Newsletter

Vendée Globe – Storm on Cape Horn: When everything is said – sport

There isn’t much left to say towards the end of this year. Boris Herrmann does the same. He has prepared his smartphone for the recording and pressed the record button, but then he just sits there, in his huge, small world, on his racing yacht in the middle of the South Pacific not far from the supposedly loneliest point on earth, in its most limitless place. Herrmann is protected from the wind and the overflowing water by the cabin roof, and what he could say does not occur to him, who is never at a loss for the right words, or there is nothing more to say.

In how many such video messages has the 39-year-old explained himself since the start more than 50 days ago. He countered the constant rut of wind and waves with his view, and this view became more and more a “mirror of the sea”, as Joseph Conrad, whom he admired, called one of his most beautiful books. Which actually means: to a reflection glass of the soul.

Herrmann calls out: “Accellerate! Speed ​​up! Go go gooo! “

Then he shouts: “The Vendée Globe!” Again and again, louder and louder, as if he had to remind himself that there is only one race that will lead you to this point. “Damn it!” Damn it.

And while the “Seaexplorer” begins to sail, you can hear the incomparable singing of the foils in the background, which mixes with the howling of the wind in the rigging, and you can feel the aggressive energy in the way Herrmann back and forth on his seat and the way he worriedly looks ahead. “What’s next?” He asks, “I have no idea.”

It doesn’t work without noise protection. Boris Herrmann on board the “Seaexplorer”. After almost two thirds of the race, his one …Foto: Boris Herrmann / Seaexplorer YCM

You don’t go on such a journey and come back as the same. Even if the Vendée Globe Race has become more and more of a high-tech race for the globe, it exposes the solo sailors – from the world they share in this experience, but also from themselves.

Boris Herrmann has already given up some inner fortresses in this regard: his need for exchange, his fear of loneliness, his strife, his desire for control. The struggle with one’s own limits has made the Germans, dazzling-looking, charming and clever, even more popular. He has become the darling of the international press, who better than the lazy Bretons can understand what the various challenges are. Herrmann analyzes the weather situation in a comprehensible way as well as psychological problems. It does not surprise him, said the top French sailor Sydney Gavignet recently, that Herrmann sails for the colors of Monaco, “he speaks like a prince”.

On the penultimate day of the year, Herrmann sees himself at a fork in the road and does not initially know how to decide. Cape Horn, the dreaded Point, is 1,600 miles ahead. North of the main field of eleven boats, a storm draws in the same direction. While the leading Yannick Bestaven (“Maitre CoQ IV”) and his immediate pursuer Charlie Dalin (“Apivia”) will keep up with his front for a while, the other nine skippers have to decide: seek their luck further north near the Storm center, where the gusts can reach hurricane strength. Or they move to the south, where the wind will be weaker, but should hit from a less favorable angle.

Nobody would have predicted such an achievement for the 46-year-old entrepreneur Yannick Bestaven before the race. Now he’s leading the race …Photo: Jean-Marie Liot

To make matters worse, this “scooter” typical of the region will develop devastating power again when it is braked by the tip of South America and rolls along the 3000 meter high Andes like an old tractor tire. Yannick Bestaven in particular is likely to feel this unfavorable constellation, to which Cape Horn owes its image as a horror of seafarers. He could of course take it easy and slow down. But will he do that?

Probably not. He sees the chance to extend his narrow lead of 150 miles on the peloton and increase it to 700 miles. What if Dalin can follow him through the closing weather door? Then Bestaven would have to do everything to get a cushion, as Dalin’s “Apivia” is famous as a new building for its speed potential in lighter conditions. And they wait in the slipstream of the horn.

So far, Bestavens “Maitre CoQ IV” has proven itself brilliantly in the rough conditions of the south. The fact that he didn’t have – or wanted to raise – the money for a set of larger wing swords and instead set off with the smaller pair of foils from four years ago has proven to be a stroke of luck. The performance spectrum of the lifting foils is apparently considerably wider than that of the latest generation of flying foils. They make the vehicle too fast, which causes the skipper to reduce the speed again and again in choppy sea conditions.

Herrmann also demonstrates this dynamic impressively in his video, when he was initially enthusiastic, then observed with growing concern the acceleration of his “Seaexplorer” to 34 knots. He has trouble staying in his seat. “I don’t like it when she sails over 30 knots, it’s not necessary,” he says.

Play of light. It is also an art to keep taking new photos of the same small, isolated world.Photo: Boris Herrmann

At the end of the day, he will have decided on the south route in seventh position. He hopes the swell is less rough in the south. However, he now has to feel his way along the ice barrier, which acts as an imaginary guardrail delimiting the action radio. Disregarding them would result in severe time penalties.

The fact that at least six other participants, including Herrmann, are currently no more than 130 miles from a podium position, shows the unusual level of performance in this field. Four years earlier, leading Armel le Cléac’h had already separated from Alex Thomson in second place 600 miles. And Jérémie Beyou in third place was 1500 miles behind. Back then, it didn’t matter if one of them had a bad day, had barely slept, or lost their rhythm.

This time, the immediate competition drives everyone at all times. It is harder to follow your own rhythm when others are constantly driving around you and with every mile you have made the fear grows that one bad maneuver will ruin everything.

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Trending