Vendée Globe

When Conrad Humphreys finished the 2004-5 edition of the Vendée Globe in seventh place he became just the fifth British skipper ever to finish the Vendée Globe when he finishing in Les Sables d’Olonne after 104 days

www.theblueproject.org/samdavies 

Humphreys’ Hellomoto hit a submerged object 28 days into his race and had to stop off the South African coast and dive to replace one of his rudders, one of the race’s memorable endeavours.

Next weekend he will revisit his Vendée Globe memories when he makes the pilgrimage back to France for the race start.

When he finished in 2005 he had high hopes of returning with a new IMOCA Open 60 to race this time around, but within a matter of 18 months or so it became clear that it would be too hard to land enough funding to do it properly and step up a level.

Now he is using sailing, and sport in general, to spread a message of ecological responsibility, and in this race Sam Davies on Roxy is an ambassador for his project 

He has fond memories of Les Sables d’Olonne in November 2007, counting down to the start:

“We were in remarkably good shape four years ago at this time, we had Joff Brown who is leading AVIVA this time around. He had done an exceptional job and we had done everything in advance of us arriving in Les Sables d’Olonne and it just meant that we tinkered, we had some nice jobs left to do, and so that meant I could thoroughly enjoy the event, and get really wrapped up in the atmosphere which is really just electric. In many ways it was just some of the most special moments of my life was there, those last few days before the off.”

He captures the spirit and emotion of the crowds who flock to the pontoons:

“ I think the main thing is just the affection that is extended to each and all of the teams, no one is excluded. Everyoe who comes down, runs their hands along the boat, looks you in the eye and there is such a sincerity about it. And so you really feel that everyone is going to be watching you and your boat through the race. There are just not that many sporting events quite like that.

But while the desire to race again burned brightly as he finished, finding a sponsor has proven difficult:

“ In many ways I finished that race on such a high, there is just that feeling, and so I was sure I wanted to do it again, but as far as getting close to this time around we were a long way off. I made it very clear that if I came back it would be with a campaign that was capable of being a top boat.”

“I have aspirations to be back. It is very difficult not to be pulled by this race. But that cycle out, missing a race, can fuel the hunger to come back in four years time.”

“I have launched an environmental project in February 2007 called The Blue Climate and Oceans Project, so we launched a project based on our climates and oceans using sports and sports men and women who have a profile in those sports to really harness their profile and image to pass on the environmental message.”

“I am an oceanographer by background, Vicky my wife is a marine biologist, but I have not a sailor who is not passionate about the environment, whether it is just round the world sailors relaying the message about the environment they love and sail in, the Blue Project is trying to capture those images and messages and pass then on those who are nor as fortunate to experience these things for themselves.”

“ It is going incredibly well. We have 15 ambassadors, we have ambassadors in snow, ice, air as well as watersports, so all the elements are covered.

“ Sam is an ambassador so she will be sending us material and comment, live phone interviews and video which we will cut together with our environmental message sending them to schools around the UK. From a media perspective as well we have had about 40 magazine articles in key consumer lifestyle media around the ambassadors and their roles.”

(www.theblueproject.org/samdavies)

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