A record Vend\u00e9e Globe fleet set off in near perfect conditions, but bigger breezes could bring an early test for the fleet with a low pressure system forecast within 48 hoursLES SABLES D\u2019OLONNE, FRANCE – NOVEMBER 8: Fleet is taking the start of the Vendee Globe sailing race in les Sables d\u2019Olonne, France, on November 8, 2020. (Photo by Jean-Louis Carli\/Alea)\u00a0
\nAfter the strangest of departure days, the Vend\u00e9e Globe fleet set off this afternoon at 1420 local time.\u00a0To start an around the world race is always an enormous relief, but this year, more than ever before, the solo skippers will have exhaled months of tension when they finally crossed the line off Les Sables d\u2019Olonne.
\nThe additional pressures of preparing for a race in a global pandemic and lockdown continued right to the end \u2013 every skipper had to test negative for Covid-19 48 hours before the start, and all 33 entrants were given the all-clear.
\nIn the week leading up to today\u2019s start, the skippers had quarantined themselves away \u2013 some with key members of their team, others with their families. This morning\u2019s departures started for each skipper with a long, lonely walk down near-deserted pontoons, before the boats motored out through an eerily empty channel.<\/p>\n
For those skippers, like Thomson, who had already said their goodbyes to their children and partners, there was time only for a brief, business-like final press interview. Others, including Jeremie Beyou, bade emotional farewells to their loved ones on the dock.
\nDespite a ban on crowds assembling along the canal, enforced by a heavy police presence, Les Sables still delivered an atmosphere. Unable to go to the seafront, fans hung out of apartment windows banging saucepans and cheering each boat. Some committed types had even crept out early to beat the lockdown rules and hung banners and flags along the canal walls.<\/p>\n
Even without the usual roars of the crowd, emotions ran as high as ever, and most skippers\u2019 eyes shone red above their masks. Once they had docked out, the relief became more palpable: Clarisse Cr\u00e8mer beaming her way down the channel. Amongst the intensity there were some lighter moments \u2013 Japanese skipper Kojiro Shiraishi\u00a0arrived in traditional robes waving a ceremonial fighting staff,\u00a0Sebastien Destremau wore a Hazchem suit and mask as a nod to the Covid restrictions.
\nPip Hare was clearly emotional as she readied herself to achieve a life-long dream of starting the Vend\u00e9e on Medallia. \u201cI\u2019m really, really happy, even if it does not look like it,\u201d she joked through the tears.
\n\u201cI am really nervous. I can\u2019t believe this day has arrived. In one way I can\u2019t imagine what is ahead of me and in another way I can imagine every single minute of it. I just want to go out and find out if this thing will be as amazing as I have always thought it will be. But I think it is going to be better.\u201d
\nPhoto by Olivier Blanchet\/Alea
\nWhile the fishing town of Les Sables was bathed in a pale autumn sunshine, out on the course area a persistent sea mist caused the start to be delayed for over an hour. But by 1420hrs the visibility had cleared and the 33-boat fleet got away over their 1.3-mile start line in bright sunshine, with 10-12 knot southerly breezes and flat water.
\nThe benign start conditions are deceptive, however, with stronger winds forecast for tonight before a low pressure system reaches the fleet by Tuesday, bringing what Thomson described as \u2018potentially boat breaking\u2019 conditions, of 40 knots and 4-5 metre seas.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe wind should be light to begin with,\u201d Thomson explained on the dock before the start. \u201cIt is going to build, there\u2019ll be a bit of a light patch this evening around 6pm, and then it will build and we\u2019ll tack and try and avoid the light air off Finisterre.
\n\u201cThen the wind comes back in from the south, with potentially difficult boat breaking conditions of big waves up to 5 metres, the front passes and we start heading south. But it is messy with lots of secondary lows.
\n\u201cIt is a shame there are no tradewinds, it is going to be a tough five to six days for all the skippers, lots of sail changes and potentially boat breaking conditions in that second front. And a complicated routing. It will be tricky. And it will sort the men from the boys.\u201d<\/p>\n
The big question is how this forecast will impact the front of the fleet, where there is a real diversity of new designs, some relatively untested. Earlier in the week Thomson told us, \u201cI guess a lot of the fleet seem to be fairly close in performance, so I don\u2019t know where we are really.
\n\u201cLooking ahead to the weather now, there is a depression coming through on the Tuesday, Wednesday I think. And it will be interesting to see what the fleet does at that point.
\n\u201cIt looks like we\u2019ll be sailing close to the wind, where we\u2019ll be able to go pretty fast, and that\u2019s potentially where we can see problems in the hull structure behind the keel. So it\u2019ll be interesting to see what happens. But I intend to sail the boat to the limits that we know we can sail to, and then to make hay when I can.\u201d
\nPhoto by Jean-Louis Carli\/Alea
\nAt the start, it was Louis Burton on Bureau Vall\u00e9e who led the fleet \u2013 but Burton was over the line early, picking up a five-hour time penalty. Meanwhile Corum L\u2019\u00c9pargne sailed by Nicholas Troussel, J\u00e9r\u00e9mie Beyou on Charal and Sam Davies on Initiatives Coeur picked up the early pace in the marginal foiling conditions.
\nVisit vendeeglobe.org\u00a0to follow the fleet on the live race tracker.
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\nThe post Vend\u00e9e Globe 2020 start: Record fleet sets off from Les Sables d\u2019Olonne appeared first on Yachting World.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A record Vend\u00e9e Globe fleet set off in near perfect conditions, but bigger breezes could bring an early test for the fleet with a low pressure system forecast within 48 hoursLES SABLES D\u2019OLONNE, FRANCE – NOVEMBER 8: Fleet is taking … <\/p>\n