Vendée Globe: Pip Hare on course for a comeback: "I want to know if I can do it well"

On the night of the finish of her highly publicised Vendée Globe premiere, Pip Hare had a video call with the CEO of her main sponsor Medallia after more than 95 extremely demanding days at sea. Leslie J. Stretch spontaneously asked the British skipper what she was planning next. Her answer: "I want to sail another Vendée Globe." Five days later, the now 47-year-old daredevil had the green light from her main sponsor for her second storm around the world. Preparations for this are already in full swing.

Her new boat is strong: it is the former "Bureau Vallée 2", in which Louis Burton raced to third place on the podium of the ninth edition of the Vendée Globe behind winner Yannick Bestaven and Charlie Dalin. After an initial small refit, Pip Hare immediately started training in the summer of 2021. Her most surprising realisation: "The boat is easier to sail than my previous one. That surprised me. I had expected it to be much more difficult and very different to the previous boat. From an ergonomic point of view, the design is much better. Especially because it was built for humans!" Pip Hare wants to work intensively with coaches to tickle the missing 25 per cent of the 75 per cent out of the boat "that every sailor could get out of it". She knows: "There is still a long way to go to get this Imoca to peak performance."

"This is the main development of my project," explains Hare in an interview with the Imoca Class Association, "thanks to the support and the whole team that is with me, I will be able to invest as much as possible in the performance of the boat. That's something I wasn't able to do in my previous race around the world."

This year, Pip Hare wants to focus on learning, then make the necessary changes to her boat in 2023. "It's quite a conservative decision," admits the realist, "but it's the first time we've had a foiler. So we have a lot to learn, and small steps are a better way for me to do that." Pip Hare wants to go out on the water for the first time this year in March. As the conditions in his home waters off Poole are still too unforgiving this season, training weeks are planned in Portugal. However, Poole remains the home port of the ambitious project with a newly organised team: "I want the people in my home town to feel included." When the skipper is not travelling, the boat is moored in Poole at a special and easily accessible berth. "It's a public place," explains Pip Hare, "anyone can come and see it."

Her goal for the second solo round-the-world trip is clear: "I'm not a person full of self-confidence. I have to prove to myself that I can do things. And then I want to know how well I can do it. Completing the Vendée Globe was a lifelong goal of mine. So the first time I accepted to do it under any conditions. The only goal was to finish the race. Now that I know I can do the race, I want to know if I can do it well."

In 2021, Pip Hare finished the Vendée Globe in 19th place out of 25 soloists who reached the finish line. She achieved this with a 22-year-old boat. Her new one is only five years old. "It's about pushing myself as hard as I can. I'm very aware that I'll be 50 years old at my next start and competing against men who haven't even reached the age of 30 yet. I want to see what happens. The Vendée Globe is an exciting race because it's not just your physical ability that counts."