Vendée Globe’s Surprises, Excitement, and Challenges
by Mark Jardine 10 Dec 12:00 PST
Yoann Richomme on Paprec Arkea – 2024 Vendée Globe © polaRYSE / Paprec Arkea
I have to confess something… I’m obsessed with the Vendée Globe. Every morning, I check the tracker, and I look at each update (it refreshes every four hours).
Following the ups and downs of the Vendée Globe has become an obsession for countless fans, and this tenth edition is delivering an abundance of thrill. The fleet of forty IMOCA yachts marks a record for this race, and remarkably, only two skippers have retired so far, which is unusually low since the Vendée Globe usually experiences a high dropout rate.
The Vendée Globe is quintessentially French. Commencing and concluding in Les Sables d’Olonne, it is associated with the Vendée region and has only ever been won by French skippers, a trend likely to continue, as the top six in the current standings are all French. Sam Goodchild is currently the leading ‘international’ skipper in seventh place, impressively sailing a previous generation IMOCA.
This leads me to discuss the latest IMOCA designs – they are remarkably fast. I lost track, but I believe the solo 24-hour record for a monohull has been surpassed nine times so far during this race, and it seems probable that the latest record will be broken again shortly.
It all kicked off on November 13 when Nico Lunven on Holcim-PRB made a bold maneuver to the west while traversing the North Atlantic, covering 546.60 nautical miles in 24 hours. A week later, Yoann Richomme on Paprec Arkéa raised the bar to 551.84 nautical miles before the Doldrums slowed him down.
Then came a ‘Manic Monday,’ where Thomas Ruyant (Vulnerable), Nicolas Lunven (Holcim – PRB), Charlie Dalin (MACIF Santé Prévoyance), Sébastien Simon (Groupe Dubreuil), Jérémie Beyou (Charal), and Yoann Richomme (Paprec Arkéa) all pushed the limits higher, with Richomme ultimately achieving the highest total at 579.86 miles.
Sébastien Simon on Groupe Dubreuil then elevated the challenge on November 27 by first breaking through the 600nm barrier and then accelerating to an impressive 615.33 nautical miles in 24 hours. This will need confirmation from the World Speed Sailing Record Council (WSSRC), but solo sailors are now nearing the crewed monohull record of 640.48nm.
How anyone can rest on a yacht at these speeds, inside a carbon hull that amplifies sound, with foils screaming and wind whistling through the rigging, is beyond comprehension. The endurance displayed by Vendée Globe sailors is on an entirely different level.
With forty boats competing, the tactical possibilities are captivating. Observing how sailors managed the first major storm in the Indian Ocean as the depression approached gave us tense moments. The wind visualizations shift from green to yellow, then red to purple as the intensity increases, leaving you hoping for their safe transit.
The latest foiling IMOCAs can indeed outrun storms, making strategic positioning more crucial than ever. It resembles a surfer preparing for a breaking wave, but magnified to the scale of a massive low-pressure system stretching a thousand miles wide. During the Indian Ocean storm, Charlie Dalin on MACIF Santé Prévoyance successfully stayed on the eastern flank of the system, while Sébastien Simon on Groupe Dubreuil fell behind, losing over one hundred nautical miles as if he were riding off a wave’s back.
Video has increasingly become part of our editorial efforts, and the Vendée Globe has provided a perfect opportunity to grow our YouTube presence. Earlier this year, I tried out a studio-style presentation, which required some adjustment as well as a few tech changes, but we were ready to deliver daily updates from the race.
With YouTube, you can never be sure what content will shine and what will sink, but so far, our updates have been well-received on the channel, racking up 1.4 million views in the last 28 days. If you haven’t checked it out yet, please visit YouTube.com/@Sail-World, and if you enjoy it, subscribe for notifications on new updates.
The Vendée Globe is one of those unique events, akin to the America’s Cup, SailGP, Olympics, and The Ocean Race, that can bring sailing to a wider audience beyond its usual dedicated fans. It’s a fantastic chance to inspire new participants in the sport, who might see it and think, ‘I want to experience that.’ With the increasing number of international skippers participating and their large numbers of followers, I truly believe we can leverage the event for the betterment of the sport.
I also believe that traditional TV broadcast for events is becoming less critical. Audience habits for consuming video content have been shifting for years, to the point where mastering the YouTube algorithm may prove more valuable for sports than landing a broadcasting deal. The temptation for sensationalism to attract views is always present, but thankfully, there remains an audience for concise and understated video journalism.
The burning question, though, is whether our regular sailing resembles a modern IMOCA? Much of the sailing in the Vendée Globe now happens within a fully enclosed cockpit. The tiller is hardly used 99% of the time, as autopilots handle that task, and while the sailors are tossed around, much of the race resembles a desk job, analyzing wind charts and routing alternatives. Has the Vendée Globe become a curious reflection of contemporary life?
Nevertheless, I am continuously impressed by the skippers in the Vendée Globe. The IMOCA boats are incredibly powerful and demand constant attention to stay operational. Neglecting to check everything continuously can lead to calamity. Pushing too hard can result in exhaustion, both for the boats and the sailors, as evidenced by record-breaker Sébastien Simon on Groupe Dubreuil suffering foil loss days ago – are these incidents linked?
It’s an incredible race, and if you’re not already following it, I highly suggest you do, but be warned… it’s addictive.
Mark Jardine
Managing editor of Sail-World.com and YachtsandYachting.com
