As if the curfew - and the announced new turn of the screw - were not enough in this dreary holiday season, it was necessary that the storm Bella, its waves-submersion and its threats of floods also invite us in recent days to stay confined.
And to satisfy, a little more still, our desires for the great outdoors and space by proxy.
In this area, there is currently no better way than the Vendée Globe to escape through our screens.
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When the Vendée Globe shines in Times Square
Departing last November 8 from Les Sables-d'Olonne, the twenty-seven skippers still in the running - six were forced to retire - are currently battling in the South Seas, embarked on a thrilling round-the-world solo, alone on their 18-meter monohull.
"It spins, it slips, it slows down, it hits, it moves!"
», Summarized this week, in full fury of the South Pacific, Isabelle Joschke (MACSF), off the point Nemo, place of the globe the most distant from any earth where the common man would never put the boots, not even in dream.
From the height of her meter sixty, the Franco-German sailor, perhaps less heavy than the lightest of her sails (between 50 and 70 kilos each) but brilliant 8th Wednesday in a perpetually provisional ranking, alone symbolizes tenacity of these women (six this year) and men who have gone to challenge the oceans, far from the precautionary principles that govern the lives of earthlings.
To come full circle first or simply to “make a child's dream come true” in the case of Joschke, or both.
Actors always up to the task
While the sports of stadiums, halls and circuits struggle with difficulty to maintain the flame, orphans of their public, the interest and the beauty of the round-the-world tour, always experienced from afar by enthusiasts, remain intact.
Even deprived of its popular breath at the start - carried out behind closed doors - and probably again during the arrivals which will follow one another in a month, ocean racing is indeed the most “Covid compatible” sport.
And luckily, its actors are always up to the task, each in their own way.
Rough and confusing weather
There are of course the first of the roped, launched in an exciting crossover in the lead.
At the start of the last third of the race and approaching the legendary Cape Horn, which he should cross this weekend in muscular conditions, Yannick Bestaven seems to be hanging on to first place, him who was not expected not at such a party.
The 48-year-old Rochelais, back after a prematurely aborted attempt in 2008 (dismasting in the Bay of Biscay), has, for the moment, been able to withstand harsh, confusing weather and ultimately not very conducive to the flight of the last foilers. generation, like the tropical storm Theta wiped the first days, of a particularly cowardly Saint Helena anticyclone and an out of order depressions arena in the Deep South.
Physically strong, intellectually brilliant
Behind Bestaven on its solid Maître CoQ built five years ago, Charlie Dalin (Apivia) and Thomas Rettant (LinkedOut) cling to the helm of new boats already weakened but less than those returned to port (Alex Thomson, Nicolas Troussel, Sébastien Simon).
Both the Normand and the Northerner had to play with the electric saw and the grinder to continue the race.
Repairs “à la McGyver” carried out smoothly and skillfully shared on video by these handyman sailors, physically strong and intellectually brilliant, at the same time engineers-geeks, handymen, peerless sailors and good communicators.
Damien Seguin, he does everything like his competitors but without a left hand.
What a feat!
For his first round-the-world trip, the 41-year-old double Paralympic champion, who has had to fight for a long time to be able to race with the able-bodied, now dreams of crossing Cape Horn in the top five on Groupe Apicil.
Talent revealed, ambition increased tenfold, like the six other rookies squatting, just yesterday, the top 10.
Record of slowness but the essential is elsewhere
Fifteen years after having taken the lead in the Atlantic but without the victory at the end (2nd behind Vincent Riou), Jean Le Cam is still there.
The oldest of the world tour, who became a national hero by saving the castaway Kevin Escoffier, for whom France held his breath, can dream of the podium.
Or even better thanks to a copy without erasure and the 16 hours and 15 minutes that will have to be deducted upon arrival at Les Sables d'Olonne, in compensation for his detour to play the Saint-Bernard of the seas.
At 61, he is still having fun on the ocean, having fun seeing impetuous young people (Seguin, Benjamin Dutreux, Maxime Sorel) and their old boats without foils compete with those we call "flying", promised to "explode" the record but which ultimately did not hover much over rough seas.
As a result, barely more than a day at sea separates the leader from the 10th.
Suspense guaranteed before the Battle of the Atlantic.
And for the second time in history only, the winner of the 2020-2021 edition will return home less quickly than his predecessor on the prize list (Armel Le Cléac'h in 74 days in 2017), and maybe even less. as well as the one who preceded them (François Gabart in 78 days in 2013).
"Intimate confessions"
Regardless, the public will always prefer to stories of numbers those told on a daily basis by these endearing sailors, often euphoric during their quest for much initiation, sometimes overtaken by fear and doubts.
Concentrates of emotions shared daily in a video like “intimate confessions”.
Some purists may regret the demystification of the great maritime novel, it contributes to the popular success of a race relayed at the end of the year to the screens of Times Square in New York.
The bar of 100 million videos viewed will undoubtedly be crossed, proof of unprecedented enthusiasm.
On land, they are also now more than a million, against less than half four years ago, to participate in the virtual world tour (Virtual Regatta), to wake up at night to change sail or course on their smartphone.
The best "salon sailors" are already approaching the equator.
More comfort but less thrill.
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Vendée Globe: follow boats around the world with live cartography