I was
The biggest thing is creating opportunity for young people to get afloat and I think once they get on the water it really hooks them. I am working with a new initiative to train young people in basic sailing skills and then go out to local yacht clubs and try to provide useful crew to people who maybe have boats but don't get out as much as they would like for lack of hands.
I used a jet boil to heat up water which uses a small gas canister so no problem there. The problem was making water but I would always make sure the water maker was running every time I used the engine to top up the batteries regardless of how full my water tank was so I never was concerned
Hi Clancy,
I had insurance as that was part of the charter agreement but around half of the IMOCA fleet self insured
It's interesting because one of the main attractions of the Vendee for me is that we are already racing on equal terms. The press may have made a big thing about the women sailing but I just think that was because there was an unusual amount of us. But for us on the water we were on equal terms. I am very sure that none of my competitors viewed me as anything other than a fellow sailor.
The rudder was the biggest thing. Other than that I had spare battens for the mainsail which were stored on deck as they could not fit down below, I had pilot rams, tiller bars, a spare tiller, a spare water maker, lots of epoxy and carbon plate and carbon fibre, an emergency fore hatch cover and then lots and lots of little bits
Yes as part of the rules we have to carry two anchors and chain and warps and all of the ground tackle has to weigh in at around 50kilos (I can't remember exactly) but it gets weighed and then sealed in place before each race
It's been really tough and I knew when I finished the race that I had to have a plan for what to do next. Luckily I got off the boat determined to make 2024 a reality so I have been really focussed on that since I got back. I will have a break once I know that campaign is up and running
The pandemic has been hard on all professional athletes but we were really lucky in that from the start of the first lock down the Vendee Globe organisers supported by the French government were really clear that the race would go ahead. As we did not depend on a full stadium to make it work the organisers were confident they could make it work.
It does a bit. I miss the ocean but the hardest thing to readjust to is the constant and varied demands on your time. On the Vendee I had one job, that was sailing my boat. Life was simple
of course - Polly is my secret illegal crew
Are you allowed to unseal the warps and use them to trail ad 'drogues/sea anchors in heavy weather, or do you have to carry separate wraps 'drogues/sea anchor(s) for that?