Three boats in 3 hours: Yann Eliès fifth and Jean Le Cam sixth in the Vendée Globe
by Andi Robertson 25 Jan 2017 18:27 GMT
25 January 2017
Vendée Globe history was made today when three solo skippers crossed the finish line at one after the other within three hours of each other, the closest finish between a trio of boats since the solo non stop around the world race was first contested in 1989.
Jean Pierre Dick crossed the finish line at 13:47:45hrs UTC to secure fourth place for the second consecutive time. Yann Eliès exorcised the ghosts of his horrific 2008-9 accident when he broke the finish line at the Nouch Buoy to complete the Vendée Globe for the first time at 15:13:09hrs UTC, one hour and 25 minutes after Dick. In fifth place Eliès' Quéguiner-Leucemie Espoir is the first IMOCA configured with straight daggerboards as opposed to the new generation foils. One hour and 30 minutes later, at 16:43:54hrs Jean Le Cam brought his Finistère Mer Vent across the finish line to take sixth place.
The trio were largely compressed together by a big storm to the south of Australia. Dick routed over 400 miles to the north to pass through the Bass Strait, the first Vendée Globe skipper ever to route north of Tasmania in order to avoid the worst of the violent weather. Meanwhile Eliès and Le Cam slowed and rode out the worst of the weather in the south of the system, Eliès spending more than 24 hours hove to in gale force winds. On his foil assisted latest generation St Michel-Virbac, Dick was able to build his lead again but was caught each time in calms. Eliès and Le Cam spent long periods racing in close proximity to each other. Suspense held right into the final hours of their race. Dick's lead of 70 miles last night was cut to seven at one point before he was able to extend away when the breeze finally build again for him this morning.
Dick admitted that although he was disappointed to have missed his target, a place on the podium, he was satisfied to have held off the attacks of the two highly experienced and successful French skippers, Eliès and Le Cam, both three times winners of La Solitaire du Figaro, the one design solo offshore stage race which remains the proving and training ground for French ocean racers. Indeed, for his tenacity in fending off Le Cam and himself, both three times winners of La Solitaire du Figaro, Yann Eliès decreed JP Dick an ‘honorary Figariste' when they shared the same stage this afternoon. “It was good in our race within the race, competing against such incredible skippers as Yann and Jean with a lot of experience and it gives me a good feeling to finish ahead of them. The podium was my target and so to miss out is disappointing,” admitted Dick. “There were a lot of calms and a lot of comebacks. It was good for spectators but hard for me.”
Dick's St Michel Virbac IMOCA spent last winter being structurally reinforced after problems forced him out of last autumn's Transat Jacques Vabre, the new boat's maiden race. The skipper who originates from Nice pointed to his lack of time on his boat, not knowing the fine detail of how to trim and set up his boat in the first weeks of the race, as the root cause of his initial losses to the top five boats. “I am happy to get back. I enjoy being at sea. But I missed the knowledge of the boat, the small details, I missed the keys to the boat in the first weeks and that was hard psychologically. To lose 500 miles was hard psychologically. I felt like I was missing little things like how to set up and trim the boat, the finesse. But I had a good climb back up the Atlantic to start with.”
Eliès was objective, admitting that he thought memories of his 2008-9 accident and rescue would not really affect him as much as they did. “I watched Jérémie Beyou's press conference and was very moved by what he said. It didn't really surprise me because we're so close out on the water and in life. I may well have said that the accident wasn't a problem, but I realised in the first few hours that it was affecting me. I found it hard to settle into the race. It was hard leaving the family behind. I hadn't realised it was going to be so hard. Then I started to have a few technical problems with my sails. Gradually I overcame the problems and managed to exorcise that moment from my life. This Vendée Globe resembled how I imagined it with my team and sponsors – a reasonable approach. Eighty days is long, so finding myself in a battle with Jean-Pierre and Jean kept me busy. I preferred the 52 and 60-day Jules Verne attempts as 80 days is so long. Next time I'll go on a foiler! I was a bit worried when JP went through the Bass Strait and I got my fingers burned. I told myself a little bit more wind and I would really have been in a mess and not be able to bring the boat home safely.”
Figures:
4. Jean Pierre Dick, St Michel-Virbac, Elapsed Time 80d 01h 45m 45s, +5d 22h 09m 59s after first, average 12.75kts on theoretical route of 24,499.52NMs. Sailed 27,857.09NMs at average of 14.5kts
5. Yann Elies, Quéguiner-Leucemie Espoir, Elapsed Time 80d 03h 11m 09s, +5d 23h 35m 23s, +1h 25m 24s after fourth. 12.74kts average on theoretical course. Sailed 27,138.58NMs at 14.11ktrs
6. Jean Le Cam, Finistere Mer Vent, Elapsed Time 80d 04h 41m 54s, +6d 01h 06m 08s after first, +1h30m45s after 5th, 12.73kts on theoretical course. Sailed 27,114.91Nms at average 14.1kts.
When Yann Eliès crossed the finish line in Les Sables d'Olonne at 1513hrs UTC on Wednesday 25th January to take fifth place, the French skipper achieved his primary goal, conquering the solo non stop round the world race which nearly cost him his life during an epic 2008-9 edition.
Rescued by the Australian Navy after breaking his leg 800 miles south of Australia, Eliès said before the start that only now did he feel mentally and physically strong enough to compete in the Vendée Globe again. The race time for Eliès is 80 days 3 hours 11 minutes and 9 seconds. Eliès sailed 27,132 miles at an average speed of 14.1 knots.
Three times winner of La Solitaire du Figaro Eliès believed that if he could complete the race in good shape then he would not be far from the podium. In fifth he is the first skipper to complete this edition of the race using conventional, straight daggerboards, rather than the foils as used by the top four skippers. Winner Armel Le Cléac'h, second placed Alex Thomson, Jérémie Beyou in third and now fourth placed Jean-Pierre Dick all raced IMOCAs fitted with foils.
The skipper of Quéguiner-Leucémie Espoir has finally exorcised the ghosts of the 2008-9 race with this solid fifth place, and has already stated his desire to compete again in 2020 with a boat and programme capable of winning. He brave return to the Vendée Globe prompted his long time rival Jérémie Beyou to say yesterday how much he admired Eliès. "He wanted a competitive project and it's incredible that he even returned to this race. I'm not sure I would have had the strength to do that after going through what he went through before. I'll be there to hear what he has to say, because what he has done is incredible."
Since the start on 6th November, Yann Eliès has shown that he was one to watch because of his competitiveness, experience and skills, having won among other races three editions of the Solitaire du Figaro. Eliès raced what was the first of the VPLP-Verdier designed boats, the former Safran previously skippered by Marc Guillemot, which came third in the 2008-2009 Vendée Globe and, ironically, the boat on which Guillemot stood by the injured Eliès for two days before rescue arrived.
Off Cape Finisterre, Yann Eliès was in the top ten alongside Paul Meilhat and Jérémie Beyou, and then Sébastien Josse and Vincent Riou. Off the Cape Verde Islands, he was in eighth place, where he remained at the Equator, in spite of a tricky Doldrums passage. Eliès was then sailing ahead of Jean Le Cam and Jean-Pierre Dick, two competitors he would meet up with later in the race. Damage to his mainsail hook led to him lose around fifty miles and this hold-up would cause further losses.
On the way down the South Atlantic, he found a good tactical option. On around 20th November, the seven frontrunners made their getaway and would continue to extend their lead. Huge gaps developed as the leaders extended away on a low pressure system. Yann Eliès found himself 300, then 800 and almost 1200 miles behind the leaders and it looked like he would get punished again along with some others, who would find themselves in a completely different race over 3000 miles back from the leaders.
Eliès tried a daring option sailing down a narrow a strip of wind to cut across the South Atlantic. It worked out and at the Cape of Good Hope, Quéguiner-Leucémie Espoir had managed to limit the damage to a thousand miles. In sixth position in the Indian Ocean ahead of Jean Le Cam and Jean-Pierre Dick, he put his race on hold for 24 hours when he was forced to slow down to let a huge southern storm arriving from Madagascar go by. There he found himself alone in the Indian Ocean, a long way from Jérémie Beyou ahead of him and Jean Le Cam behind. Eliès crossed the longitude of Cape Leeuwin in fifth place after 33 days and 4 hours on 9th December, 24 hours after Jérémie Beyou.
Duel in the Pacific
The course south of Australia went without hitch for him apart from the gales forcing him to slow down, while those in front got still further ahead. To the south of Australia once more he had to slow down once again as ahead of him winds of between 60 and 80 knots were forecast. Here Jean Le Cam went south while Jean-Pierre Dick headed north to go through the Bass Strait. It was after that that the three would get back together again south of New Zealand... and they would remain together for the second half of the race around the world. In the Pacific, Dick got ahead thanks largely to his foils. But Yann Eliès and Jean Le Cam found themselves sailing alongside each other. On 30th December at Cape Horn they went round one after the other, Jean-Pierre Dick went by at 0634hrs, followed by Jean Le Cam at 1548hrs, with Yann Eliès rounding just under an hour later. Emerging safely from the south Eliès was even more determined to complete the circle and complete this Vendée Globe. Dick went for a different option passing through the Le Maire Strait and east of the Falklands around the same time as Eliès tore the leech of his mainsail. But the former sailmaker was able to repair the damage.
In the climb back up the Atlantic, Yann Eliès and Jean Le Cam stuck together, crossing the Equator just half an hour apart after 67 days on 13th January. As they rounded the Azores high, Eliès even had Jean-Pierre Dick in his sights. The two of them attempted to ta
Jean Le Cam sixth in the Vendée Globe
Jean Le Cam added to his reputation as one of the most renowned and popular skippers in the history of the Vendée Globe when the 57 year old veteran of four consecutive editions finished in sixth place today off Les Sables d'Olonne.
After struggling to find funding, under the strapline 'Yes We Cam' his nationwide initiative secured a late funding package, a mix of crowd funding and sponsorships which ensured he could compete in this eighth edition of the solo non stop round the world race. 'King Jean' as he became known when he won La Solitaire du Figaro three times, will be remembered in this race for his incredible duel with Yann Eliès which has rumbled on since they came together early in the Pacific. His familiar unique style of video and his particular turn of phrase have long since become part of the Vendée Globe lore.
Finishing his fourth attempt at the Vendée Globe at 1643hrs UTC, Jean Le Cam just missed out on the symbolic 80 days, finishing in 80 days 4 hours 41 minutes and 54 seconds, just behind fourth placed Jean-Pierre Dick and fifth placed Yann Eliès. He sailed 27,141 miles at an average speed of 14.1 knots. It is the third time that the Breton sailor from Port-La-Forêt has crossed the finish in the Vendée Globe his best being second place in 2004-2005 and fifth in 2012-2013. In 2008-9 he capsized 200 miles west of Cape Horn and was rescued by Vincent Riou.
In spite of his amazing list of successes, Jean Le Cam was far from certain of being able to take part, as he found it hard to find sponsors. Thanks in part to a crowdfunding campaign, he was finally able to line up at the start on 6th November. With his Finistère Mer Vent, the Farr designed boat that Michel Desjoyeaux sailed to victory in the 2008-2009 race and which Le Cam won the Barcelona World Race with Bernard Stamm in 2015, he has once again proven a wily, solid competitor whose experience on the race course is second to none in the fleet. In Les Sables d'Olonne before the start he said. "On paper, I should be in the top ten or twelve. I think there will probably be five ahead of me, so I could be in the top six or seven..."
While he got off to a steady, unspectacular start, Jean Le Cam kept pushing hard. By the third day of the race, he was already engaged in a duel with Yann Eliès. If the start was difficult, Le Cam had his own solution to feel better. "I'm having a big meal today. Beef and carrots, Haribo sweets, meat paste. And I even found some butter." Yann Eliès made his getaway, while Jean was doing battle with Jean-Pierre Dick and Thomas Ruyant. Meanwhile, his record to the Equator dating back to 2004 was smashed by Alex Thomson (Hugo Boss) after 9 days, 7 hours and 2 minutes of sailing, which meant the British skipper shaved one day and four hours off Le Cam's record.
On the fifteenth day of racing, Le Cam started a trend he would continue throughout the race. In his videos he would move the camera around saying, "Clack, clack, clack." On social media, the slogan became even more famous than his "Yes We Cam."
Le Cam rounded Cape Horn after 23 days, 10 hours and 21 minutes. The Indian Ocean had its highs and low points. There was some pleasant weather, but then it turned very nasty with winds reaching sixty knots. He crossed the longitude of Cape Leeuwin after 34 days 7 hours and 28 minutes. On 12th December, off Tasmania, Jean Le Cam had to weather the storm. He slowed down to let a deep low go by with winds forecast to be around sixty knots. It was impossible to avoid it completely, so Jean stayed to the south close to the edge of the Antarctic Exclusion Zone. This proved to be a good option, as he got back up with his close rivals (Dick and Eliès). Once the storm was behind him, Finistère Mer Vent faced the mighty Pacific. "Firmin, please don't take that wave! Firmin is good, but sometimes she does what she wants. I find it hard to get the staff at the moment," joked Le Cam in his idiosyncratic style, talking about his autopilot which he name Firmin. He had Christmas in the Pacific and rounded the Horn a week later. "This is the only mechanical sport, where 80% of the time, the pilot looks behind him. We look at the helm and the waves. It's quite surprising. But there are times when it's not much fun looking ahead."
His sixth Cape Horn
Yann Eliès and Jean Le Cam became inseparable for the rest of the race regularly changing places with each other. They even sailed within sight of each other and chatted on the VHF. Jean Le Cam rounded Cape Horn for the sixth time: four times in the Vendée Globe (2004-2005, 2008-2009, 2012-2013 and 2016-2017), once in the double-handed Barcelona World Race (2014-2015) and once in the crewed Whitbread with Eric Tabarly.
After two months of racing, Yann Eliès was only a dozen miles ahead. After this length of time at sea, most skippers are fed up with their freeze-dried food. But that was not a problem for Le Cam "Freeze-dried stuff is for lazy people, who don't want to do any stacking. My food comes to 60kg, freeze-dried to 30kg. So to save thirty kilos, they eat crap food." Last week, Le Cam talked about his duel with Quéguiner-Leucémie Espoir. "I've been hanging out with Yann since Tasmania, which means we have spent more than half the trip together! It's a story within the big story."
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