“She knows Dad will be gone for a long time.” The Vendée Globe skippers’ tearing themselves away from the land

“Separation from loved ones is undoubtedly the moment I fear the most.” Le skipper d’Holcim PRB Nicolas Lunvenfather of three young children aged nine, seven and three, is dreading the moment when he leaves the Vendée Globe pontoon this Sunday morning in Les Sables d’Olonne. “It’s still going to be a very long absence. But hey, once we leave, we get into the rhythm of sending each other little news regularly. So, I’m not too worried. They understood that dad was going to leave for a long time, so it’s cringe”, nevertheless smiles the sailor who sets off on his first solo circumnavigation.

“The heartbreak of departure will be for me.” Eric Bellion

“For me, leaving is the most difficult because it’s a tearing away from the earth,” adds the skipper of Stand As One, Eric Bellion. And before his second Vendée Globe there was a change:”I’m a dad. Léna is two and a half years old. I explain to him. She knows I’ll be gone for a long time. But hey, the heartbreak of departure will be for me. Because I know that she is well surrounded and that time is not going to pass in the same way for me.” “You never get used to that, I tell them that it’s a choice and that their dad is living a dream by participating in this sailing trip around the world, but it’s still a bit painful.” confess Louis Burton skipper of Bureau Vallée, third in the previous edition and who will set off for his fourth Vendée Globe.

“You never get used to that.” Louis Burton

Clarisse Crémerone of the six sailors present on the starting line aboard the Occitane en Provence, will leave her little Mathilda that she had with another skipper, Tanguy le Turquais. “I have been preparing for this uprooting from the earth for a very long time. Since the birth of my daughter, I have been preparing for this Vendée Globe and we have already said something about seeing each other again deep down. But in my head, I have part of my brain. which has already left a little”.

“We already said goodbye a little deep down.” Clarisse Crémer

This will not prevent skippers from staying connected with their loved ones thanks to new technologies and the high-speed internet present on boats. “I like hearing from them and knowing if things are going well at school“, confirms Charlie Dalin skipper of Macif. But there is no doubt that this Sunday, when the IMOCAs set sail from the pontoon between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m., emotion will be at its height among many competitors and their loved ones.

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