On Tuesday this week Alexia Barriera met 27 first-year students of the 2020-2023 class of the Nursing Training Institute (IFSI) of the Princess Grace Hospital Centre, of which she is the godmother. She was invited to take on the role while still competing in the Vendée Globe competition.

”We are perhaps considered as heroes thanks to sporting exploits but it is in the medical profession that we find the real heroes of daily life,” she said.

Ms Barrier drew a number of parallels between being a solo sailor and a nurse. Nurses, like solo sailors will face difficulties but will manage to overcome them.

The sailor has taken up sporting and environmental challenges with her association “4MyPlanet” and is also preparing to resume physical and mental preparation for the Vendée Globe 2024.

ORIGINAL SOURCE & PHOTO: Monaco Government Press Service