Dorange and Le Turquais – the thrill of daggerboard racing in the Vendée Globe
by Ed Gorman / IMOCA Globe Series 4 Dec 16:31 GMT
Tanguy Le Turquais - Vendée Globe © Tanguy Le Turquais / Lazare
In recent days the focus in the Vendée Globe has been on the latest foilers, as the leading boats take on heavy weather in the Southern Indian Ocean. But further west, the daggerboard skippers in older boats are enjoying a spectacular race too.
This morning the veteran French skipper Jean Le Cam, (Tout commence en Finistère - Armor Lux), is leading the daggerboard fleet in 20th position overall, with fellow Frenchman Benjamin Ferré, (Monnoyeur-Duo For a Job), just 55 miles behind him in 21st position, as they approach the longitude of the Cape of Good Hope.
The next two in that fleet are the 35-year-old French skipper Tanguy Le Turquais on Lazare, almost 100 nautical miles behind Le Cam, and then youngest skipper ever to start the Vendée Globe, his fellow countrywoman Violette Dorange, who is attempting this non-stop, solo and unassisted round-the-world race at the age of just 23. Dorange on board Devenir, is about 145 miles behind Le Cam who has been a mentor to her in the build-up.
Both of these skippers have enjoyed excellent starts to their circumnavigation and both are relishing the challenge of their first Vendée Globe. Speaking to the Class as her boat - raced by Le Cam to fourth place in the last Vendée Globe - surfed downwind about 420 miles west of the Cape of Good Hope, Dorange spoke of the thrill of fulfilling her dream.
"For me, just crossing into the Southern Hemisphere was a huge milestone," she said. "Experiencing the Doldrums, seeing weather systems reversed in the Southern Hemisphere - all of that was brand new to me. And now, since yesterday, I've been discovering the Southern Ocean: the cold, the birds, the waves becoming completely chaotic. It's just incredible - I really feel like I'm sailing round the world."
Le Turquais, a competitive Mini and former Figaro sailor, whose wife Clarisse Crémer (L'Occitane En Provence) is 900 miles ahead of him in 13th place, says the race has been "quite exceptional" so far. "I think it's been like that for everyone at the start of this Vendée Globe," he said. "What has it been, three weeks at sea now? And I've only encountered one front. I've never unfurled a close-hauled sail, never sailed upwind and never used the daggerboard. It's been downwind sailing the entire time since the start, which is pretty extraordinary."
At the helm of the former Groupe Apicil, Le Turquais is in seventh heaven. "Well, yeah...I'm loving every second on the boat," he said. "The speed of the boat is incredibly exhiliarating - the lights, the colours, the wind - everything, absolutely everything. It's just pure happiness from start to finish. For now, I'm not suffering from anything and I'm enjoying it all. It's really pure bliss."
If you are looking for someone suffering from stress, loneliness and angst you are not going to find it from Dorange either. "Even after 24 days, I don't feel lonely or bored at all," she said. "Every day is truly different. Over the past few days there's been a lot of manoeuvring to do. I stay busy analysing the weather, trimming the sails, sleeping and eating. I have plenty to keep me occupied - I read, listen to music and podcasts and write in a journal. I think I have a good rhythm and I feel happy on my boat which is the most important thing. I'm really happy to be here - it's so cool."
Le Turquais loves to sail with music filling his cockpit. He says sailing without a soundtrack is like watching a movie with no voices. This time he has been rediscovering an old playlist from his teenage years featuring the French hip-hop group Sniper. "I can't stop listening to it right now," he joked. Another favourite on board Lazare right now is the French singer Renaud.
Up ahead lies the big challenge of the long stretch through the Southern Ocean, but Dorange is feeling good about what's to come. "Right now, I'm in the first depression to hit us and it's a strong one. During the first squall of this system, I got caught off-guard by 42-43 knots of wind. Everything suddenly turned white with the waves and it felt strange. But this first depression is actually reassuring in a way. It's helping me to prepare for the next one, which will be even stronger. This first experience is helping me get a sense of what to expect with the waves, how accurate the weather forecasts are and how strong the gusts might be," she said.
For this remarkable young sailor from La Rochelle, who completed an English Channel crossing in an Optimist dinghy at the age of 15, the ranking in the daggerboard fleet is not particularly important, even though she is well-placed in the top-four out of 15. "At the moment it's mostly about survival - getting through the race without breaking the boat or encountering too many problems. My main goal is to pass the Cape of Good Hope and the idea is to focus on finishing the race safely and completing the circumnavigation," she said.
Le Turquais, however, is intriguing on this subject. On the one hand he says he just wants to do his absolute best and he doesn't care about the top-three, but then he says: "I'll only be satisfied once I've overtaken Benji (Ferré) and Jean - that's for sure. I'll do everything I can to catch up with them. If I give it my all and can't reach them, it means they've done well against me. And that's OK - there won't be any regrets. But for now, I'll give it my all to try to catch them."
He seems to have no qualms about taking the Big South for the first time alone. "I'm actually looking forward to what's ahead," said Le Turquais. "I'm excited to get to the Indian Ocean and discover it, even though I know it's a tough and unpleasant ocean. But I'm eager to get there - and also eager to get through it."
And he gave a fascinating insight into the mind of a single-hander when he talked about his mental preparation in case something bad happens. "I find myself several times-a day," he said, "going through mental checklists and asking myself: 'If this breaks and I have to end up in my liferaft, what do I need to take?' I list it in my head: 'I'll take this, this, and this.'
"That's something you don't really do in other races," he added. "I think it's quite specific to the Vendée Globe, to always expect the worst. Honestly, I feel like I constantly have the Sword of Damocles hanging over my head."
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