Sail with New Freebooters

Let’s look at three round-the-world challenges that are taking place right now:

• The Volvo Ocean Race - crewed boats, multiple legs, fixed schedule.
• The Vendée Globe - singlehanded, fixed schedule. No pit stops allowed, but competitors can restart during the first few days.
• Singlehanded Round The World Record - competitor chooses start date. No pit stops allowed.

Competitors are now showing their form, and the potential winners have three things in common:

• The shore teams have superb project management and quality control. They have had time to make sure everything works and they have checked everything that can be checked.
• The skippers and crews are in control. They have put in enough sailing time under enough different conditions, and against benchmark competitors, to be confident that they know how to get the best out of their boats under all weather conditions.
• The skippers have the self-discipline and stamina to set whatever pace seems necessary to give them a good chance of winning.

Of course, even perfect preparation and an ‘ice man’ skipper is still no guarantee of winning. Ocean weather and sea state are chaotic systems, and freak conditions occur. The sea contains a liberal scattering of things to bump into, trip over or get tangled up in. At best they slow you down until you cut them adrift, but at worst they  can do serious damage and even put you out of the race. Both the Volvo and the Vendée have already had their fair share of such incidents.

In the Volvo, Torben Grael and Ericsson 4 are clearly the best-prepared and most experienced team, which has allowed them to drive harder than anyone else, even maintaining a lead in the first leg in spite of having to drop off an injured crew member who was one of their two ace helmsmen.

The Vendée Globe is particularly exciting because several boat/skipper teams appear to have what it takes to win. Mike Golding tried too hard, misjudged the start and had to return. Michel Desjoyeaux’ shore team missed a trick and allowed him to start the race with a problem that meant he had to return, restarting more than a day late. But both of them sailed so fast that they are now among the leaders.

Loïc Peyron lead the Vendée fleet on the wy to the Indian Ocean for about a week, but suddenly lost his mast during the next phase without knowing why. Did the shore team miss a trick somewhere? He’s not the only one to lose a mast or suffer rig failure, but because of his reputation and that of the Gitana Eighty team, everyone is surprised.

As for Thomas Coville and Sodeb’O, I find them both fascinating to watch. Coville goes about his job as if he were skippering a flotilla cruise, chatting to the press over his shoulder as he flings a small sports bag aboard and casts off. Even with Sodeb’O porpoising uncomfortably in the short inshore swell as he set out, he looks as if he’s walking on dry land as he moves around. I’d love to see some video footage of Sodeb’O in the southern ocean…