Vendée Globe

Dee Caffari might be anticipating her first Vendée Globe, but the three-month Vendée is a shorter timescale than her last solo voyage – when she sailed singlehanded around the world against the prevailing winds and currents, over an epic 178 days.

On that trip Dee learned that for her sleep is a top priority. “I’m banking it while I can!” commented Dee. “It takes two or three weeks for your body to adapt and I’m confident of when during the day I’m better at sleeping that others.
“It’s like the boat – the boat lets you know when it’s not on the money, she feels really bad if you haven’t got the right sail plan up — and now I understand my body a lot better too, which has allowed me to be a lot more emotionally even now when I’m sailing, whereas before I was probably quite emotional. I’m on a much more even keel now just by understanding what makes me tick, if I haven’t eaten or slept you’re going to be a lot more fragile.”
Freeze-dried food, however, is more about satisfying a need than providing much comfort. “It’s hard trying different varieties to find something you like so you never pick up a packet and think, ‘Oh God, I don’t want to eat that!’ It’s always really good for the first month but after that it doesn’t matter really what you take, it’s all going to be quite boring.
“But I looked at calorie content and made sure I had more calories for the Southern Ocean when you’re working that bit harder because of the temperature – I had some help analysing this from Leeds Metropolitan University, my old uni. You can get quite excited about the severe weight loss plan but it’s actually far from ideal in a performance arena!"

Opening strategy

So, what will be her strategy for the opening stages — currently forecast for an upwind start in around 20 knots south-westerly, which will build to 40 knots and upwards as the competitors head deeper into the Bay of Biscay?
“Well the really hard thing is that you cross the start line, and you’re off – you’re adrenaline fuelled, there’s 30 boats together all within sight of each other, you’ve just said goodbye, you’re emotionally quite drained and here we are having to go into some pretty hard upwind conditions. The rhythm of the boat is going to be so uncomfortable having to pound into these angry waves. If there’s anything that’s not quite right with the gear or the set up, you’re going to know about it straight away.
“The first week will be really hard because you know everybody wants to go out and push hard, kind of set up their position and push the pace. But that first week or 10 days is also where you adjust to a routine and rhythm.
“Ideally you don’t want anything to go wrong in those early days – it’s a long way around the world – but we’ve seen from the Volvo that getting yourself in the race at the beginning, and getting a good strategic position is important because we all end up on a conveyor belt in the Southern Oceans!”
Having previously spent 88 days on end in the Southern Oceans, do they hold the same fears for Dee? “There a lot of people thinking, ‘God, Southern Ocean!’ and yes you are fearful of it, but for me I’ve got a reference mark – it’s not going to last as long or be as bad as last time. For me I’m thinking it’s half the time I’m going to be down there, you actually cover the miles really quickly. But with 30-50 knots behind you, pushing you along, you can’t slow the boat down – it just wants to take off and that’s quite daunting.”
What are her thoughts on being one of seven British boats in the fleet? “It’s brilliant. Ellen started by doing so well and actually introducing the Vendée to everyone in England, but now there’s seven entries there’s a chance the race can get a bit more recognition in the UK. With seven boats potentially there are three who’ll be causing problems for the French, it’ll be really nice if the UK can get behind those guys.”
So as Dee counts down to the start gun, what are her goals for the race? “You can’t help but be competitive if you want to be in this environment, but we’re not naïve enough to think that all 30 of us are going to cross the finish line, so the finish line is the ultimate first goal.
“I’m aware that I’ve got a boat that can do the job, and that the limiting factor on the boat is probably me. As my confidence grows on the journey I’d hope that I can grow to match the performance of the boat.”
 

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