Vendée Globe

Each time the Vendée Globe has started in bad weather, boats have had to return to Les Sables.  For some a pit stop was enough to get going again, while for others it was simply a premature end to their race.

1989. In cold conditions, but in brilliant sunshine, the thirteen pioneers crossed the Bay of Biscay without a hitch, pushed along by a wind coming down from the Arctic.

Only one boat was to return to start again: Jean-François Coste, the skipper of Cacharel (the former Pen Duick III) was suffering from a problems with the hydraulics in his autopilot. He sailed off again very quickly and this time remembered the charts he had almost forgotten the previous day.  Pierre Follenfant on Charente Maritime considered returning to repair a damaged rudder, but chose instead to carry on and made it all the way around the world.
 
1992. Of the fifteen scheduled to start, one was missing on the big day.  The American, Mike Plant's boat, Coyote was spotted upside down to the north of the Azores on the day of the start of the second Vendée.  Mike was not on board and would never be found. The race began in spring-like weather on 22nd November, but everyone knew it would not last.  Over the next few days, there was a long series of damage reported.  Jean-Luc Van Den Heede had to head back, as one of his shrouds had broken loose and water was seeping in around his keel.  Philippe Poupon followed him also with keel problems.

A few hours later, we learned that Cacolac, skippered by Yves Parlier, had been dismasted.  On the next day, Vittorio Malingri turned back, with broken ballast compartments. Thierry Arnaud gave himself a fright and damaged his sails and also returned. More seriously, late on Wednesday afternoon, the distress beacon on Nigel Burgess's boat was triggered.  On the following day, the body of the British skipper of the former Charente Maritime was found not far from his drifting boat.  The Vendée Globe was in turmoil.

The damaged boats would set off again, including Parlier, whose Cacolac was fitted with a new mast.  All of them that is, except for Loïck Peyron, whose Fujicolor suffered delamination and Thierry Arnaud.  We can add that VDH and Poupon finished up on the winners' podium in this Vendée, which was won by Alain Gautier.
 
1996. In weather conditions similar to those experienced earlier this week, the British sailor, Tony Bullimore, was the first to return to Les Sables with a faulty automatic pilot. 

Then, it was the turn of Nandor Fa with keel problems,  Didier Munduteguy whose boat was dismasted and Thierry Dubois with damage to his hull. The four competitors started out again, but the ill-fated Hungarian was forced to return once again after colliding with a cargo vessel.  In the end, he threw in the towel, along with Munduteguy.
 
2000. The weather was so bad that the start was postponed for three days. The boats made it safely out of the Bay of Biscay, except for Mike Golding's Group 4, which was dismasted.  He was to set sail again from Les Sables much later on and managed to overtake part of the fleet to end up well-placed following in the footsteps of Yves Parlier four years before. Two other competitors made a brief pit stop back in port: Roland Jourdain, who had to see a dentist after breaking a tooth and took advantage to replace a gennaker halyard, and the Belgian sailor, Patrick de Radiguès with electrical problems. The skipper of Sill got back quickly with the leaders and finished third.  Patrick's race was to finish prematurely on a beach in Portugal. 
 
2004.  The start took place in a force 2 wind and the fleet sailed across the Bay of Biscay at full speed downwind. A dream!  None of the twenty taking part needed to go back to start again.

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