We’re not sure what Phileas Fogg would have made of the being alone on a 60 foot foiling racing yacht in the Southern Ocean, but French sailor Yannick Bestaven has just achieved his very own Around the World in 80 days to become the winner of the 9th edition of the Vendee Globe, the toughest yacht race in the world onboard Maître CoQ IV.
Although 3rd to cross the finish line in Les Sablesd’Olonne (France), he was due 10 hours and 15 minutes redress for assisting in the rescue of fellow competitor Kevin Escoffier whose yacht sadly broke in 2 and sank earlier in the race. This compensation shifted line honours finisher, Charlie Dalin into 2nd place and 2nd home, Louis Burton into 3rd.
With Bestaven having completed the 28,583 miles at an average speed of 14.78 knots, amazingly less than 24 hours separated the finish times for 8 of the 33 starters. The attrition rate is often very high, with over a 3rd of the 29 entrants from the last race in 2016 retiring mainly from dis-mastings and collisions with unidentified objects. 8 of this editions racers have retired to this point with huge disappointments for 2 UK sailors, Alex Thomson and Sam Davies. Thomson exit from the race will have felt more bitter given the fact that a win was snatched from him in the last edition due to foil damage close to the the end of the race forcing him to settle with a very commendable 2nd place. This result has never been bettered by a UK entrant with Ellen Macarthur also taking 2nd place in the 2000/01 race.
The 2016/17 Vendee Globe saw the course record shattered by Armel Le Cléac’h to bring the circumnavigation time to just 74 days. The lighter conditions and weather patterns in this year’s race however prevented another record despite the technological advances in foiling technology employed by the newer boats. Compare these times to the first ever non-stop circumnavigation by Sir Robin Knox-Johnston of 313 days back in 1969 and you really see how things have come on! So far in this race, the best distance achieved in a 24 hour period has been 515.3 nautical miles with highest 24 hour speed of 21.5 knots both from Thomas Ruyant onboard LinkedOut.
We wish all the very best to the sailors still on the water and know that regardless of their placing in the race that they should be immensely proud of joining a very exclusive group of less than 100 sailors that will have sailed single handed non-stop around the world… less than the number that have climbed Everest. It’s therefore no coincidence that the race is often said to be the Everest of the sailing world!
