Vendée Globe: Illuminated by the moon - Boris Herrmann back in the mast!
To call the ninth week of the Vendée Globe an "eventful" one for Boris Herrmann would be a severe understatement. A nearby lightning strike had paralysed important electronic equipment. In addition, the "Malizia - Seaexplorer" had to go up the mast twice despite a fear of heights. The latest MacGyver action took place on Saturday night. On race day 62 of the Vendée Globe, Boris Herrmann managed to climb into the mast - in the dark and illuminated by the moon - and set and fasten the important J2 headsail again in the light of his brightly lit headlamp.
Problem solved, race to catch up started
Boris Herrmann briefly commented on his Vendée Globe clip from the night of the fast action at the top of the mast: "It's already dark, you can see the moon. I've got a nice spotlight here (points to his brightly lit headlamp), here's the headsail. Okay, I'd better get back down." The latest tracker data at the start of the weekend showed that "Malizia - Seaexplorer" was making faster progress again.
The halyard latch for the J2 that broke the day before, the sail that came halfway down and the solution that Boris Herrmann managed to find faster than expected cost the 43-year-old valuable miles in the battle for fourth to tenth place in his second Vendée Globe. In the morning of 11 January, the "Malizia - Seaexplorer" skipper was in ninth place. Herrmann was separated from his former Ocean Race navigator Nico Lunven ("Holcim - PRB") in eighth place by around 50 nautical miles. However, he was a good 100 nautical miles ahead of Justine Mettraux in tenth place on her Vendée Globe debut.
Meanwhile, the battle for victory in the tenth anniversary edition of the Vendée Globe is raging at the front of the fleet. Charlie Dalin ("Macif Santé Prévoyance") defended his lead three days before the expected finish on 14 January. However, his pursuer Yoann Richomme was able to significantly reduce his deficit from 190 nautical miles the previous day to 148 nautical miles, even without the lost Code Zero in somewhat more favourable winds. Charlie Dalin still had 1068 nautical miles to go to the finish on the morning of 11 January. He is now expected to arrive in the night from Monday to Tuesday or in the early hours of 14 January.
Vendée Globe showdown on Tuesday night?
The final sprint of the two "lighthouses" of this Vendée Globe will also be exciting because an area of high pressure is moving through the Bay of Biscay. According to the latest forecasts, however, it looked as if the two leading skippers would be able to sail around it. At the same time, 819 nautical miles behind Dalin, third in the fleet Sébastien Simon only had just under 1887 nautical miles to go to the finish at the 11 o'clock position update on 11 January.
With a lead of more than 1900 nautical miles over the Brit Sam Goodchild, who has since moved up to fourth place, Simon continued to sail towards a sensation. The 34-year-old local hero was considered an exciting candidate before the start of the race, but was not on the list of top favourites for the top places. Now the local hero from Les Sables-d'Olonne is fighting for third place on the podium to the delight of his compatriots in the start and finish harbour.
Looking back: A few months after his first painful experience at the 2020/2021 Vendée Globe, which ended with his retirement off Cape Town, the talented Sébastien Simon had reached a low point in his career. The winner of the 2018 Solitaire du Figaro then went through a phase of doubt and self-reflection before things took off again. The resurrection was less than two years ago.
A local hero on the Vendée Globe podium?
Since then, the 35-year-old from Les Sables d'Olonne has put together a team that also includes the dedicated electronics expert Andreas Baden from Kiel, who is aiming to take part in the Vendée Globe himself in the future. Seb Simon took over the Ocean Race winner "Mālama", a tried and tested high-performance boat, completed four transats and did everything he could to continue writing his Vendée Globe story
It was in the summer of 2023 that Simon's career took a decisive turn. He was there preparing for his return to France after he and Team Guyot Environnement, led by co-skippers Benjamin Dutreux and Robert Stanjek, had to endure the mast breakage of their then Imoca at the beginning of May 2023. The start of the 10th Vendée Globe was less than two years away at the time. Seb Simon's big dream of taking part again was becoming increasingly unrealistic.
But then he received a text message from Paul-Henri Dubreuil, the head of the eponymous group of companies. "It was a Saturday morning," recalls Simon. He continued: "He simply told me that he had decided to sail the Vendée Globe to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Dubreuil Group". Just two days later, the entrepreneur and the sailor met - and the project, which now even has the chance of a podium finish, was launched.
The stand-up man of the Vendée Globe
At the Retour à La Base 2023, however, everything was suddenly in doubt again: Simon was at the front of the race when he suffered a concussion after a blow to the head, lost consciousness and broke a vertebra. He had to stop in the Azores to fix electronic problems. Determined, he then continued on his course. As if that wasn't bad enough, his mast broke shortly before reaching the finish line. Under jury rigging, Seb Simon nevertheless reached the finish line - and qualified for the Vendée Globe.
"I am a child of the Vendée Globe." Sébastien Simon
Simon paid a high price for his fighting spirit and had to spend the first few months of 2024 in a corset without sailing or sport. His recovery progressed too slowly for him, but he practised patience.
Four years after his first failed experience and the loss of his starboard foil in this edition, Simon is contesting the last days of the race of his life. Nobody knows the tricks and subtleties of the bay of Sables d'Olonne, nobody knows the pontoons of Port Olona as well as he does, having grown up here. The reception for the son of the city will hardly be inferior to that for the victors. His arrival is expected between 16 and 17 January.
