Since the first Vendée Globe, Dr. Jean-Yves Chauve has helped the racers before the start and has been offering his advice once the sailors have set sail. An expert in telemedicine, he will once again be on permanent alert for four months to answer any questions the sailors may have (on average this happens around three times a week).
What is the main risk during such a round the world voyage?
«All sorts of accidents. When you are tired, and staggering around, it is easy to fall over or worse still fall overboard. But without going that far, there are all sorts of injuries that can happen out on deck.»
Do you work before the race with each skipper?
«Yes, firstly because they have to pass a medical in order to take part. They have to fill out a file and along with a committee of experts, I am responsible for accepting a racer or not. In the past, we have already had to refuse candidates, who have tricky medical problems.»
As race doctor, you have worked on all the Vendée Globe races. What has changed most?
«Firstly, the professionalism of the racers. There have been huge changes to the boats with weight savings taking things to a bare minimum. I wonder indeed whether it is not harder on the body than before, even if the competitors say that the boats are easier to handle. Communication techniques have also evolved. We've gone from the fax in 1992 to video conferencing fifteen years later, which is extraordinary.»
How do the Vendée Globe racers sleep?
«There are several types of sleep, which overlap. There is the Figaro-type sleep, which means short 20-minute naps, where they favour slow deep sleep, offering physical recovery. This sleep type is repeated several times a day for three or four days at most. After that, they need to move up to Vendée Globe recovery mode, with a complete sleep cycle, falling asleep, light sleep, deep sleep and finally paradoxical sleep, or the dream phase. This is a cycle that lasts 1h30 to 2h00, which is repeated two or three times a day leading to an average of five hours sleep a day throughout the Vendée Globe.»
Do they burn up much energy?
«Yes. Imagine living in an environment, which is continually moving and sometimes violently. It takes a lot of energy to cope with that. Fighting against falling over requires a lot of muscular effort and also it is in the mind. The neurons represent more than 20% of the use of energy, which is an important level. Just staying in one place corresponds to using up at least 1000 calories. In the south, we must remember that the boats are not heated. Fighting against the cold is another huge use of calories. A daily use of 5000 calories is not excessive.»
Could we imagine illegal drug-taking in the Vendée Globe?
«The question really is what could they use to boost their performance? Aiming at what? We can see there are older racers, who are less muscular than a 25-year old youngster. Women race against men. What I mean is that the sporting performance is affected by your physical appearance, but it is not dependent entirely on it. There are other factors, like looking after yourself, for example. Products that stop you from sleeping could be beneficial, but you can't use them for a period of several months. It seems completely unrealistic, unthinkable and in the end harmful to your performance, as when you stop using these products, the reaction of the body will be more negative than the gains made by using them for a few days.»
Is there any drug testing?
«We could do them on the eve of the start and at the finish. But of course the obvious problem is we can't stop the boats at the Horn to get a urine sample. So, it is impossible to check anything during the race. But in any case, I can't see how a racer can run the risk of using these products in the long term to change the sleep pattern. We all know that managing sleep is vital in ocean racing. Chemical products to do this seem completely out of sync with the sport.»
Is the noise on the boats a problem in the long term?
«We have carried out noise measurements. It can go above 120 decibels inside these boats. They are empty, the carbon is bare, so they become resonance chambers, when the boat hits the waves. Health and safety force you to wear headphones in the workplace from 85 decibels. In general, aboard the boats, there is a constant 80 dB, with peaks of 120 dB. There is a permanent level of noise. You have to get used to this, but also be able to sleep with all that noise. That's the really difficult part. That's why I refer to them as skilled sleepers, as they have learnt to sleep in an environment that is constantly moving, where it is always noisy and living conditions are tough with the cold and wet, etc. It takes someone special to be able to sleep in such conditions.»
Interview with LLB
