Vendée Globe

The Express Globe

In November 2000, in Les Sables d'Olonne, sailors and landlubbers all had the tragic memory of the previous edition of the non-stop single-handed round the world trip on their minds. While over the last four years the low-pressure areas had continued to swirl around with the same power in the Deep South, some water had gone under the bridge concerning 60-foot Open boats. Designers and sailors had had a good think and put the plans back on the table to modify or improve the stability of the monohulls, so it would be less dangerous to face up to the heavy swell around the world. Safer, but also better adapted and made to measure for this type of event with all its hurdles, its flat calm periods and violent storms. In 2000, the Vendée Globe turned a page in its history: it was time for competition racing on a global scale. As proof of this, among others: the Yves Parlier team's " Aquitaine Innovations ", the pair of Michel Desjoyeaux and his " PRB " or Roland Jourdain and his " Sill Matines La Potagère ". Then, you have to add to that the British contingent, with in particular little (but tenacious) Ellen Mac Arthur well accompanied by her Kingfisher and the great round the world yachtsman Mike Golding (Team Group 4)… All of these famous names made a great list of entrants, with 24 people from all sorts of background and from the four corners of the planet (from Russia, Spain and Italy…). A planet, which the winner would round at an incredible speed - in 93 days and 4 hours - smashing the record established four years earlier by Christophe Auguin.

Among the leaders fighting it out to the finish against each other until Yves Parlier, the Aquitaine yachtsman, lost his mast only Roland Jourdain in the Deep South and then Ellen Mac Arthur in the final Atlantic stretch managed to put any pressure on Michel Desjoyeaux. There is no mystery. The expert single-handed yachtsman, and virtuoso solo racer, made no mistakes, and his motto rang true: " To win, the first thing is to finish". Finding the right mixture of speed and caution was his recipe to win the honours in an edition, which was marked by clement conditions down in the fifties. In spite of that, the Vendée Globe once again showed itself to be an unwavering race of endurance, without mercy for some (Golding, Stamm, Dubois, Chabaud…), who were forced to put in to port, or to give up. But just as in the very first edition, the magic was there and could be seen, since all of the boats made it home - positioned or not . The seas took no prisoners this time. Moreover, beyond the competition itself, which was fought out at a very high standard, the human aspects created one of the finest pages in sea history and offered us some heroes. There was " ET " Yves Parlier, who metamorphosed into Robinson Crusoe (or maybe " EM " the Extraordinary Mariner) having fitted a makeshift mast, and then there was little Ellen Mac Arthur, talented and heart-warming in second place in the wake of Michel Desjoyeaux. The non-stop, single-handed round the world race raised the curtain on some of today's finest ocean racers. Sport, adventure, an ocean of emotion, the 2000-2001 edition lacked nothing. It all finished happily and we could hardly wait for the next one.

Final positions in the 2000-2001 edition
1 - Michel Desjoyeaux (Fra, PRB) : 93d3h57'32''
2 - Ellen Mac Arthur (G.B, Kingfisher) : 94d4h25'40''
3 - Roland Jourdain (Fra, Sill Matines La potagère) : 96d1h2'33''
4 - Marc Thiercelin (Fra, Active Wear) : 102d20h37'49''
5 - Dominic Wavre (Switzerland, Union bancaire Privée) : 105d2h45'12''
6 - Thomas Coville (Fra, Sodébo) : 105d7h24'
7 - Mike Golding (G.B, Team Group 4) : 110d16h22'
8 - Bernard Gallay (Fra-Switzerland, Voilà.fr) : 111d16h7'11''
9 - Josh Hall (G.B, Gartmore) : 111d19h48'2''
10 - Joé Seeten (Fra, Nord-pas-de-Calais/chocolats du Monde) : 115d16h46'50''
11 - Patrice Carpentier (Fra, VM Matériaux) : 116d00h32'48''
12 - Simone Bianchetti (Ita, Aquarelle.com) : 121d1h28'
13 - Yves Parlier (Fra, Aquitaine Innovations) : 126d23h36'B
14 - Didier Munduteguy (Fra, DDP/60è Sud) : 135d15h17'55''
15 - Pasquale de Gregorio (Ita, Wind Telecommunicazioni) : 158d2h37'25''

Eliminated
Catherine Chabaud (Fra, Whirlpool), lost his mast
Thierry Dubois (Fra, Solidaires), electronic problems
Raphaël Dinelli (Fra, Sogal Extenso), damaged rudder

Retired
Fedor Konioukhov (Rus, Modern University for The Humanities)
Javier Sanso (Spain, Old Spice)
Eric Dumont (Fra, Euroka Un univers de Services), damaged rudder
Richard Tolkien (GB), Rig damage
Bernard Stamm (Switzerland, Armor-Lux/foies Gras Bizac), steering problem and automatic pilot failure
Patrick de Radiguès (Bel, Libre Belgique), beached on the Portuguese coast