Bestaven wins Vendée Globe, Herrmann crashes, Hare crosses equator (update 28Jan21)

Yannick Bestaven (Maître Coq IV) wins ninth Vendée Globe, Charlie Dalin (Apivia) is second and Louis Burton (Bureau Vallée 2) third.

Yannick Bestaven, the 48 year old French skipper of Maître Coq IV, is the overall winner of the ninth edition of the Vendée Globe. He actually took the gun for third place off Les Sables d’Olonne, France at 03hrs 19mins 46 secs early this Thursday morning, but because he carried a time compensation of 10 hours and 15 minutes, awarded by an international jury for his role in the search and rescue of fellow competitor Kevin Escoffier, he is the overall winner.

Bestaven takes victory 2hrs 31mins 01secs ahead of Charlie Dalin and 6hrs 40mins 26secs of Louis Burton who both literally finished ahead of him and take second and third respectively.

Although he was not tipped to win, Bestaven revealed himself as an outstanding performer on his first time in the southern oceans where he was at his best in the Indian Ocean, passing Australia’s Cape Leeuwin in third place and then in the Pacific, emerging first at Cape Horn with a 15 hour lead.

After then building the biggest margin of the race, 440 hard earned miles thanks to a smart climb up the South Atlantic, Bestaven must have thought his chances of winning this Vendée Globe were over, when during three frustrating days all but becalmed south of Rio, he saw his margin evaporate like snow in the hot Brazilian sun.

But the skipper from La Rochelle on the west coast of France, an engineer as well as professional skipper, proved his race winning credentials as he fought back into contention by the Azores. His final, key move proved to be choosing to head north on the Bay of Biscay which allowed him to arrive on the heels of a low pressure system and accelerate faster on a long, direct track into Les Sables d’Olonne over the last 24 hours, chasing Dalin and Burton across the line to hold his time to win outright.

Although, in the 2015 VPLP-Verdier designed Maitre Coq IV which was built as Safran, his boat is not one of the latest generation foilers, he was able to maintain high average speeds in the south and remained competitive in more moderate conditions.

Difficult, short, crossed sea conditions in the Indian Ocean meant the newest, most powerful latest generation foilers could not sail to their full speed potential. And two of them, Thomas Ruyant’s LinkedOut and Charlie Dalin’s Apivia both suffered different damage to their foil systems which compromised their speed potential on starboard tack.

“I won with small foils,” Bestaven says, “but that’s no reason to keep small foils. I know there was a lot of debate. Boats with large foils broke a lot. But others are still in the game: L’Occitane en Provence is doing very well. You have to see it as a turbo, because you can’t use them all the time. In the south, you couldn’t go faster, but when the conditions are right, it’s really an accelerator. You mustn’t ignore the reliability of these foils. We’ll have to think with the IMOCA class about how to avoid water entry points if we rip a foil off. The boats must remain unsinkable. But it is certain that large foils are the solution.”

Charlie Dalin was first over the line

“What I’m going to remember is that I was first over the line – no one can take it away from me,” says Dalin. “It’s normal for boats that stop to help others to have time compensation and that’s out of my control. But whatever the outcome I’m here in front of you now and I’m happy that I’ve done a good job.

“Before leaving I said that finishing this round the world race would be a victory. Now I am even more aware of it – each of us has had many problems to overcome – and just to finish is a victory.

“My boat is no longer the same on port and starboard tacks – I spent eight unpleasant days on starboard tack, heeled at 20-30 degrees, which I can tell you was not comfortable – the boat sails much flatter when you can use the foil.

“It was a difficult moment to experience when the foil casing broke and even when I resumed racing I knew the boat would be compromised. It was worse than a foil I couldn’t use – I still had to look after it all the time and maintain it. You probably saw the ropes on the port foil at the finish. I had to keep replacing them – even last night one of the broke and I had to slowdown to replace it.

“I had more interest in getting away from the boats with compensated time – so I was happy to be with Louis [Burton]. He came back into the race for a very nice duel going back up the Atlantic, each of us with our own problems and handicaps, but a really nice duel where we didn’t know what the outcome would be.”

Louis Burton has achieved a dream

“I’m really proud to have brought this beautiful yellow boat back at the end of its second Vendée Globe in a row,” he says. “I would have liked to finish first, and with a better time than Armel le Cléac’h [his boat’s previous skipper who won the last edition of the race].

“But this is a great result – it’s the achievement of a dream. We prepared as much as we could, with the experience we had, and we were not expected to reach the podium.

“It shows you have to hold on until the end – even a few hours out things can change.”

Thomas Ruyant (LinkedOut) arrived overnight.

Boris Herrmann was in contention for a podium position until he struck a fishing boat at 90 miles from the finish line. He arrived this morning after bringing his Seaexplorer-Yacht Club de Monaco to the finish at reduced speed with a damaged starboard foil.

Giancarlo Pedote and Damien Seguin are expected later today.

Hear from skippers around the fleet

Pip Hare has crossed the equator

Hare experienced the ‘intense drama of last night almost live’ she says, “through the relayed messages of friends who were watching live at home.

“It was ridiculously exciting, hearing about Charlie coming into the line at speed, then the wait to see how the rest unfolded. And who could have predicted a finish like this.. But just so you know…. I am back in the North.”

Miranda Merron hopes to arrive around 15 Feb

She has congratulated Charlie Dalin on crossing the line first.

“Some won’t be very happy with the result if Charlie is finally not declared the winner,” Merron says, “but the rules are clear and it’s fair that a boat rescue a distressed seaman receives compensation in lost time on the race. There will only be one winner, and so there will be some who will be disappointed.

“Meanwhile in the South Atlantic, the boat and I are undergoing a grim regime. Don’t try to come on vacation over here. When the first boats crossed Cape Horn, I had a huge part of the Pacific to cross and envy them. Now I don’t feel jealousy anymore.”