Vendée Globe

MIchel Desjoyeaux, who retains his 100% Vendee Globe record, raced twice won twice, is making his whirlwind media tour around the Vendee Globe village. French TV stations covered his arrival back in Les Sables d'Olonne live for more than two hours. 

The victor is looking forward to well earned holidays but will be back this summer competing in Foncia colours on the Figaro circuit and will be back to defend his Transat Jacques Vabre title in the Autumn. 

Desjoyeaux on the dock:

“ There was one boat that returned before the others and it was me.  I really enjoyed myself during these three months.  The first month was quiet enough.  The second was tougher and then the third I was with my friend Bilou, which was nice.  I hope he will make it back here, as that would be really great for him.  The 40 hours I spent back here are something you put out of your mind. It’s in the past and you need to look the future.”

On the return to Les Sables d’Olonne:

“ The Mayor promised me a great welcome and for once a politician kept his word. 

I suffered a lot less this year.  Maybe because I’m older, maybe because I have experience, so I was more at ease.  The fact that I was setting out 40 hours later allowed me to to find my own pace, as I didn’t have to worry about the pace set by others.  I kept sailing as I felt like sailing and that seems to have worked out well.  I thought it would be impossible to catch up by Australia.”

“For two months I’ve been wondering what was going on. I feel a lot of emotions tonight.  For 3 months life has gone by at a crazy pace.   There’s the satisfaction of being the first boat back here.  I managed to take care of the boat.  There are a few little problems.  I almost lost my bowsprit and rudders and some stanchions.”

On the damage he had: “ Once it happens it’s in the past and you move on, except for the stanchions as I needed to be careful out on the deck.  I really enjoyed it.  I had fun with the weather and strategy.  I saw my first iceberg, but I didn’t see the Horn as it was dark.”

“ I must have 300 or 400 photos of sunsets, as that is what I prefer. There were never really any tough moments, which is what makes it incredible.  Maybe, when Father Christmas was distributing his presents, as I think he got mixed up and tried to take my rudder.  I was determined to keep it, so that’s what I did.  The others are still at sea, so are bound to have had a harder time of it than me.  Let me know if you understand why that is.  I’ve been searching for two months.  When you look at the list of problems I had, none of them can be blamed on me sailing too fast.”

“ Nothing was broken because I pushed the boat too hard.  All of the problems, the rudder and bowsprit have nothing to do with the way I was sailing.”

“ Now I’d like to take advantage of life ashore, as I’ve been taking advantage of life at sea.”

“ If Bilou and I were the only two pushing hard at the end, it’s because we were used to sailing multihulls.  We were used to sailing high performance boats at high speeds without being afraid.  So sailing a multihull means I can feel more relaxed on these boats.  When you capsize on a multihull, there’s nothing left to do, but here when you go over with the mast in the water, it’s not a problem really.”

“  The boats are tougher than a lot of people think.  They should see what we put these boats through, as that would shut them up.   The record is a bonus.  This is a race and coming home first is what really matters.  We know now though that in four years time they can plan to finish in 80-82 days.  Maybe I was not ambitious enough. You’ll have to wait and see whether I come back in three and a half years…

[

Time went by really quickly in the past four months or 84 days. 

When I returned (with damage), the shore crews set about working.  I didn’t have any choice as I really wanted this.  Then I just kept sailing as best I could.  Whenever I had any problems, they didn’t affect me emotionally at all.   When I tore my spinnaker, I picked up the bits.  When I had my rudder problem, I consolidated the thing and a few hours later I was back to normal racing.  I think that meant too that I never felt down after a poor place in the rankings or a bad choice of sail for example. When I restarted, it was an unsual moment for me as I had never been so far from the leader in a race before, so I was able to sail as I thought fit without worrying about the rankings or whether I was faster or slower.  It seems that this was the right method in fact. 

In early December, I saw a whale coming straight towards me.  I thought that was it. That it would get my rudders or damage the hull. And then at the last moment it dived.  It must have said “He looks a tough sort of guy.  We’ll let him go and win”

People around me tell me I’m very demanding and expect a lot from myself.  I do what I want and when I’m alone out there, no one can stop me. That’s the advantage of solo sailing. 

This is the Vendée that I wanted to race and the Vendee I wanted to win.  It looks like I succeeded, as I can’t see any other 60 footers in the harbour. I thought Bilou had thrown in the towel.  He’s capable of anything. I don’t know if I would have the courage to attempt what he is trying to do.  There’s still along way to go. His boat will be slowed.  I hope he has enough to eat. 

From the Press Conference:

“A few days ago in the trade winds, with Bilou 500 miles behind me, he was sailing in different weather from me and I saw I was doing 0.2 knot more than him, so I went outside and trimmed the sails. 0.2 knot was not enough for me. I’d never seen that desire to win so much before.”

“I learned I was in the lead, because someone had been dismasted. (He was told about Golding’s dismasting on the radio Vacs)  That wasn’t something to be happy about.  My climb back up the rankings was over.  I’d got what I was looking for.  It was very strange, because it was hard to find out like that.”  

“ Yesterday my rudder got hit for example in the Bay of Biscay.  It was just a pallet, but could easily have been a container.  Until you cross that line, you have to hold on to your hat.”

On the retirement of  Loïc Peyron, one of the top favourites, dismasted:

“It was the first time I directly addressed a message to another competitor, saying “Loïc You’ve really pissed me off”. I’d just got back up with him.  I know Loïc well from mutihull racing and we’d often raced.  I was looking forward to battling it out with him.  He’d had a good race and a good rhythm in the first month.  Physically it couldn’t have been easy as he’s not that young.  He must have worked hard.  Seeing him stop did not please me and I was upset for me for him because he was in the rhythm and physically it must have been tough because he’s not that young. Compared to the young wolves, he must have a hard time but he was going well, and to see him end like this, I didn’t like it, so I yelled at him, and yeah he answered me.”

“ Some people say I sailed my boat at 200%.  Tell a designer that and he’ll burst out laughing.  There are people who struggle to get 100% out of their machines.  One man alone on his boat has to really struggle against everything and we try to go as near to 100 percent as we can, but you can’t go beyond that.  We’re bound to be under 100% .  I tried to get close and sometimes wasn’t far off.  But other times I was nowhere near, as when you’re alone you can’t manoeuvre like a full crew.  But when you look at the polars from the Farr team, you can see that in the southern ocean we were far below what you would get with a crew.  So in the southern ocean I was going at 75 percent of the boat’s capability, so I was 25 percent under her theoretical performance, because I’m all alone and I can’t do this 24/7.  There’s a margin, and I think the 84 days are not what we should be looking at.  I think Jules Verne should watch out, as I think the 80 days are possible for the boat and the sailor

I didn’t go to the gym because I hate, it.  I don’t like running.  My colleagues go swimming every week, but it’s not my thing.  A year and a half ago I came here in a small 10-metre boat, and that’s my physical preparation.”

 “ If you knew me well, you’d know that sometimes people find me too modest.  So sometimes I go to the “dark side” and it doesn’t please others.  I dare to say what I think and if people don’t like it, that’s not my problem. I don’t say things to hurt people , it’s not my intention. I just state the facts and not what I’m feeling and I should be allowed to state facts.  Sometimes I get yelled at because I need to learn to keep my trap shut, but that’s who I am.

Translations: Jeremy Payne

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