Vendee Globe non stop race

Next man back, Rich Wilson. 66 years old. This is quite an emotional account of his race. Well done Rich, you are a top gadgee

RICH WILSON IN HIS OWN WORDS
TUESDAY 21 FEBRUARY 2017, 15H15


The crowds were out again in Les Sables d'Olonne this Tuesday afternoon to welcome home Rich Wilson, who just completed his second Vendée Globe. He said that at the age of 66, it was very exhausting. The race will be remembered by him for being extremely grey, but he has some fine memories too of communicating with his fellow competitors.

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"It’s great to be back. To see France and all the French people here. It was great to see Eric (Bellion) and Alan (Roura) here. They were my brothers in the south. We talked almost every day by e-mail. In this race I think there was a lot more communication between the skippers than in 2008-2009 – Koji, Fabrice, Nandor, Stéphane and Didac who was chasing me. We talked about everything in the world. It was a little bit harder, because I’m older. The boat was easier because of the ballast tanks. You can use the ballast rather than put in a reef all the time, which is what I had to do on the other boat. What distinguished the race for me was that it was grey all the way. Across the south and then all the way up the Atlantic. Grey. Grey. It was so depressing. Four or five days ago, the sun came out for twenty minutes and I leapt out and stuck my face and hands under the sun. It was grey and just for so long. That was hard."

"I found all the calms that exist in the Atlantic. It was never-ending in the Atlantic. Eight years ago, I said never again. But now it’s too difficult. This is the perfect race course. The most stimulating event that exists. My goal was to finish this race and to work for SitesAlive, which has 700,000 young people following. What is fantastic about this race is the support of the public with all the people here. I remember the first time, someone said, if you finish the race, you’re a winner. I think that is correct. I could give you a quotation from Thomas Jefferson. When he was ambassador to France, he said everyone has two countries, their own and France and I think that is true."

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"The Vendée Globe is two Vendée Globes. It is very long. The oceans, the capes. It’s all very hard. But the other Vendée Globe is the one ashore. The welcome that our team and I have had here. It’s incredible. I felt older. I am 66! My thoughts go out to Nandor who finished two weeks ago at the age of 65. We sent back data each day concerning me and the boat. Each day, I did an average of 12,000 turns on the winch. But it was hard."

"The worst thing was it was so grey. I had a map of the stars with me but I couldn’t use it. The best thing was communicating with the others. We’re a real community."

“The boat was more powerful but with the ballast systems was more powerful. I made a record each day of the number of turns on the primary winch coffee grinder and on average it was 1200 revolutions. Sometimes that was 3000 that was very hard.”

“I am not sure I was so happy with my routing and my decisions, not in the South Atlantic going south or in the Atlantic coming back north. I seem to find every little bubble high that had no wind in it. In fact I made a video for the schools programme of the Adrena software output of the boat going around in circles. I am surprised that I have sailed so few miles. I did think along the way and in the Atlantic coming north. I thought about the other sailors and you can see the little boat icons on the screen of the other skippers and the number I could get, the speed, was never as good as other boats. I could not understand why the others were going so fast all the time. I do not understand how the sailors at the front of the fleet put up with the stress at the front of the fleet, because I am just scared all the time. All the time. I don’t know how they do it. The French skippers are so good. It is not just my little boat icon is not going as fast as Armel (Le Cléac’h) but it is not going as fast as Fabrice (Amedeo) and Arnaud (Boissières) and Eric (Bellion). They are so good it is incredible.”

© OLIVIER BLANCHET / DPPI / Vendée Globe“I had to live with it. But it was frustrating because even the times that I was try to go past my conservatism – I just put the storm jib away last night – I would just be the same as those in my group. Perhaps it is not necessarily about my age but my generation thing because we grew up sailing heavy wooden boats. We won the Bermuda Race in 1980 and our average speed was 7.3kts. If you were going 7.4kts. So to have boats going more than 20kts is in some ways incomprehensible. When I got the boat from Dominique Wavre we were at dinner and he asked me if I wanted to know how fast the boat had gone. I said no because I did not want it as an objective and I did not want to be scared. But he wrote it on a piece of paper and it was 35.7kts. I said to myself if I ever see a three in the tens column I will be under the chart table and cry. One day we we had the Fractional Gennaker and one reef in the mainsail, the boat took off in 48kts of wind. The boat went under the water, it was a submarine. The next day I looked at the data and it was 31.2kts. I remember something Brian Thompson saying the highest speeds are always under autopilot because the autopilot is never scared.”

“Enjoyment in the context of the Vendée Globe must be in some other definition. You enjoy the satisfaction of making a good sail change. I think there is satisfaction. I enjoyed seeing the stars but that was very, very rare. It seemed like, well I talked on the VHF with a Brazilian warship when I was going south, I saw Eric Bellion when he went whooooosh past me. Then I saw a fishing boat off Cape Horn and then I did not see another ship until off Brazil. It was like the world was empty. That was strange.”

“It is hard. It is hard work. That part is difficult to describe. The sails are heavy. It is very physical. At home I have a trainer who is an All American Runner and a world champion cyclist and she worked me very, very hard but it was not enough for sailing these boats.”


http://www.vendeeglobe.org/medias/0...usa-skipper-great-american-iv-r-1600-1200.jpg“Sometimes at sea whether it is fatigue, or frustration, when I when I was going around in circles and I was ready to tear my hair out or worse. The frustration leads to anger. You think the gods are against you. King Neptune is against you. Sometimes I tried to cry just to release the tension but it would not come. I could not. Until a few days ago Lauren Zike who is the web programme manager sent out a photo from a school in India of a class holding up their certificates for completing the programme and then I cried, I cried my eyes out at the chart table. That was exactly why I was doing this.”
 


Blanco y Tinto said:
Next man back, Rich Wilson. 66 years old. This is quite an emotional account of his race. Well done Rich, you are a top gadgee

RICH WILSON IN HIS OWN WORDS
TUESDAY 21 FEBRUARY 2017, 15H15


The crowds were out again in Les Sables d'Olonne this Tuesday afternoon to welcome home Rich Wilson, who just completed his second Vendée Globe. He said that at the age of 66, it was very exhausting. The race will be remembered by him for being extremely grey, but he has some fine memories too of communicating with his fellow competitors.

Logon or register to see this image

"It’s great to be back. To see France and all the French people here. It was great to see Eric (Bellion) and Alan (Roura) here. They were my brothers in the south. We talked almost every day by e-mail. In this race I think there was a lot more communication between the skippers than in 2008-2009 – Koji, Fabrice, Nandor, Stéphane and Didac who was chasing me. We talked about everything in the world. It was a little bit harder, because I’m older. The boat was easier because of the ballast tanks. You can use the ballast rather than put in a reef all the time, which is what I had to do on the other boat. What distinguished the race for me was that it was grey all the way. Across the south and then all the way up the Atlantic. Grey. Grey. It was so depressing. Four or five days ago, the sun came out for twenty minutes and I leapt out and stuck my face and hands under the sun. It was grey and just for so long. That was hard."

"I found all the calms that exist in the Atlantic. It was never-ending in the Atlantic. Eight years ago, I said never again. But now it’s too difficult. This is the perfect race course. The most stimulating event that exists. My goal was to finish this race and to work for SitesAlive, which has 700,000 young people following. What is fantastic about this race is the support of the public with all the people here. I remember the first time, someone said, if you finish the race, you’re a winner. I think that is correct. I could give you a quotation from Thomas Jefferson. When he was ambassador to France, he said everyone has two countries, their own and France and I think that is true."

Logon or register to see this image
"The Vendée Globe is two Vendée Globes. It is very long. The oceans, the capes. It’s all very hard. But the other Vendée Globe is the one ashore. The welcome that our team and I have had here. It’s incredible. I felt older. I am 66! My thoughts go out to Nandor who finished two weeks ago at the age of 65. We sent back data each day concerning me and the boat. Each day, I did an average of 12,000 turns on the winch. But it was hard."

"The worst thing was it was so grey. I had a map of the stars with me but I couldn’t use it. The best thing was communicating with the others. We’re a real community."

“The boat was more powerful but with the ballast systems was more powerful. I made a record each day of the number of turns on the primary winch coffee grinder and on average it was 1200 revolutions. Sometimes that was 3000 that was very hard.”

“I am not sure I was so happy with my routing and my decisions, not in the South Atlantic going south or in the Atlantic coming back north. I seem to find every little bubble high that had no wind in it. In fact I made a video for the schools programme of the Adrena software output of the boat going around in circles. I am surprised that I have sailed so few miles. I did think along the way and in the Atlantic coming north. I thought about the other sailors and you can see the little boat icons on the screen of the other skippers and the number I could get, the speed, was never as good as other boats. I could not understand why the others were going so fast all the time. I do not understand how the sailors at the front of the fleet put up with the stress at the front of the fleet, because I am just scared all the time. All the time. I don’t know how they do it. The French skippers are so good. It is not just my little boat icon is not going as fast as Armel (Le Cléac’h) but it is not going as fast as Fabrice (Amedeo) and Arnaud (Boissières) and Eric (Bellion). They are so good it is incredible.”

© OLIVIER BLANCHET / DPPI / Vendée Globe“I had to live with it. But it was frustrating because even the times that I was try to go past my conservatism – I just put the storm jib away last night – I would just be the same as those in my group. Perhaps it is not necessarily about my age but my generation thing because we grew up sailing heavy wooden boats. We won the Bermuda Race in 1980 and our average speed was 7.3kts. If you were going 7.4kts. So to have boats going more than 20kts is in some ways incomprehensible. When I got the boat from Dominique Wavre we were at dinner and he asked me if I wanted to know how fast the boat had gone. I said no because I did not want it as an objective and I did not want to be scared. But he wrote it on a piece of paper and it was 35.7kts. I said to myself if I ever see a three in the tens column I will be under the chart table and cry. One day we we had the Fractional Gennaker and one reef in the mainsail, the boat took off in 48kts of wind. The boat went under the water, it was a submarine. The next day I looked at the data and it was 31.2kts. I remember something Brian Thompson saying the highest speeds are always under autopilot because the autopilot is never scared.”

“Enjoyment in the context of the Vendée Globe must be in some other definition. You enjoy the satisfaction of making a good sail change. I think there is satisfaction. I enjoyed seeing the stars but that was very, very rare. It seemed like, well I talked on the VHF with a Brazilian warship when I was going south, I saw Eric Bellion when he went whooooosh past me. Then I saw a fishing boat off Cape Horn and then I did not see another ship until off Brazil. It was like the world was empty. That was strange.”

“It is hard. It is hard work. That part is difficult to describe. The sails are heavy. It is very physical. At home I have a trainer who is an All American Runner and a world champion cyclist and she worked me very, very hard but it was not enough for sailing these boats.”


http://www.vendeeglobe.org/medias/0...usa-skipper-great-american-iv-r-1600-1200.jpg“Sometimes at sea whether it is fatigue, or frustration, when I when I was going around in circles and I was ready to tear my hair out or worse. The frustration leads to anger. You think the gods are against you. King Neptune is against you. Sometimes I tried to cry just to release the tension but it would not come. I could not. Until a few days ago Lauren Zike who is the web programme manager sent out a photo from a school in India of a class holding up their certificates for completing the programme and then I cried, I cried my eyes out at the chart table. That was exactly why I was doing this.”
Click to expand...
Some going for a 66 year old that!
 
Next one home. Spaniard Didac Costa got back this morning. An account of his race is below. As has been said all the way through these are a special breed who do this. Mad as fuck but so focused and tenacious. Shame our lot on the pitch didn't show a bit of their fighting spirit all the time.

THURSDAY 23 FEBRUARY 2017, 08H52
DIDAC COSTA TAKES 14TH PLACE

Spanish solo ocean racer Didac Costa crossed the finish line of the Vendée Globe non stop solo round the world race at 0752hrs UTC this Thursday morning. In taking 14th place, the 36 year old Catalan fireman, an amateur racer who would like to further his career as a professional, fulfils a childhood dream inspired by the pioneering Spanish soloist, the late José Luis de Ugarté, who became the only Spanish sailor ever to finish the Vendée Globe in 1992-3 in 134 days and 5 hrs. His race time for the 24,499 miles course, Les Sables d’Olonne to Les Sables d’Olonne is 108 days, 19 hours, 50 minutes and 45 seconds. He actually sailed 27,964 miles at an average of 10.71 knots..
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© OLIVIER BLANCHET / DPPI / VENDÉE GLOBE
The tenacious, driven Costa has succeeded with one of the smallest budgets of the 29 skippers who started the race on November 6th. Barcelona based Costa completes his second non stop round the world race within the space of three years, again racing the evergreen IMOCA 60 footer which was built in 2000 as Ellen MacArthur’s Kingfisher. Along with Aleix Gelabart he finished fourth in the Barcelona World Race in April 2015. He received a huge, passionate welcome back to Les Sables d’Olonne, not least from the Les Sables d’Olonne firemen who stood by him and helped him after he had to return to the start port to make repairs only 90 minutes into his race.

Didac Costa suffered a sudden and significant ingress of water only 90 minutes after the race started and so had to return immediately to Les Sables d’Olonne. With his engine – on which he relies to generate vital electrical energy – jeopardised by the salt water and his recently replaced electronics damaged substantially because his batteries and wiring were under water, when Costa returned to Les Sables d’Olonne it was in no way sure he would be able to re-start the race for which he had staked his future personal financial security. It was in fact only because of the solidarity and initiative of the his Les Sables d’Olonne fire service counterparts that Costa was able to re-start the race.

The Spanish skipper’s race had many emotional moments, not least one month before the start period when his boat was struck by lightning at home in Barcelona. He owes his race to the intervention in Les Sables d’Olonne of local engineer Joel Aber who alerted him and his team to the urgency of immediately stripping and cleaning his engine to counter the salt water damage. It was the Friday after the start when he could get going again. He restarted with over 700 miles to the next skipper. He started concerned that he might have to complete his whole round the world in isolation with no competition. But in the Indian Ocean he engaged with French skipper Romain Attanasio and their subsequent duel was one of the most prolonged and intense battles of this eighth edition of the race. It was the competitive inspiration that Costa had sought and took him to his limits physically. In the end he has finished about 24 hours ahead of Attanasio.

Costa is a remarkable character, a tough Catalan fighter with a fiery spirit and a huge heart. In 2015 just 48 hours after finishing his 90 day Barcelona World Race he immediately embarked with race winner Jean Le Cam to help deliver the winning boat from Barcelona back to Brittany. And in the latter weeks of this race when he had caught to within 300 miles of Rich Wilson he confessed to Race Direction that he doubted he could pass Wilson because the veteran American ‘is too nice a guy.’

All the emotions and drama of the build up to the start, the gun and the lineup were just starting to subside, Costa was slowly finding a rhythm with the boat he knows so well when it became obvious he had a big problem. When he looked below the was water flooding inside and it was already up to the level of the engine. In the stress and excitement he had forgotten to de-activate the ballast scoop and a ballast pipe had blown off at the valve. The batteries and the engine were flooded. He knew immediately there was no alternative but to make the agonising U-Turn just 90 minutes into the race he had fought so hard to make the start line of.
Costa arrived back to the pontoon in Port Olona at 1800hrs. As well as his small shore team there were many members of other shore teams there to help, as well as the pompiers, the firemen of Les Sables d’Olonne with whom Costa has built strong bonds with before the start.

It was through the quick thinking of the firemen that they called in a mechanical ‘genius’, an engineering magician who warned them: ‘If we don’t save the engine immediately – and we have less than three hours to do that - the race is over for ever.’ He started work immediately and, without any exaggeration saved Costa’s race. “Without him, his prompt advice and his intervention Didac would not have left the dock again,” recalls project manager Jordi Griso.
The solidarity shown to Costa’s Spanish team was extraordinary but very much within the ethos of this edition of the race. It was not just the other teams who mucked in but the Les Sables d’Olonne firemen were totally involved, even if sometimes it was just moral support, tea, coffee and pizzas. The same engineering guru masterminded a change to the charging system, using a double alternator system off the engine rather than the existing generator.
Three days after the start the boat was ready to go again. But because there was still more than 40kts in the Bay of Biscay, the anxious Costa almost had to be restrained from leaving for a further 24 hours.

When he finally left the dock again on Friday 10th November at 1140hrs UTC he was 1134 miles behind the leader and 770 miles behind the nearest competitor Sébastien Destremau. But Costa was initially blessed with favourable conditions all the way down the Atlantic. In fact he made only one gybe, a pretty unique weather pattern continuing to prevail. He pressed hard.

In the South Atlantic his endeavours were rewarded and on December 7th, 850 miles west of the latitude of the Cape of Good Hope he passed Destremau and was up to 22nd place. Two days later, he also passed Romain Attanasio. The French skipper, a renowned Figaro class solo racer whose Famille Mary-Etamine du Lys is of the same age and speed potential as Costa’s 2000 launched former Kingfisher, had to divert to a bay east of Cape Town to make a repair to his rudders. This allowed Costa to pass. Through the Indian Ocean Didac Costa hit a good pace, presses his boat hard and extended from just over 200 miles ahead of Attanasio to be 450 miles ahead at Cape Leeuwin. His average speeds of 16kts over successive 24hr periods were close to those achieved with Aleix Gelabert during the corresponding period two-handed in the Barcelona World Race. But Costa’s technical problems really started to bite when he was south of Australia. Because of his very limited budget he had only managed to buy a new mainsail and a new G2 genoa. Otherwise his sails had already been once around the world on the Barcelona World Race. At the Equator on the way down the Atlantic, literally as he crossed the Equator his workhorse G1 genoa blew up. In three brutal days he lost three more sails, the blast reacher, J3, and the Fractional Zero. In fact his morale sank to an all time low, and were it not for the exceptionally close and evenly matched race against Attanasio which ensued, it is sure that Costa’s race would not have been as exciting and engaging. The duel
 
DIDAC COSTA TAKES 14TH PLACE
THURSDAY 23 FEBRUARY 2017, 08H52


Spanish solo ocean racer Didac Costa crossed the finish line of the Vendée Globe non stop solo round the world race at 0752hrs UTC this Thursday morning. In taking 14th place, the 36 year old Catalan fireman, an amateur racer who would like to further his career as a professional, fulfils a childhood dream inspired by the pioneering Spanish soloist, the late José Luis de Ugarté, who became the only Spanish sailor ever to finish the Vendée Globe in 1992-3 in 134 days and 5 hrs. His race time for the 24,499 miles course, Les Sables d’Olonne to Les Sables d’Olonne is 108 days, 19 hours, 50 minutes and 45 seconds. He actually sailed 27,964 miles at an average of 10.71 knots.
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© OLIVIER BLANCHET / DPPI / VENDÉE GLOBE
The tenacious, driven Costa has succeeded with one of the smallest budgets of the 29 skippers who started the race on November 6th. Barcelona based Costa completes his second non stop round the world race within the space of three years, again racing the evergreen IMOCA 60 footer which was built in 2000 as Ellen MacArthur’s Kingfisher. Along with Aleix Gelabart he finished fourth in the Barcelona World Race in April 2015. He received a huge, passionate welcome back to Les Sables d’Olonne, not least from the Les Sables d’Olonne firemen who stood by him and helped him after he had to return to the start port to make repairs only 90 minutes into his race.

Didac Costa suffered a sudden and significant ingress of water only 90 minutes after the race started and so had to return immediately to Les Sables d’Olonne. With his engine – on which he relies to generate vital electrical energy – jeopardised by the salt water and his recently replaced electronics damaged substantially because his batteries and wiring were under water, when Costa returned to Les Sables d’Olonne it was in no way sure he would be able to re-start the race for which he had staked his future personal financial security. It was in fact only because of the solidarity and initiative of the his Les Sables d’Olonne fire service counterparts that Costa was able to re-start the race.

The Spanish skipper’s race had many emotional moments, not least one month before the start period when his boat was struck by lightning at home in Barcelona. He owes his race to the intervention in Les Sables d’Olonne of local engineer Joel Aber who alerted him and his team to the urgency of immediately stripping and cleaning his engine to counter the salt water damage. It was the Friday after the start when he could get going again. He restarted with over 700 miles to the next skipper. He started concerned that he might have to complete his whole round the world in isolation with no competition. But in the Indian Ocean he engaged with French skipper Romain Attanasio and their subsequent duel was one of the most prolonged and intense battles of this eighth edition of the race. It was the competitive inspiration that Costa had sought and took him to his limits physically. In the end he has finished about 24 hours ahead of Attanasio.

Costa is a remarkable character, a tough Catalan fighter with a fiery spirit and a huge heart. In 2015 just 48 hours after finishing his 90 day Barcelona World Race he immediately embarked with race winner Jean Le Cam to help deliver the winning boat from Barcelona back to Brittany. And in the latter weeks of this race when he had caught to within 300 miles of Rich Wilson he confessed to Race Direction that he doubted he could pass Wilson because the veteran American ‘is too nice a guy.’

All the emotions and drama of the build up to the start, the gun and the lineup were just starting to subside, Costa was slowly finding a rhythm with the boat he knows so well when it became obvious he had a big problem. When he looked below the was water flooding inside and it was already up to the level of the engine. In the stress and excitement he had forgotten to de-activate the ballast scoop and a ballast pipe had blown off at the valve. The batteries and the engine were flooded. He knew immediately there was no alternative but to make the agonising U-Turn just 90 minutes into the race he had fought so hard to make the start line of.
Costa arrived back to the pontoon in Port Olona at 1800hrs. As well as his small shore team there were many members of other shore teams there to help, as well as the pompiers, the firemen of Les Sables d’Olonne with whom Costa has built strong bonds with before the start.

It was through the quick thinking of the firemen that they called in a mechanical ‘genius’, an engineering magician who warned them: ‘If we don’t save the engine immediately – and we have less than three hours to do that - the race is over for ever.’ He started work immediately and, without any exaggeration saved Costa’s race. “Without him, his prompt advice and his intervention Didac would not have left the dock again,” recalls project manager Jordi Griso.

When he finally left the dock again on Friday 10th November at 1140hrs UTC he was 1134 miles behind the leader and 770 miles behind the nearest competitor Sébastien Destremau. But Costa was initially blessed with favourable conditions all the way down the Atlantic. In fact he made only one gybe, a pretty unique weather pattern continuing to prevail. He pressed hard. His initial concerns that he would spend the whole race in his own proved unfounded. Even so for the first week and a half Costa did not look at the position reports at all. He bowed to the task of sailing his boat as fast as he could.

n the South Atlantic his endeavours were rewarded and on December 7th, 850 miles west of the latitude of the Cape of Good Hope he passed Destremau and was up to 22nd place. Two days later, he also passed Romain Attanasio. The French skipper, a renowned Figaro class solo racer whose Famille Mary-Etamine du Lys is of the same age and speed potential as Costa’s 2000 launched former Kingfisher, had to divert to a bay east of Cape Town to make a repair to his rudders. This allowed Costa to pass. Through the Indian Ocean Didac Costa hit a good pace, presses his boat hard and extended from just over 200 miles ahead of Attanasio to be 450 miles ahead at Cape Leeuwin. His average speeds of 16kts over successive 24hr periods were close to those achieved with Aleix Gelabert during the corresponding period two-handed in the Barcelona World Race. But Costa’s technical problems really started to bite when he was south of Australia. Because of his very limited budget he had only managed to buy a new mainsail and a new G2 genoa. Otherwise his sails had already been once around the world on the Barcelona World Race. At the Equator on the way down the Atlantic, literally as he crossed the Equator his workhorse G1 genoa blew up. In three brutal days he lost three more sails, the blast reacher, J3, and the Fractional Zero. In fact his morale sank to an all time low, and were it not for the exceptionally close and evenly matched race against Attanasio which ensued, it is sure that Costa’s race would not have been as exciting and engaging. The duel which then raged from the south of Australia, through the Pacific, around Cape Horn and all the way up the Atlantic until the final weeks kept the two skippers highly motivated day after day, week after week. The pace was exhausting for both. All the time Costa considered himself the underdog, confiding several times to Griso that he was sure that Attanasio’s Figaro racing would prevail. ‘But I am going to make him suffer, to work him so hard to pass me,’ he wrote to his shore manager Griso.

South of Australia Costa suffered a succession of failures. After a screw in the steering arm failed he had to replace the hydraulic arm and the pilot software did not recognise the new arm and went haywire. He became dangerously tired and demoralised. ‘I have to sleep. I am so tired,’ he told Griso. Attanasio got over 100 miles ahead. Under New Zealand Costa’s mainsail split and he sailed 48 hours with no main. Attanasio passed several times. At Cape Horn on 20th January Attanasio was 100 miles ahead. But up the South American coast the duel was nip and tuck. At one point at the latitude of Uruguay they were less than half a mile apart and filmed each other and then spoke regularly on the VHF. But the French skipper also suffered more mechanical failures, losing a daggerboard. But in fact ultimately, just as it did for the race winner Armel Le Cléac’h in the duel with Alex Thomson, the advantage always stayed with the leader. Costa was able to make the break from Attanasio at the Canary Islands progressing to be more than 400 miles ahead in the final days. But their duel has been one of the outstanding stories of this eighth edition of the Vendée Globe.
 
Two more back today. First in 15th place Romain.

ROMAIN ATTANASIO TAKES 15TH PLACE
FRIDAY 24 FEBRUARY 2017, 11H10
French skipper Romain Attanasio, sailing Famille Mary-Etamine du Lys, took 15th place in the Vendee Globe non stop solo race around the world this morning (Friday 24th February) when he crossed the finish line at 1006hrs UTC. The elapsed time for the French skipper who raced the 1998 launched IMOCA which was originally Catherine Chabaud's Whirlpool is 109 days 22 hrs 4 minutes. He sailed 28,569 miles at an average speed of 10.83 knots.
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For the 39 year old solo racer who has a diverse background in offshore and ocean racing, completing his first Vendee Globe is the culmination of a personal goal, stepping up from singlehanded racing in the Mini 6.50 and in the solo one design Figaro class, to take on the pinnacle solo ocean race around the world. Attanasio took over fifteenth place early on the final morning, passing Conrad Colman who had raced the final 715 miles of his Vendee Globe under jury rig. Since repairing his rudders in South Africa Attanasio raced a hard, intense duel with the Spanish skipper Didac Costa, the pair racing older boats which both have storied histories. Ultimately Costa, on the former Kingfisher of Ellen MacArthur managed to escape into better wind pressure on the transition out of the NE'ly trade winds and went on to take 14th place, just over 24 hours ahead of Attanasio.

A talented navigator in his own right who sailed on the ORMA multihull circuit with Franck Cammas world championship winning crew and on the Maxi catamaran Gitana XI, Attanasio is best known as a leading Figaro class sailor who twice finished in the top 10 of the French solo offshore championship. He raced twice across the Atlantic with his British partner Sam Davies - who herself has raced two Vendee Globes, finishing fourth in 2008-9 and who has been his project manager. As such he had never sailed more than 21 days solo before he started this race. “It’s a bit worrying, as I don’t know where I’m going. I’m keeping myself busy trying not to think about that too much. Otherwise, it would be terrifying,” he said pre-start.

His race was going well, increasing in confidence and among a competitive group of boats, just behind fellow rookie Eric Bellion, when in 18th place he hit an unidentified floating object at around 1130 UTC on Monday 5th December. He was around 470 miles south of Cape Town when his boat, Famille Mary - Etamine du Lys collided with the UFO, which damaged both his rudders. He took the decision to head for Cape Town to attempt to carry out repairs. Two days later on 7th December he reached Simonstown, to the south east of Cape Town at around 1800hrs UTC. After two days of hard work carrying out repairs, the French skipper managed to replace his port rudder and repair his starboard rudder without assistance. “If I’d known it was going to be like this I wouldn’t have come," he laughed. "It was so hard. From detaching the rudders and then dragging them up onto the deck. I repaired one of the rudders and switched the other, which was an operation and a half. Crucially, I suffered delamination on the bottom of the hull over a 2-metre strip at the back. Repairing that took a huge amount of time.” When he set off again Attanasio had to sail upwind in a 25-30 knot breeze to rejoin the fleet in 21st place having lost 1200 miles on Bellion.

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On January 2nd Attanasio told Race HQ in Paris: “It’s frustrating being at the rear. Those ahead have made their getaway, but at least I’m still racing and my boat is fine. I’m experiencing something incredible. Michel Desjoyeaux said that the Vendée Globe meant one problem each day and he was right. Today, I had a problem with my autopilot. A cable needed changing. Two days ago, it was my wind instruments. Yesterday, I repaired a batten and a halyard. I knew the Vendée Globe was tough, but not that tough." But after the Spanish skipper Costa struggled with a storm and technical problems under Australia, Attanasio and Costa converged under New Zealand and by January 5th the duo were locked in a battle which was to last weeks, making both of their races.

When Attanasio rounded Cape Horn at 2043hrs UTC after 75 days 8 hours and 41 minutes of racing. He was around 100 miles ahead of Didac Costa. Through late January and early February, Attanasio and Costa continued their duel all the way up from Southern Brazil to the North Atlantic. He re-crossed the Equator at 0409hrs UTC after 92d, 16hrs, 7mins of racing. On 9th February, Attanasio broke his port daggerboard after colliding with an unidentified floating object. He noticed a small ingress of water in the housing and was no longer able to use this daggerboard. A long way west of the Canaries in the middle of the North Atlantic, Costa extended his lead over over Attanasio, who was left 400miles behind in trickier, light winds conditions.

First reactions at the finish

“It wasn’t the Vendée Globe I was aiming for or how I thought it would be. I knew I wouldn’t be fighting it out with the leaders, but I thought there was a group I could race against. That happened in the Atlantic, but down at the bottom of the South Atlantic, I hit something and there was a horrible noise as the carbon splintered. I thought it was over. I called Sam (Davies), then I repaired it and set off again. But by then the race had changed. The group I was in had made their getaway. So my aim was to finish and not be forced to retire. It’s horrible when you have to retire. That stays with you. There are some incredible memories. Highs and lows. The sword of Damocles hangs over you. You wonder what is going to happen all the time. I think Sam really needs to be here in 2020, so she can become the first female winner. She is really made for this race. This is a race like no other.”

And Conrad has made it as well
 
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News

NEW ZEALAND’S CONRAD COLMAN FINISHES UNDER JURY RIG FOR 16TH
FRIDAY 24 FEBRUARY 2017, 15H01
New Zealander Conrad Colman wrote a new chapter in the storied history of the Vendée Globe when he crossed the finish line of the eighth edition of the non stop solo round the world race under a makeshift jury rig. He took 16th place when he crossed the finish line at 1400hrs UTC. The elapsed time is 110 days 1 hour 58 minutes and 41 seconds. H sailed 27,929 miles averaging 10.57 knots.


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After being dismasted late on the evening of Friday 10th February, when he was in tenth place and some 250 miles west of Lisbon, Portugal, Colman constructed and stepped a remarkable jury rig which has allowed him to sail the final 740 miles of the 27,440 nautical miles race which started from Les Sables d’Olonne on November 6th 2016. Since he was dismasted in what should have been his last big storm of his race, only three and half days from the finish line where he seemed assured of an impressive 10th place, Colman has run out of food and lasted out his final days on the survival rations from inside his life raft. On Wednesday he confirmed by radio that he had only two biscuits left.

Colman, a trained sailmaker and rigger, set one of the most efficient jury rigs seen in the history of ocean racing, working diligently and smartly to the end to improve the sheeting angles and hence efficiency of the rig which is constructed from his boom, part of his mainsail and his storm jib. Only Philippe Poupon and Yves Parlier have previously completed the Vendée Globe under jury rig, while others, like Mike Golding and Loïck Peyron had to set up jury rigs to bring their boats back to shore. He achieves his goal of becoming the first ever skipper to race solo non stop around the world completing the Vendée Globe using no fossil fuels, only renewable energies, his electrical power generated by an innovative electric motor, solar and hydro generated electricity and stored in a bank of high tech batteries. Before leaving Les Sables d’Olonne he explained: “The objective is to have it as a reflection of my philosophies. Growing up in New Zealand I was aware of the hole in the Ozone layer there. I converted to become a vegetarian not especially because I care about cute lambs but because I was more concerned about the global impact of the chain, of food production and consumption. And so the project is a reflection of my ideals.”

He also is first New Zealand born skipper to finish the epic solo round the world race, concluding a remarkable storybook adventure which has captivated race watchers from all around the world since long before the start. His finish reflects his incredible tenacity, drive and talent, the culmination of a dream which saw him move from the USA to France over 10 years ago to pursue his goal of competing in the legendary solo round the world race. From pursuing an academic and business career in the USA, where his late father was from, Colman worked different marine related jobs to expand his skillset to a level where he could achieve a competitive finish in the Vendée Globe. Before the start he spoke of how he had staked his financial future in taking part in the race. He found an unloved IMOCA 60 designed by South African Angelo Lavranos which to date had a chequered, limited racing history where he lived in Lorient, where it was being used for day charter hires, and set about refitting and re-optimising the boat in order that he could realise the boat’s true, untapped potential. Even a matter of ten days before the race start Colman did not have the funds to compete at what he considered to be the very minimum level of participation. But he was determined to go anyway. An absolute last minute call found support from the London based Foresight Group. His boat was only branded two days before the Sunday 6th November start.

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On start day he said: “I feel great. How could I not. It is the start of the Vendée Globe and it is a sunny day. It is a dream I have been chasing for years and years and I have it here in my grasp. It was hard to say goodbye to my wife. I hang my wedding ring in the cockpit so she is always with me.” His spirit and skills have been tested in equal measure and on many occasions he has overturned situations which would have ended the Vendée Globe of lesser sailors. Even just days into his race he found an innovative way to repair a keel ram problem which jeopardised his race. An electrical fire damaged the wiring on his Foresight Natural Energy which sent his autopilots haywire. In one incredible 12 hour period he climbed his mast three times, spending hours aloft to repair sails. The 33 year old has made mast climbing an almost commonplace skill among his extensive personal armoury of abilities required to compete in the Vendée Globe, despite the fact it was a fall from the top of a mast which took the life of his father whose legacy Colman holds dear
 
It says a lot for an event like the Vendée Globe that coming home last is still such a massive achievement. Ha'way Seb.
BTW, some aspiring inventor should look into the idea of developing a warning device that detects an floating object like a sunken container 50 yards or so from the front of these boats, maybe yanking the steering to avoid it. I see Romain smashed his rudders hitting a UFO.
 
MickeyV said:
It says a lot for an event like the Vendée Globe that coming home last is still such a massive achievement. Ha'way Seb.
BTW, some aspiring inventor should look into the idea of developing a warning device that detects an floating object like a sunken container 50 yards or so from the front of these boats, maybe yanking the steering to avoid it. I see Romain smashed his rudders hitting a UFO.
Click to expand...
Be a canny one for them Mickey. I'm sure Alex would have taken top spot if he'd had the working foil.
 
As mentioned by BCIF, Sebs fishing :)

And then there was one. Pieter Heerema's back, Just Seb to go. Hawayawayaway Seb son!!!


HEEREMA: “ONCE YOU START SOMETHING YOU HAVE TO FINISH IT”
FRIDAY 03 MARCH 2017, 10H40
Pieter Heerema was finally able to enter the harbour in Les Sables d’Olonne this morning. After crossing the finish in seventeenth place yesterday evening, he had to remain on board No Way Back until high tide this morning. He was greeted by the crowds as has been the case for all of the skippers finishing this eighth Vendée Globe. On his arrival at the pontoon, he made his first declarations and then thanked all his supporters, many of whom had made the journey to Vendée to welcome him home. He gave us his first thoughts on completing the non-stop solo round the world race.

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Initial feelings?
That’s a difficult question to answer. Incredible. The position isn’t important. There were so many amazing things. So many incredible things. It’s not important to speak about one thing. There were so many things. I need to think about it and go on holiday to filter all that.

Hard times?
There have been some very difficult moments. The technical breakdowns but with the support of people, people on facebook for example showed such support that even if I was so slow, I had to continue. The mechanical things were not serious, but the electronics…

Back again next time?
The whole project was astonishing and now the mission is complete. I won’t be here in 4 years, because I’m now 65. I have seen it. I have done it, but sailing is my life. I want to sell the boat. I have some other plans.

The foils?
The foils were not a good choice for me. I had never sailed on an IMOCA a year before and never alone six months before, so the learning curve was straight up. The foils were an extra complication. Yesterday was the only real race days. I was a little unlucky as I did something with the rudder and lost an hour. Otherwise I could have come in last night.

No Way Back?
This is an excellent boat. There is no delamination. No Way Back, because once you start something you have to finish it.

Quotes

“116 days. 4 months. It’s a really long time. Alone. But that’s not the worst. Everyday something happens. There are some nice moments, but also a lot of difficult moments.”

“I had planned to be here on Monday, but there was a huge weather system and it was too dangerous to go into the Bay of Biscay. I had to wait off the coast of Portugal. It was weird, as I just had no goal any more. Being alone is not a problem. But it would be nice to choose when you are alone. 120 days alone is a bit long.”

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“There was one thing that started right away. And came back again and again. All the wizards looked at it, but it just wouldn’t work. I had three capsizes one night. I went out each morning and said Wow the mast is still standing. That problem stayed with me until Australia. Then I said forget it. I’ll do it my way without that system, so I was slower.”

“It’s not super important to be the first Dutchman. I have done it, which is the most important thing.”

“I would do it again and on this boat, but it was the wrong boat for me. It was too much to learn in a very short time. It was so physical. I wore knee pads 24 hours a day as you bounce around. It’s violent. For an old fogey like me, it’s too much.”

“Age is a strength and handicap. A few years ago I was sailing off Alaska with my daughter. We walked up to see the bears. We saw a young bear jumping around. Then an old bear came out – I said here comes experience. The old bear sat there doing nothing, while the young bear was in and out of the water trying to catch fish but not succeeding, while the old bear just got one each time. That’s experience.”
 
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News

IF IT’S SATURDAY, IT MUST BE THE AZORES
SATURDAY 04 MARCH 2017, 09H17
After Pieter Heerema finished yesterday morning in seventeenth place, there has been only one competitor left racing in the Vendée Globe. At 0800hrs UTC this Saturday morning, Sébastien Destremau (TechnoFirst-faceOcean) is 1435 miles from the finish, which he is expected to reach on around 10th March.

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Conditions may not be the most comfortable for the tail-ender this morning to the west of the Azores with a 4-6m swell, but the 25-30 knot SW’ly wind is allowing Sébastien Destremau to average just over 11 knots this Saturday morning. At times, there are much stronger gusts, but Destremau is making good headway towards the NE and it currently looks like he will pass close to Flores, the westernmost island in the archipelago, this afternoon. These conditions should continue until tomorrow evening. On Sunday night, he will have to cross a transition zone with the wind backing SE’ly, but by Monday morning, he should pick up a SW’ly wind, which looks like it will take him into the Bay of Biscay at the end of the week. In a video sent back from the boat, the skipper reported boat-breaking conditions in the North Atlantic after a front went over. As we can see, the boat is slamming into heavy seas and with less than week to go to the finish, Destremau is well aware that now is not the time to break anything...
 
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ETA Friday: Sébastien Destremau 1000 miles from the finish

News

ETA FRIDAY: SÉBASTIEN DESTREMAU 1000 MILES FROM THE FINISH
MONDAY 06 MARCH 2017, 08H41
Everything is going well for the skipper of TechnoFirst-faceOcean, who is able to take advantage of favourable weather conditions to clock up the miles. He will soon have less than a thousand miles to go to the finish. He is expected to finish in Les Sables d’Olonne on Friday, but the time is not yet certain.

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The final competitor in the eighth Vendée Globe is into his final week of racing aboard what he refers to as his office. At the latitude of Cape Finisterre, Sébastien Destremau (TechnoFirst-faceOcean) is now around a thousand miles from Les Sables d’Olonne and taking advantage of a moderate SW’ly wind blowing at around 25 knots gusting to 35 knots. This means he is able to make good progress towards the finish at an average of around fifteen knots.

50 days after Armel…
The high that lies ahead should not affect him too much as it is moving eastwards and will weaken off Cape Finisterre. The various weather models continue to indicate the moderate SW’ly flow will continue until the eve of the finish. The wind is expected to ease on 9th (to less than ten knots) and turn to the SSE. But that should not prevent Sébastien from finishing on Friday 10th after around 124 days of sailing, fifty more than the winner, Armel Le Cléac’h. But Destremau is not worried about his race time, as his goal has always been to complete the non-stop solo round te world voyage aboard a boat that is almost twenty years old.

OB / M&M

Sébastien Destremau’s log – week 17

It’s starting to feel like I’m nearing home... But even yesterday evening (Saturday evening), I had a bit of a scare when I had to gybe in 35 knots of wind under mainsail with two reefs and J3. I said to myself I was doing something stupid. I had the engine running to charge the batteries, so I managed to push the tiller over with the boat fully ballasted on the other side and the boat kept up her speed. Once the mainsail had gone over to the other side with the boat on her side, I had to empty the leeward ballast tanks and fill up the windward tanks to get back on track. In the end, it went well, but it wasn’t that simple when I was doing it. I had to gybe again at 4 in the morning, but the engine wasn’t running then but the wind was still at 35 knots...

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After some hesitation, I cancelled the manoeuvre because of the problem with the ballast tanks... It would have been a good way to break some battens or even bring down the mast. I went back to my bunk to wait until daylight and for the wind to ease... That happened at 10 on Sunday morning, with the wind down to 25 knots... I could then gybe unfurling the gennaker first...
 
Not too long for Seb now. Haway Seb son!!


News

TWO DAYS FROM THE CONCLUSION OF THE 8TH VENDÉE GLOBE
WEDNESDAY 08 MARCH 2017, 08H21
The final sprint is on for the only competitor still racing in the 2016-2017 Vendée Globe. Sébastien Destremau is sailing in ideal conditions on his way to Les Sables d’Olonne. But on Thursday evening, he will have to deal with one final transition, which will determine the time of his arrival. If this wind shift happens quickly, he may reach Les Sables early in the afternoon on Friday.

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When Sébastien Destremau finishes, it will bring an end to the eighth Vendée Globe. The skipper of TechnoFirst-faceOcean will take eighteenth place around fifty days after the winner, Armel Le Cléac’h. Never before have so many competitors managed to complete their voyage around the world in the Vendée Globe.

A weather transition to be the final judge

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Sailing to the north of the centre of an area of high pressure, Destremau is taking advantage of a 25-30 knot SW’ly wind, allowing him to keep up good speeds. He will be sailing today in a 3-4m swell. The wind is expected to continue to blow until late this afternoon. Tomorrow his speed is expected to be slower with a 15-20 knot SW’ly wind, but late in the day, the wind will drop to below five knots, before backing to the SE. That is when the arrival time will become clearer. If the wind shift happens quickly, Sébastien Destremau should finish early in the afternoon on Friday. If the new wind takes longer to arrive, he will be later. He can enter the harbour from 1100 to 1800hrs UTC.
 
Congratulations in advance to Seb, whenever he makes it back to Les Sables. (I'm off to somewhere without internet for a week!)
To quote Rich Wilson "I remember the first time, someone said, if you finish the race, you’re a winner. I think that is correct." Here, here!
 

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