Rising Star in the Vendee Globe
Every now and then competitors rise above their chosen sports to become media stars. Among women, the names Nadia, Mary Lou and FloJo come to mind. In sailing, certainly Ellen MacArthur. But even Dame Ellen’s fame may pale to another British woman who is currently in fourth place in one of the most brutal and carnage-strewn Vendée Globe races in memory: Samantha Davies.
We have to wonder what race leader and possible winner Michel Desjoyeaux thinks. He’s got to at least be feeling a bit of déjà vu. When he won this race in 2001, the victory took a back seat to the media storm that accompanied second-place finisher Ellen MacArthur. Even a second win — augmented by the remarkable fact that ‘The Professor’ started two days later than everyone else after returning to Les Sables d’Olonne for repairs — may not eclipse the competitor who became the media darling of this race only a few weeks after its November 9 start.
Desjoyeaux is so serious and is driving his Farr-designed Foncia so hard that he has yet to post more than a half-dozen onboard photos on the Vendée website — and so far none of himself. By contrast, Sam Davies is using the site almost like Facebook, with dozens of photos of Roxy Sailing, herself, and daily life aboard. In 90% of the self-portraits, she’s grinning like someone who’s just won the national lottery.
This is in stark contrast to most other competitors, many of whose self-portraits show the stress of sailing a high-tech 60-ft boat around the world: calloused hands, unshaven faces, weary looks and few smiles. And with good reason. Two-thirds of the way through the event, the stress on sailors and machines has whittled the 30 starters down to only 12 as of this morning. Boats have dismasted, capsized, hit whales and blown up sails and gear. Sailors have broken bones. Several have had to be rescued. A few of the remaining boats are running damaged, including that of the only other woman in the race, Dee Caffari, who is down to the fourth reef of what may prove to be an unrepairable mainsail. She’s currently in a group of three boats enduring 60-knot winds with 500 miles still to go to Cape Horn.
Desjoyeaux rounded old Cape Stiff on January 5 and is on the homestretch up the Atlantic. He is 4,600 miles — three weeks or so — from the finish. Roland Jourdain aboard Veolia Environnement, in second, is currently in better breeze and only 230 miles behind the leader. Armel Le Cléac’h in Brit Air is third. Then, in distant fourth, smiling Sam Davies.
In other developments, Vincent Riou was given redress in a measure we have never before heard of. You may recall that his PRB incurred damage to one of its deck-level ‘outriggers’ when he rescued Jean Le Cam off the capsized VM Matériaux on January 6. That damage apparently led to the dismasting of PRB the next day. Riou had been in third place before he was called to the rescue. So on Monday, an international jury awarded Riou automatic third place — he will share the podium with whichever racer is third across the finish line.
For more on the Vendée Globe, log onto www.vendeeglobe.org/en.