A tribute to a magnificent ocean race

[Wednesday update on latest rescue here]

To get away from wondering what trouble 2009 might bring, let's pause to salute the epic adventure of a band of men and women on the other side of the world. 

I'm talking about the skippers of the Vendée Globe, the only single-handed, non-stop around-the-world yacht race. The "Everest of sailing" as it is known, is staged every four years. It's a test of physical and spiritual endurance like no other. Breakages and injury have forced half the fleet of 30 to abandon the race which began at les Sables d'Olonne on November 9. The surviving 15 are this week blasting down the Southern Ocean in permanent gales, dodging icebergs on their way to Cape Horn.

The boats are pure racing machines of the 60 Foot Open class and their skippers push them hard, snatching sleep in small doses for the three months that it takes to sprint down the Atlantic, around Africa, below Australia, around Cape Horn and back to France. They are not allowed to touch land or another boat or receive help or supplies apart from weather information.

That's Samantha Davies in the picture. She's one of five Britons still left in the fleet. The only other woman is also from the UK -- Dee Caffari. In her latest report, Davies says that one of her new year's resolutions is to stop eating Nutella with her fingers. Her boat Roxy is in sixth place, 2,000 miles behind Michel Desjoyeaux, the leader. Sam Davies is also reporting for The Times (video here)

Desjoyeaux is a mere 60 or so miles ahead of Roland Jourdain, who has been duelling with him for weeks, each covering up to 400 miles a day. (Jourdan's Véolia pictured below).

The precision of those figures is, I suspect, part of the reason that the world has grown a little blasé about solo ocean racing. The technology of satellite positioning and high-speed data connections brings the sailors so close that their venture seems less superhuman than it once did. (see their real-time positions here)

As well as fighting giant seas, changing sails and navigating, the skippers are expected to chat and blog and send video of themselves. It wasn't like that in the pioneering days of the late 1960s when round-the-world yachtsmen such as Francis Chichester became national heroes simply for achieving the voyage. In the first race, organised by the (London) Sunday Times in 1968, contestants would disappear for weeks at a time, sending positions over crackly high frequency radio. One, named Donald Crowhurst, tried to win by faking his route. He went mad and disappeared at sea.

The Vendée Globe is a national event in France. It has always been won by Frenchmen. It doesn't attract much media attention elsewhere except when things go wrong or when a foreign star does well. That was the case for Britain in the 2000-1 race, when Ellen MacArthur came second, only one day behind Michel Desjoyeaux. In the last race Vincent Riou made the 25,000 mile voyage in an amazing 87 days. That compares with 312 days by Robin Knox-Johnston, the winner -- and only finisher -- of the first round-the-world race in 1968.

Modern communications greatly help the sailors mentally, but they do little to diminish the perils of sailing alone on the high seas. Masts have been falling like match-sticks and rigging, keels and rudders have been ripped apart by unusually severe weather this time.

Derek Hatfield, a Canadian skipper who was forced to abandon last Sunday, reported his shock. "This morning the seas were huge, maybe 25 feet and confused, but nothing we couldn't handle normally. I was exhausted and lying in my bunk and 'crash', the boat went over and I ended up on the ceiling with all kinds of articles whizzing past me. The boat came upright immediately and the carnage inside was immediate.

I rushed on deck and my heart sank to see two of the spreaders dangling limp on the shrouds. The shock hits you quickly that this is not fixable and the end of the race is here already. I started to cry and it was uncontrollable.

Most of the defeated skippers are managing to limp to port despite their damage. The exception was Yann Elies who broke a leg 600 miles south of Australia and was rescued by a naval frigate. The HMAS Arunta steamed flat out for two days to reach him and save his life in appalling weather. His yacht has since been lost.

Although the race is about the most extreme sporting event imaginable, only three skippers have lost their lives in six contests so far. Denis Horeau, the race director, defended its safety record today in le Figaro. "Unlike other human activities like mountain sports, we have had very few fatal accidents," he said.   

The latest Vendée Globe has produced an odd spin-off. Some 300,000 people are racing in a game version on the internet called Virtual Regatta. Some players are said to have become so addicted that they are neglecting their normal lives to change sails, adjust their courses and outwit their rivals as the weather and sea conditions change. Many are e-mailing the real skippers seeking advice. In mid Southern Ocean, Roland Jourdain said last week that he found it incredible that so many people had been hooked on the game. "It would be really nice if they could tele-port these people onto the boat for 24 hours....just so they could see what it is really like," he said. 

The first boats are expected to cross the finishing line back at Sables d'Olonne in early to mid-February.

There's a useful Wikipedia briefing on the race here 

Comments

[azloon]

an awesome event.

but really.....

"Many [of the virtual sailors] are e-mailing the real skippers seeking advice." CB

i suppose that, as ridiculous as this sounds, doing this is slightly less self-absorbed and more pro-social than zoning out in 'grand theft auto', or 'world of warcraft.'

i hope french school kids are getting to spend regular school hours tracking and discussing the adventurous spirit of their fellow countrymen.

CB, prize money?

speaking of the french spirit of adventure, i just watched 'march of the penguins' the other night. incroyable. superbe. if it didn't win an oscar, it should have. i've never seen a better nature film.

(i just wik'ied and see it did win an oscar)

[Dominique II]

Many many thanks to the Aussie Navy and its frigate. Well done, period.

An illustration of what CB says about the blasé misunderstanding of the sheer distances and hubris of the race - everybody about me was wondering why the Australian Navy had not just sent a chopper!

What -I- did not understand is why the frigate did not hoist the ship up and claim it as her prize, covering part of the cost of the rescue. The notion that, as it's still under autopilot and linked to weather reports, it's not technically a wreck sounds far-fetched.

[valerie]

Lived in Les Sables d'Olonne for years and it was nice to see all the boats in port before the race. It's amazing that so many skippers keep racing again and again... Loved it when Ellen McArthur was racing. The locals really adopted her.

[dot king]

For me, the real hero of this event is Marc Guillemot who stayed close by Yann Eliès, within sight and in constant radio contact when he had fractured his femur (in two places plus "lesser" injuries like as broken ribs and all the other stuff that goes with such an accident).
Without Guillemot encouraging Eliès by radio, to drag himself from his bunk to get enough drinks and food to keep him going whilst waiting for the rescue ship and generally keeping up his morale, who knows what might have happened to him. He couldn't get close to do a rescue because of 5m swell.
Guillemot, is I believe quite well-placed in the race (though I haven't heard anything for a day or two), but gave up his chances to help another sailor.
I always appreciate someone who can say "There but for fortune . . ."

Was it not racing champion Jackie Stewart who drove by another driver in a blazing car and later said that winning was all that mattered to him? Appalling.

[Christopher Muir]

DOMINIQUE -
Yes, the Australian Navy are always extremely efficient in these circumstances. They managed to get back to port in time for Xmas.

This YouTube note says “This is taken from the on-board video of the Vendee Globe yacht Safran, skippered by Marc Guillemot. The yacht in the distance is Generali, aboard which is Yann Eliès sailing Generali, who is trapped below with what is suspected to be a broken femur.”

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=iAKtmtpUhlc

[Francois D]

A great regret: the lack of Ellen MacArthur who is very popular in France.

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellen_MacArthur (in french)

She has won twice the 'Route du Rhum" (second in the Vendée Globe 2001) and her return with record alone around the world, was a popular triumph.

http://videos.tf1.fr/video/news/retro2005/fevrier/0,,3273962,00-tour-monde-voile-arrivee-triomphale-ellen-macarthur-.html

When she is second, everyone wants to see her the first, even if a French is leading (French women, usually very feminine, do not hesitate a moment for the choice).

She very well manages her own image, often in advertising; like recently for Renault.

She currently speaks French while maintaining a delicious English accent (like Jane Birkin), using expressions more close to slang (argot)than to academic language.

Sarko (who very well knows where is popularity) gave her the Légion d'Honneur when he went to UK, in march 2008.

[Daniel Strohl]

"They managed to get back to port in time for Xmas" (CHRISTOPHER MUIR)

LOL !

DOMINIQUE II

May be pending Christmas was the main reason why the frigate did not hoist the boat on board or did not take her in tow :).

CHARLES,

Congratulations for this interesting article. Et chapeau bas pour les navigateurs et pour les marins australiens ! J'espère que ces derniers ont eu droit à une ration de rhum supplémentaire !

[Tara Lane]

I have to admit a little thrill when I read about female athletes doing so well. Thanks for this, Charles.

[Peter Murray]

As an Australian taxpayer, I am a little tired of seeing our scarce military resources used to rescue idiots who get their rocks off risking their own and Australian lives for no realistic purpose.

Let them race around the British Isles instead where the Brits can look after their own.

By the way, the last sailor rescued was way beyond the range of any available land-based helicopter.

Peter Murray.

[Al]

Hi Peter Murray - when did you give up being a DJ? FYI the guy rescued was not a Brit, but even half a chance to knock the Brits is worthwhile, right? And what would the Aussie boat have been doing otherwise? Just sitting in port paying the crew and boat etc to do nothing, I suppose. Instead they had a chance for some real training. Let me know the money difference between the two alternatives and I'll have a whip-round from all the Aussie kids working in London and send it to you. Lighten up, Aussie.

[joseph w]

"The rules of the Vendée Globe stipulate that the competitors must sail around the world without stopovers and without any external help."
Should not the participants in the 'virtual regatta' be prevented from contacting the real skippers for help, since this would be receiving external help in a non-virtual sense?

[William Skyvington]

Peter Murray: It's silly to designate skippers in the Vendée Globe race as "idiots". Likewise, your expression "get their rocks off" is not intelligible. I would imagine that, for the Australian navy, the challenge of reacting to this distress call was a perfectly meaningful use of their excellent resources, respecting the time-honored traditions of seafarers everywhere. Here in France, we find it normal to see our navy protecting foreign merchant vessels against Somalian pirates. As a seventh-generation Australian of Anglo-Irish descent (with dual French nationality, paying taxes in France), and a former yachtsman in Fremantle, I admired the spontaneous and brilliant rescue operation carried out by our frigate.

[dot king]

I wonder how great is the carbon footprint of the Vendée Globe compared to this year's Paris-Dakar, neither starting nor finishing from either place. Presumably all those 4WD vehicles and souped-up motorbikes had to be transported across the world by plane? Then to belch out their noxious fumes up and down South America?
I'm not a particular fan of any "sport de l'extrème", but the Vendée Globe seems more sporting, heroic, and of its time, than any of the "boys' toys" nonsense that they still call the Paris-Dakar.
Africa, they say, has become too dangerous for the rally - bunch of wimps!
Just let them try the Roaring Forties!

[Giles]

Re: Dot King

Jackie Stewart (and many others) drove by Roger Williamson's blazing car in the 1973 Durch Grand Prix, believing that Williamson was standing nearby the car. It was in fact David Purley who launched a frantic attempt to rescue his friend (for which he was awarded the George Cross) JYS was hardly hard hearted, hence his decision not to compete in what would have been his final GP at Watkins Glen later that year after the death of his team mate Francois Cevert

[Deborah]

Happy New Year, Charles

I loved this article about the Vendée Globe and always follow all the excitement.

Dot King mentions Marc Guillemot (and Samantha Davies changed course too just in case she was needed). Anyone who admires the bravery of all these lone skippers should read about Pete Goss (1996 Vendée Globe).

He changed course and went against the wind to go and save a fellow racer who had been capsized in the huge seas and freezing waters and went straight into hurricane force winds 160 miles to reach Frenchman Raphael Dinelli, it makes compelling reading.

Here is a link (not from The Times! hope that is okay)

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19970518/ai_n14107672

Re the marvellous Australian Navy they always say they appreciate the practice and it costs less than setting up fake rescues.

[dot king]

GILES - I remember seeing Jackie Stewart interviewed on the BBC soon after that race (I think it might have been on "Parkinson") and remember quite clearly his saying that he was in the race to win and nothing else mattered. I couldn't believe what I was hearing, but I WAS hearing it.
There were the firefighters and other rescue people trying to get the driver out, but I also quite clearly recall its being said that another driver, in specially-made fire-resistant racing kit would have been able to help. Stewart was one such, and he drove on.
To stop and not be able to help is one thing (the blaze was so fierce that it was possibly too late anyway), but to drive by when you might be able to help, for the sake of a sporting prize is - well, beyond my comprehension anyway.

I wondered about his close family - what they thought of him after that. Had I been his wife or girlfriend, that would have counted as a ditching offence - I'd have been both furious with him and ashamed of him.

Heroes are those who think that lives are more important than trophies - IMESHO :) - like Marc Guillemot and (as I learn from DEBORAH) Samantha Davies.
A qui le tour? as they say . . .

[EinParis]

Leaving in Paris, I'd like to share with you what we saw on TV when the Australians rescued Yann Eliès. It deeply moved me and should stop all above arguments: The Australian rescue team went as close as it could to Guillemot's boat and sent a parcel overboard. On it were written those simple words "Merry Xmas". The last word were spoken by Guillemot "Thank you very much, that's really nice"!
This is the true spirit of sailors and of Australia !

[Francois D]

A qui le tour? as they say . . .

http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/

http://www.lepost.fr/article/2009/01/06/1376193_vendee-globe-jean-le-cam-vm-materiaux-a-declenche-sa-balise-de-detresse.html#xtor=RSS-30

http://www.lepost.fr/article/2009/01/06/1377029_vendee-globe-jean-le-cam-repeche-par-vincent-riou-maj-22h30-f3.html

[dot king]

A qui le tour?
François D - yes, another heroic tale. Not just bravery, but implicit trust between the two men. Neptune was definitely on their side that day to get them through that exploit.

Thinking anew about the comparison between the Vendée Globe and the Paris-Dakar (even though it's in South America) especially now that there's been a victim - possibly unnecessary.
According to what I heard, the motorcyclist died from a pulmonary embolism, but they only started looking for him 24 hours after he went missing, which probably caused his death (so I heard).

I was thinking also how futile it is to race machines whose engines are known to seize up in sand across deserts, and whose wheels come off on rough terrain as in rocks and mountains. A bit like playing a muddy rugby match in ballet shoes. Silly.

And how different that is to the concept of the Vendée Globe, a race in which the equipment is adapted to the conditions and which still requires the skill and determination of the competitors, and how the competition becomes unimportant when another competitor is in distress.

The former irritates me to death, the latter inspires admiration - in this year's conditions at least.