Le Cléac’h victorious in Vendee Globe
BY ADMIN • MARCH 23, 2017 • OLDER, RACING • COMMENTS OFF • 97
39 year old Breton sailing Armel le Cléac’h crossing the finish line as victor in the 2016/7 Vendee Globe race. Credit: Jean-Marie Liot / DPPI / VENDEE GLOBE.
The latest edition of this iconic solo non-stop round the world race has again proved exhilarating for competitors and spectators alike. Held only once every four years, it’s easily the world’s biggest sporting challenge, with competitors in full-on race mode day and night for the best part of three months.
This year was the first in which foils, that increase righting moment and partially lift the boat out of the water, were allowed by the IMOCA 60 class. Seven of the 29-strong fleet were equipped this year – one older boat to which foils had been retrofitted, along with the six new vessels.
The front of the fleet saw a thrilling chase between Britain’s Alex Thomson in Hugo Boss and France’s Armel Le Cléac’h and his Banque Populaire Vlll. The former held a narrow 120-mile lead in the South Atlantic Ocean when an unidentified floating object irreparably damaged his starboard foil. Incredibly, Thomson held the lead for a further week before Le Cléac’h overtook.
Le Cléac’h arriving in port where he was greeted by hundreds of thousands of supporters
Four days later the British skipper was back in front, but his lead didn’t last and at Cape Horn the Frenchman was 1,000 miles ahead. Yet Thomson closed the gap to less than 35 miles, within three hundred miles of the finish, having set a new world record of 536.8 miles in 24 hours. It was a thrilling finale to a race that again set a new record pace – le Cléac’h’s time, just short of 74 days and four hours, shaved almost four days off Francois Gabert’s winning time in 2012/13. A measure of this is that it’s little more than 20 years since a fully crewed giant multihull first completed a circumnavigation in under 80 days.
This is by no means a race in which the leaders have had the bulk of the headlines. Simply completing the course is a massive achievement – the historical attrition rate is around 50 per cent and more people have been in space than have finished the Vendee Globe. This year, with just 11 of the fleet retiring to date, has been better than most.
Rich Wilson, a 66-year-old American with severe asthma finished in 13th place, shaving 14 days off his previous time in the 2008/9 edition of the race and becoming the fastest American circumnavigator. His story is a truly inspiring one that he shared on a daily basis with 750,000 young people in 55 countries via his multi faceted educational programme.
Four boats remain at sea, including Conrad Colman, who cruelly lost his rig after 23,000 miles and is now sailing slowly towards the finish line under a jury rig he erected without outside assistance. At the time of writing he was less than 200 miles from the finish at the French port of Les Sables d’Olonne and making a speed of six knots.
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