It only happens in France: hundreds of thousands of fans celebrate a fourth-placed sailor on an ordinary Monday afternoon in Les Sables d'Olonne. But the day was not quite so ordinary after all, because their Vendée Globe hero Jean-Pierre Dick had previously achieved a minor sailing miracle: out of a total of 27,734 nautical miles in the race around the world, the Breton completed a new "record distance" of 2,650 nautical miles without a keel bomb! With a total time of 86 days, three hours, three minutes and 40 seconds, Dick's "Virbac Paprec 3" is in fourth place. His average speed during the chase around the globe, which ended up being characterised by material problems, was 13.4 knots.
Jean-Pierre Dick had already won the two-handed Barcelona World Race twice before his third Vendée Globe participation, and even the Transat Jacques Vabre three times. Before the start of the seventh edition of the Vendée, the 47-year-old was one of the favourites. However, a broken forestay, various minor problems and finally the serious loss of the keel bomb, which weighed several tonnes, put paid to the man nicknamed "Gentleman Skipper" and cost him the podium place he was aiming for. "The hardest test for me after losing the keel was constantly weighing up the optimum sailing speed against my safety. It was extremely tough psychologically."
For almost two weeks after losing his keel, Dick sailed and lived on a knife's edge, taming his Imoca Open 60 boat like a giant ocean-going dinghy. For 48 hours last weekend, he took cover off the northern Spanish coast, hiding from the winds that were too stormy for a boat without a keel. It was only on Sunday that JP Dick, who was voted Sailor of the Year in France in 2011, set sail again, risked the last beat through the still choppy Bay of Biscay to the finish line and then, despite being very tired, never stopped smiling. "Today is definitely one of the happiest days of my life."
In initial interviews, Jean-Pierre Dick was unable to answer the question of whether he would like to take part in a fourth Vendée. "You have to have a lot of desire for it. But maybe I'll do it again." Even this cautious statement caused his fans to burst into further storms of enthusiasm in the pouring rain. Despite the most adverse conditions, Dick was able to improve on his sixth place at the last edition of the Vendée. On his debut in 2008/2009, he had not yet reached the finish line after a collision with an unknown object ("UFO") and had to retire in New Zealand.
Out on the course, the duel between Britain's Mike Golding and France's Jean Le Cam came to a head again at the same time as the celebrations in Les Sables d'Olonne. Golding's "Gamesa" and Le Cam's "CynerCiel" were separated by just nine nautical miles on Monday afternoon. The battle between the two "Silver Agers" over the remaining 600 nautical miles or so is likely to keep fans on the edge of their seats for the next few days. However, the all-clear was given early in the morning after Javier "Bubi" Sanso capsized. The Spaniard was rescued from his life raft and flown unharmed to a military base on the Azorean island of Terceira.
Javier Sanso's "Acciona 100 % EcoPowered" after capsizing. The skipper can be rescued from the life raft by helicopter.
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
