast of France (such as the Volvo Ocean Race leg in Lorient).

Why did you choose TIMEZERO?

Well the reason behind this dates back a long way.  In fact, all the way back to when MaxSea was originally developed for Macintosh, and so now it’s been nearly 20 years that I have been using this software.

How was the installation process?

The installation was simple. The only thing that took time was downloading the charts, but actually this was more due to my slow internet connection than anything.

Have you had the opportunity to compare TIMEZERO to any other software? What differences did you find?

Well I use TIMEZERO primarily as a tool for the planning stage, and then of course as a race director, I use the Fleet Tracking tool and the Weather Routing module. The other software is very much more for increasing the performance on a sailboat.

Why is TIMEZERO important for your profession?

C’est un logiciel simple et stable, cela me convient bien et il démarre vite. It is a software that is intuitive, plus it doesn’t let you down which is something that I look for. It also has an impressive loading time.

Anything else that you would like to add?

I’ve been using it for nearly 20 years and in that time you have always been listening, noting the requests in ways to improve the software, so well done to the Quality Department, and a special mention to Dominique Taillefer, a.k.a Mino (founder and director of Escale Formation Technique) who provides all the information from those using at sea and relays this info.