Vendée Globe

If it’s Monday it must be back to business as the international skippers in the Vendée Globe fleet enter what is bound to be a whirlwind final week of media, public, social, sponsor, family commitments, meteorological preparation, final checks on the IMOCA Open 60 itself, continual briefing and de-briefing with shore teams, media teams, commercial teams, skippers’ briefings with the race management,  whilst trying to bank or cut back on sleep.

In truth the weekend was scarcely any different for the British pair Alex Thomson and Steve White who are still fighting onwards to make Sunday’s start line in the best possible shape, Thomson after successfully completing repairs to Hugo Boss which damaged by a fishing boat on Octover 17^th, and White whose last minute funding package has meant an almighty push to be ready, but for British skippers like Jonny Malbon, Sam Davies and Mike Golding it was back to ‘work’ after a well earned final break.

 Starting his third Vendée Globe round the world race next Sunday, Golding is relaxed and content to slip into a pre-race routine he knows well. He spent a full week at home with his wife and young son before returning to Les Sables d’Olonne.

“I nearly did not want to come back.” Quipped Golding, “But for me it is important to spend some time at home, when you are back here your family are here but you are not with them, whereas at home there is that sanctity of the normal routine. This week my strategy is to try and actually sleep as much as possible. I like to be well fed, well rested and all the rest of it before I start. Eat, drink, sleep as much as I can. Joking aside, you just never know what is going to happen in the first few days and so you just have to be ready. All my working life I have been used to little and broken sleep, even 20 years ago in the fire service’ so I have never struggled to either get to sleep or wake up.”

F1 motor racing fan Golding was quietly pleased that, by coincidence rather than design, he was back in Les Sables d’Olonne last night on time to see the Brazilian Grand Prix on TV and see Britain’s Lewis Hamilton become the youngest ever driver to win the world title. He may have been honoured in many ways for his rescue of Alex Thomson in the Southern Ocean, and thanked by Alex several times, but Golding’s smile was never wider than when he was taken in the summer by Thomson to the British Grand Prix to meet Hamilton.

It was by design, that Alex Thomson and the Hugo Boss team came ashore yesterday evening to watch Hamilton clinch the F1 title on TV. After a long day sailing Sunday, it was the perfect tonic to set the team up for a long, cold, wet and windy overnight sail to test the repaired rig of Hugo Boss. With four on board they had up to 35 knots of wind and hit over 22 knots of boat speed, sailing on different tacks for two hours at a time, to tune and check the deep reefed rig.

“The maximum wind was 35 knots and the objective was to stretch in the D2’s and D3’s (supporting intermediate shrouds that control the mast flex) and so we sailed with two reefs on both sides for two hours, and then three reefs on both sides. There were pretty horrendous seas actually. It was quite nerve wracking. We were out straight after the Grand Prix, came back in at 8.30 this morning and sailed 150 miles.” Thomson reported

“The Grand Prix was wicked. I could not believe it. The chief mechanic of the team will be with us this week and is a good friend of our team and sailed the Artemis Challenge round the island with us. It was brilliant.”  

Sam Davies had a proper break from Vendée Globe world, retiring to the quiet of her house midway between Concarneau and Lorient, kicking back and enjoying some peace and relaxation, keeping up with her running, cycling and fitness, and clearing her head before this busy week with Roxy.

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