Time to take a look back. Three years ago, the Christmas season was not one of good cheer for the fleet taking part in the Vendée Globe, as they were battered by the angry seas in the Southern Ocean. There was Yann Eliès’s accident and rescue, as Michel Desjoyeaux climbed his way back to take control of the race. Conditions were hellish for all: we remember some of those days that left their mark on the history of the Vendée Globe.
18th December 2008. On the 39th day of the race, the sixth Vendée Globe took a dramatic turn.
After Loïck Peyron, Dominique Wavre, Bernard Stamm, Mike Golding and Jean-Baptiste Dejeanty were all forced to retire within a week of each other, it was now time for Yann Eliès to suffer the consequences of a merciless Indian Ocean. Crushed between the bow of his boat and the wall of water, which Generali slammed into, Yann broke his femur. Digging deep within and finding strengths he did not realise he had, he managed to crawl back inside his boat and contact his shore team. Alone, 800 miles south of Australia, Yann was in atrocious pain.
“Waiting for the rescuers to come was horrible. Each little movement was torture,” he would explain a few days later from his hospital bed in Perth. In these painful moments, Yann was able fortunately to count on the support of Marc Guillemot, who had come to his assistance. An enormous psychological help and an important comforting presence for Yann: “Thanks to Marc, I managed to find that little spark of energy and motivation to try to get hold of some pain-killers and a drink. Millimetre by millimetre, taking every precaution, I managed to get hold of some pain-killers and a can of fizzy drink.” After 48 hours, which seemed like an eternity, Yann Eliès was picked up safe and sound by the Australian rescue service. That marked the end of the suffering for the skipper from St.Brieuc and was a huge relief for everyone. The pictures of the rescue were beamed around the world, as this incredible adventure attracted the attention of the world’s media and aroused a huge amount of interest.
The race continued
While following closely what was happening to Yann, the 18 solo racers still competing were aware that the race had to go on. In the lead since 16th December, after his amazing climb back up through the fleet, Michel Desjoyeaux kept up an incredible pace forcing those chasing after him to fight hard. Roland Jourdain hung on in there; Jean Le Cam and Sébastien Josse, rather more cautiously, gave up some ground. The four frontrunners made it into the Pacific on 20th December, and were certainly happy to see the back of what had been a nasty Indian Ocean. But the next ocean was only Pacific by name as some would soon discover… Meanwhile, Mich’ Desj’ extended his lead over the three chasing after him. Further back, Vincent Riou and Armel Le Cléac’h were not giving up and were ready to take advantage of any weaknesses to get back up there. On 23rd December, the leading boats crossed the halfway point in the race.
A stormy Christmas Eve
Justifying its reputation as a most inhospitable place, the Pacific was not about to hand the Vendée Globe skippers any presents for Christmas. Quite the reverse! They were all to face a series of low-pressure areas generating violent winds and boat-breaking seas. They might well have hoped for a finer present. But in spite of the difficulties, some were determined to make the most of things, like Armel Le Cléac’h: “It’s Christmas, even if on board it’s a bit rock n’ roll. Not the ideal conditions to enjoy the presents, but it’s nice anyway. I made myself a good meal last night – a bit of duck and some red wine, which makes a change from desalinated water.” Forced to stop in the deserted Auckland Islands to repair his mast track, which had snapped off, Marc Guillemot also experienced a rather unusual Christmas in amongst the seals and sea elephants.
During the radio sessions, the vocabulary used by the sailors said it all about the extreme conditions they were going through. “Impressive!” declared Roland Jourdain. “Sheer hell,” stated Jean Le Cam. “The sort of thing that could unhinge someone,” confirmed Vincent Riou. And that is just to give you a taste. In fact, rarely had we heard such experienced sailors use such highly emotive terms.
“Squalls in excess of 65 knots”
On 26th December, another shock. Sébastien Josse, who was in forth place at the time, paid the cost of the fury of the elements. Swept along by a huge breaker, his boat was right over on her side for several minutes with the top of the mast in the water, but she would finally right herself. “I was taking it carefully with three reefs in the main and the staysail,” explained Sébastien. “But the conditions were just so horrendous with huge breakers and squalls in excess of 65 knots with hail and snow!” The skipper of BT would set off again, but the damage resulting from this incident would force him to throw in the towel on 29th December. A wise but painful decision for Sébastien: “The harsh law of the Vendée Globe has delivered its judgement and now it’s time for me to go.”
The list of damage and boats being forced to retire grew longer each day. On 29th, a few hours after Seb Josse, the Canadian Derek Hatfield also retired, after breaking his spreaders. Then, on 31st December, Jean-Pierre Dick hit a growler and was also forced out. The Southern Ocean would just keep going with the punishment…
On the first day of 2009, there were fifteen boats still in the race out of the thirty that had set sail from les Sables-d’Olonne: half of the fleet had been forced to retire. There was an ocean between the leaders – heading towards the legendary Cape Horn– and the tail-enders who were still sailing in the Indian Ocean. At the front, the fight was still on between Michel Desjoyeaux, Roland Jourdain and Jean Le Cam. There was still a long way to go to get to Les Sables-d’Olonne and some competitors would continue to suffer. But that is another story…
