Vendée Globe: Isa Joschke says goodbye - "Would also like to see other worlds"

She is 48 years old and wants to see what the world still has to offer her after more than two decades of sailing. Isabelle Joschke, daughter of a French mother and a German father, born in Munich and at home in Lorienthas said goodbye to Imoca Sport.

Vendée Globe: The sailor leaves, the sponsor stays

After two Vendée Globes, one of which she finished outside the classification in 2021 after dramatic keel problems and the second of which she just finished in the top half in nineteenth place with an aged boat and a great fighting heart, Isabelle Joschke announced the end of her active career as a "Macsf" skipper last week.

I loved this life, but now I want to discover new horizons." Isabelle Joschke

The soloist explained her reasons: "After 21 complete seasons (editor's note: in four different classes), I feel the need to live in harmony with my rhythm and my physiology. For me, ocean sailing is more of a life than a job. It is also a total commitment that requires a lot of time and energy. This environment is a cocoon, which is very pleasant. But I also want to see other worlds. I have to open myself up to other things."

While other skippers have to give up temporarily or completely because their sponsors are leaving the boat, it's the other way round for Isabelle Joschke: she is leaving, while partner Macsf has already announced that he wants to continue his involvement in the Imoca class. After six years in a boat with Isabelle Joschke, Macsf is planning to purchase a newer generation Imoca and select a new protagonist.

Project manager Alain Gautier continues

The project will continue to be managed by Alain Gautier, who won the Vendée Globe in 1992/1993. Stéphane Dessirier, Director General of the MACSF Group, said: "We are very happy to have worked with Isabelle for six years, who has authentically embodied the values of Macsf. This partnership has enabled our employees and members to enjoy an exceptional human adventure. Thanks to Isabelle, we have reached a new stage as a sponsor in ocean racing. We wish her every success in her new projects."

On her farewell this week, Isabelle Joschke looks back on two Vendée Globes that were hardly inferior in terms of tough tests, but ended with a decisive difference: While her 2020/2021 Vendée Globe première came to nothing after dramatic keel problems, the second ended with the longed-for finish.

Between the two solos, she took a long time to think about whether to continue the campaign. The desire to sail solo and the attraction of a second chance had finally won the upper hand. "I suffered a lot during the race the first time. I hadn't expected that. It took me a long time to regain my sense of purpose," explained Isa Joschke.

With strong results in the second Vendée Globe

The good results she achieved on the way to her second participation and the inner bite of the woman, who also enjoys travelling solo on land while hiking or taking on other challenges, tipped the scales in favour of the second round, with which Isabelle Joschke has now concluded her career. The skipper, who speaks very good German, also contested her second race around the world with the VPLP/Verdier-Imoca "Macsf", built in 2007 as the "Safran".

Her best result on the Vendée Globe 2024/2025 course was ninth place in the Retour à La Base 2023. "That was very, very good. I was very proud of that," she told YACHT in an interview afterwards. With twelfth places in the Transat CIC and also in the Défi Azimut, she was able to show that she has what it takes to achieve strong results even with an older boat.

But when she suddenly heard a loud cracking noise during her second Vendée Globe on 29 December, it quickly became clear that she would also have to finish this second solo around the world under difficult conditions. At first she thought that she had been hit by keel problems again. But a quick check revealed that the starboard foil had broken off! Problems with the power supply and a tear in the mainsail made the black Vendée Globe weekend a maximum stress test at sea for Isabelle Joschke.

My race won't be the same from now on." Isabelle Joschke

Isabelle Joschke got the problems under control, but simply getting there had now become the top priority. She had to slow down again before Cape Horn to avoid a heavy storm. She had dropped back to 18th place. On the way home to Lorient, she had crossed the equator again in fifteenth place after making good strategic decisions, before losing places again in the flat Azores high pressure.

Isa Joschke will be missed by the Vendée Globe world

Nevertheless, after 85 days, 11 hours, 26 minutes and 36 seconds, she saw her arrival in nineteenth place as a conciliatory finale, as a victory over the problems of her second solo around the world, as the final exclamation mark of an exciting career. She also set a personal best with 458 nautical miles over 24 hours.

Isabelle Joschke is leaving the Imoca playing field, a player who has made her own mark on the scene since entering offshore sailing in 2004 with campaigns in the Mini 6.50, the Figaro Circuit, the Class40 and finally in the Imoca world. The woman who pushed herself to her limits in her first Vendée Globe, but never gave up and came back, completed her mission with the second Vendée Globe in the latest edition.

She will continue her commitment to the Horizion Mixité association, which Isabelle Joschke co-founded in 2012 and which campaigns for equality between men and women. She will continue to support projects such as the solidarity initiative "Femmes, Mer et Emploi" and get involved in schools. She will be missed on the Imoca scene as an unconventional mind, a fighter and a multi-faceted ambassador for solo sailing.

Just 1.60 metres tall, petite, but tough and strong-willed - solo sailor Isabelle Joschke in the NDR portrait, which was broadcast for the first time following her second Vendée Globe: