Thomas Siniecki, Media365: published on Wednesday December 4, 2024 at 8:03 p.m.
We know that the conditions are sometimes becoming dire in the Vendée Globe this week. You have to have a strong heart.
Yannick Bestaven tries to joke as best he can, in the heart of this sometimes quite crazy depression in the Indian Ocean. With a little dedication to a famous Parisian funfair: “It's the roller coaster of the Trône fair, it goes up, it goes down, it accelerates and it decelerates. The good thing is that it lasts all day , no need to go back to the cashier to get a ticket.” The winner of the Vendée Globe (winner in 2021 after time compensation, when he had crossed the line in third), located only in ninth place at the last score on Wednesday 7 p.m., is seeking to move as far north as possible to do not take too many inconsiderate risks (off the coast of Reunion, to summarize, but all the same about 4,000 km to the south).
“I found myself upside down, feet and mast in the water”
And the night from Tuesday to Wednesday was not easy for the skipper of Maître CoQ: “I was sleeping peacefully when the front passed over me, I set off to bear down and found myself at the upside down, feet and mast in the water.” But nothing so serious, ultimately, on the scale of an extreme sailor… Who obviously manages to remain focused on the athlete and the circumstances of the race.
“The most complicated thing is to move the boat forward in this roller coaster. The sea is rough, yet it is not very big, it must perhaps be 3.5 meters, but it is in all the sense. Thrill-seeker, it's the IMOCA in the South Seas, downwind with 35 knots, it's nice! What was most important to the Nazairien was to then put everything back in order without breaking the mainsail battens, an operation which went rather well according to the person concerned. See you in the next storm!