Yannick Bestaven already knows what it feels like to win the Vendee Globe but the 51-year-old Frenchman cannot resist the call of the solo, non-stop round the world yacht race, which sets off from Les Sables-d'Olonne on the Atlantic coast on Sunday. "For me, this race is the holy grail of solo racing," he told AFP. "It's a personal challenge to circumnavigate the globe in a yacht, alone on board.
"Even after a victory, it's still a challenge. The story will be different: you're in the unknown when you set out to sea." Bestaven won the last edition of the race, completing the 24,300 nautical mile-course -- that's 45,000 kilometres for the land-lubbers -- like a seaborne Phileas Fogg in 80 days, three hours and 44 minutes in 2021.
But he is right to be humble: it goes with the territory. All 40 skippers that will start this tenth edition will be eager to outwit and outsail their opponents and snag the 200,000-euro ($214,000) winner's cheque. They know, however, that the main challenge will be a communal one -- the sea.
Occasionally she lends a helpful hand allowing the 60-foot Imoca monohulls to glide on their foils at near 40 knots; at other times she will rise like a ferocious monster the size of a mountain ready to crash down and crush the boats below. "There's an element of randomness, things you can't control, technical problems, retiring, hitting an unidentified floating object," says Charlie Dalin, skipper of MACIF Sante Prevoyance. "You never know what's going to happen.