Vendée Globe Boat Dismasted

Alone in the Southern Ocean, even in summer, is not to be taken lightly. Blue Monday, Hare dismasted, Seguin reflects. Richomme homing in on leader. | Vendée Globe 2024

After being dismasted last night at around 2145hrs UTC some 800 miles south of Australia Pip Hare has secured Medallia and has already set a jury rig and, bitterly disappointed, is making slow but steady progress. She is uninjured but her indefatigable spirit has taken a big hit.

The fleet encountered some bad weather.

Hare is unfortunately not the only one with difficulties. Faced with a breakage on part of his rigging, The Hungarian sailor Szabolcs Weöres (New Europe, 38th) seems to be sailing towards South Africa

Antoine Cornic was forced to stop near an island that is about 2400 miles west of Australia, to try and make repairs.

There is a one minute video at this link from Guirec Soudée showing what the sea state is.

They will have been alone at sea for 36 days, when you read this.

Vendée Globe Race Update

Alone. Nonstop. Around the World. No Assistance. That is the Vendée Globe.

The tenth running of the Vendée Globe race is underway. It began on November 10th. The race begins and ends in Les Sables-d'Olonne, which is in the Département of Vendée, in France.

The boats are strung out from just east of the Cape of Good Hope to south of Tasmania, with the 10 leading boats being south of Australia, or farther along. Pacific beckons tomorrow for Dalin | Vendée Globe 2024

Leader Charlie Dalin (MACIF Santé Prévoyance) has less than a day left in the Indian Ocean and probably one more gybe to make before the Pacific, his lead over Seb Simon (Groupe Dubreuil) staying quite steady as the second placed skipper still maintains equable speeds even without a functioning starboard foil.

This is a French race, and the French take offshore sailing seriously. 8 of the 10 lead boats are being sailed by French sailors. The vast majority of sailors in the race of French.

You can find the race tracker at this link. From Australia, they sail to Cape Horn, and then back up the Atlantic to France. After more then a month of sailing, the leaders are not halfway to the finish line.

While this video is taken from the 2020 Vendée Globe, it shows the Imoca 60 monohull in action. That is the boat used by all sailors in the race. Vendee Globe 2020 and the insane IMOCA 60 foiling yachts. The video is about 2 minutes.

The Southern Ocean is Unforgiving

I haven't been following the Vendée Globe too closely this year, but something worth noting took place. Inside the Dramatic Rescue of a Sailor in the Grueling, Around-the-World Vendée Globe Race

To rescue someone lost in the Southern Ocean is a miracle.

The Vendée Globe is a singlehanded, non-stop, around-the-world race in which no outside assistance is allowed. Say it again. Alone. Around-the-world. Nonstop. No assistance.

On 30 November PRB skipper Kevin Escoffier's boat broke up and sank in the Southern Ocean about 850 miles SW of Cape Town. It may be summer in the Southern Hemisphere, but the water is still brutally cold. He barely had time to get into his survival suit and life raft.

Four other skippers in the race diverted to save him, though one had to retire from the race because of damage to his boat.

One of the most dramatic sea rescues ever in the Vendée Globe happened early yesterday morning when Kevin Escoffier, skipper of the abandoned racing yacht PRB, pulled himself from a life-raft and onto a competitor’s boat in 18-foot swells and howling winds in the Southern Ocean. Jean Le Cam, who had diverted his 60-foot yacht Yes We Cam! to search for Escoffier, had himself been rescued 12 years earlier in this nonstop, single-handed, around-the-world sailing race.

A video (in French with subtitles) lists the conditions as wave height (or troughs) as 4 to 5 meters. That means crest to trough is 8 to 10 meters. In 30 knots of wind. That is the Southern Ocean.

Escoffier was rescued, and the 3 remaining skippers were awarded time for their rescue efforts.

The Southern Ocean is a band of water that runs around Antarctica, south of South America, Africa and Australia. It is, mostly, an uninterrupted band of water. With no continents in the way to act as windbreak, the winds can be fierce. The Roaring 40s start at 40 degrees south. And then there are the Furious 50s, where Gale-force winds are common year-round. (That means tropical-storm-level winds approaching hurricane strength, but not associated with a tropical depression.) Dame Ellen MacArthur, who briefly held the record for the fastest, solo circumnavigation, noted that when you are in the Southern Ocean, the closest people may be the astronauts in the International Space Station.