How mean is that? 300 nautical miles from the coast of Portugal and just 800 nautical miles from the finish line, New Zealander Conrad Colman was stopped by a last-minute mast breakage on the home stretch of the Vendée Globe. The hard-won tenth place in the toughest sailing test for man and boat, which was within reach, was probably gone! Instead of looking forward to the welcome party in the finishing harbour of Les Sables d'Olonne, Colman's team now has to work hard to find a solution for the safe return of the "Foresight Natural Energy" together with the disappointed but still combative skipper.
Colman reported the broken rig to his team on Saturday night. The skipper himself had survived the incident unscathed and was able to save the less badly damaged boom while cutting it free. The New Zealander was travelling in north-easterly winds of between 30 and 35 knots under J3 and with three reefs when his boat lost the mast. At that point, Colman had already completed 97 per cent of his Vendée premiere and around 26,500 nautical miles.
No wonder the 33-year-old, who lives in Lorient in Brittany, is not thinking of giving up. As soon as the choppy sea has calmed down a little, Colman wants to try to set up an emergency rig and reach the coast without outside help. He will decide in the coming days whether he will "only" make it to Portugal or even head for the destination harbour of Les Sables d'Olonne. In a short message from on board, the Kiwi wrote: "Thank you for the encouraging emails from everywhere. I hope I can fulfil the hopes and reach land without outside help. I'm doing everything in my power."
Colman was not the only one to suffer a setback just before the finish of this long weekend. Eric Bellion, who is in ninth place and leading the remaining fleet of ten Vendée skippers (eight have finished, eleven have retired), is also struggling with breakage after the upper part of his mainsail jumped out of the defective mast track. Bellion can no longer sail with a full main, but only with three reefs. He is not in danger, reported the 40-year-old Parisian, but progress is complicated.
While Bellion could still save his ninth place at the finish, Colman will probably lose his tenth place, if he can continue the race at all. Around 400 nautical miles behind him, Les Sables d'Olonnes local hero Arnaud Boissières with "La Mie Cäeline" could still catch up with the New Zealander. A further 200 nautical miles behind him, journalist and solo sailor Fabrice Amedeo is fighting to catch up.
So the Vendée remains exciting, even if the front places have long since been taken. In 16th place, for example, Sam Davies' husband Romain Attanasio is fighting to catch up with Spaniard Didac Costa after colliding with an unknown object ("UFO") for the third time and damaging his keel suspension in the process. "Compared to what happened to Conrad Colman, it's not such a big deal. You're always afraid that something like that will happen so close to the finish line. I hope he makes it!"
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
