56 days at sea, a minimal gap between the leading men, rough southern seas… And hallucinations. For Clarisse Crémer (L'Occitane en Provence) as for her competitors, fatigue and loneliness are felt when heading back up the Atlantic towards the finish in Les Sables-d'Olonne. The leaders, Charlie Dalin (Macif) and Yoann Richomme (Paprec-Arkéa) crossed the equator on Sunday January 5.
Between the temptation to do everything possible to move forward and not fall behind, and that of voluntarily lowering the pace to rest, the equation is not simple for skippers. But be careful, “lack of sleep, intense and prolonged effort, lack of nutritional or cognitive resources, and absence of physical support” can lead to a loss of lucidity, underlines Yves Lambert, one of the doctors who take turns to ensure the state of health of the skippers, quoted on the official website of the race.
“I'm officially starting to go crazy, I'm sailing like crazy, I'm doing everything backwards. I'm a little tired, I don't really know what I'm talking about anymore, I think I need to go to sleep, says Clarisse Crémer in a video. My eyes close on their own, I must have slept two or three hours in the last 24 hours. I think I'm hallucinating from being tired. For a few seconds I felt like I was in Auvergne going up and down hills. It's not like a dream at all, it's like a realistic feeling. Sometimes when I'm burnt out, I have the impression that there is someone in the cockpit who is sailing for me.”.
But when lucidity is lacking, the consequences can be dangerous. “It may be a drop in performance, failure of automation systems or even more dramatically breakages, a breakdown, an injury, abandonment or even a fall at sea”warns Yves Lambert.
Benjamin Ferré (Monnoyeur – DUO for a JOB), for example, received a free warning at the beginning of December. “Just now, I forgot half a listen (rope used to adjust the angle of a sail), that I didn't get hooked on. I came out of my nap, and she had done a thousand laps. Fortunately, I got through it, but little stupidities like that are expensive. The South Seas are very demanding, the slightest careless error is an immediate sanction.” he then explained in a video.
And when we know that victory was decided for 2h30 between Yannick Bestaven and Charlie Dalin during the 2020-2021 edition, the skippers have no room for error. At 3 p.m. on Sunday, only 128 nautical miles still separated the current leader from his pursuer, Yoann Richomme.
