Narrow effect for Vendee Globe sailing race winner

The winner of the Vendée Globe solo sailing race across the globe crossed the finish line early in the morning at the French port city of Les Sables-d’Olonne.

French captain Yannick Bestaven, 48, in the boat Maître Coq IV, will win the ninth edition of this grueling race that will cover around 24,300 nautical miles in 11-plus weeks. His last attempt at this race, in the 2008-2009 edition, ended prematurely when his boat was taken out hours after the event.

Second place went to 36-year-old French captain Charlie Dalin in the Apivia boat. Dalin crossed the finish line at 7:35 pm [Central European Time] in an evening of showers and harsh conditions with 20 knot winds and beating waves. This was, after he took his last northeast route across the Bay of Biscay.

In third place was the French racer Louis Burton (in the ship Bureau Vallée 2). Burton, who finished 7^th the latest edition (2016-2017) of this race, has sailed eight transatlantic routes and is its third sailing cruise on the planet.

Surprisingly, the Bestaven winner crossed the finish line hours after Dalin.

That’s because this Vendée close finish was also so complicated. The series of passers-by in the finish line did not necessarily reflect the order of the winners, due to an unexpected event. On November 30, captain Kevin Escoffier’s PRB ship was suddenly sunk, leaving him alone in a raft hundreds of miles southwest of Cape Town. Those sailors who changed course to help him (saved by Jean Le Cam in the boat Yes We Cam!) Received compensation time benefits – ranging from six hours, to 16 hours and 15 minutes – according to international jury counts sailors were away from their intended routes.

Yannick Bestaven won a 10-hour and 15-minute compensatory time, enough to make him a winner, even though he arrived hours after Dalin (his boat crossed the finish in the early hours of October 28, while and Dalin reached port on the evening of October 27). The total Bestaven race time, with compensation included, was 80 days, 3 hours, 44 minutes and 46 seconds. Dalin, in second place, finished in 80 days, 6 hours, 15 minutes and 47 seconds. Burton, third, gave a total of 80 days, 10 hours, 25 minutes and 12 seconds.

After Dalin crossed the finish line, it was still possible that a physically slugging sailor in third place – Boris Herrmann of Germany in the Seaexplorer – Yacht Club de Monaco – could become overall winner due to the six hours of compensation period. He was the first ever non-French winner of the Vendée. Unfortunately, 15 minutes after Dalin’s finish, Herrmann’s boat was 90 miles from the finish line when it collided with a fishing boat, damaging its starboard foil and reducing its speed by about 20 miles. -meas to less than 10 and lays it out as one of the tops. three contenders.

In recent weeks, these boats and other finishers have stayed nearby.

Although 33 boats departed from Les Sables-d’Olonne on 8 November^th, there were only 25 left in the race at the time the first boat passed the finish line. All remaining competitors have now overtaken Cape Horn at the head of South America with a view to the French coast.

At a press conference after its completion, Bestaven reported on this physical drainage incident.

‘The Vendée Globe is not a race of real speed, but a mental race. I did it. It changed me. ‘

Days before he finished the race, second-placed Dalin described his strength in the home field.

‘I’ve been at sea for so long that I forgot that life on land really matters … I’m in my playground, I know the Bay of Biscay better than my own garden. I have been crossing this area for 10 years. ‘

Burton, third, also leads a racing team based in the French port city of Saint Malo. Days before it was finished, he talked about finishing the race.

“I can’t wait for it to end. There is some fatigue. This is the end of the food and water sources. It leaves you to arrive, and there is a lot of joy in the regatta. ”

Due to Covid-19 limitations, the port was not filled with thousands of adulating fans. Instead only those working on the event, and the media, got into the controlled race city and were relatively silent in the winter darkness.

The winner of the last edition (2016-2017) of the race, the French captain Armel Le Cléac’h, completed the world round in 74 days, 3 hours and almost 36 minutes.

The Vendée Globe reflects technological developments in the marine world, and highlights the psychological strength of skippers who have to keep months alone in often difficult situations. It also highlights how our world is more connected and explored than ever before. During the final part of the race, many sailors pass Cape Finisterre on the Spanish coast – hence the Romans’ so-called ‘end of the earth’, who considered it the end of the known world.

Times have changed.