Special envoy to Les Sables d'Olonne
Eighty days and as many nights braving the oceans, alone on an infernal machine.
To burn your muscles to maneuver, gear, repair in a sometimes raging sea, without ever really resting.
To make skull juice to avoid the traps of the weather and heal its trajectories.
Physical, mental, total fatigue.
With one and only one goal: to cross the line first.
To triumph in this Vendée Globe that he has dreamed of winning since he was 12 years old.
In turn, experience the emotions told by Christophe Auguin in 105 jours solitaire, a bedside book devoured and re-devoured, in the evening, before dreaming of the open sea in bed or on the way to the school of his youth in Le Havre.
For all of his oceanic work, Charlie Dalin deserved to emulate his idols.
The first to arrive in the rain in Les Sables-d'Olonne at 8:35 p.m. Wednesday, after 80 days 6 hours 15 minutes and 47 seconds of a magnificent performance around the world (without however breaking the record), the skipper of Apivia has greeted with emotion the rare earthlings authorized to share their happiness in a “covid” communion.
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Herrmann hits a fishing boat
Instead of a thunderous fiesta, Dalin was preparing for an unbearable wait in the form of Chinese torture.
The reason for this new and crazy scenario?
Boris Herrmann (Seaexplorer-Yacht of Monaco) and Yannick Bestaven (Maître CoQ) could still, during the night, win around the world thanks to the compensation granted by the race jury for their participation in the rescue operation of Kevin Escoffier .
Once the line had been crossed, it was necessary to subtract 6 hours from the German stopwatch and 10 hours 15 minutes from the Arcachonnais stopwatch.
At 8:50 p.m., the prospect of triumph flew for Herrmann, who had collided with a fishing boat 90 miles from the finish.
She then had to reach Les Sables d'Olonne in slow motion, her starboard foil damaged and her chances of victory almost wiped out.
The native of Oldenburg was, whatever happens, expected after the Saint-Malo privateer Louis Burton (Bureau Vallée 2) welcomed after midnight.
Hoped to be on the line in the early morning after Thomas Rouillard (LinkedOut), Bestaven finally seemed to be in the best position to win the day.
After eleven and a half weeks of maritime cavalcade, victory was to be played within a handful of hours, even minutes.
Pure madness.
"I crossed the finish line in the lead, no one will be able to take it away from me"
Charlie dalin
“
It's a special situation.
Hope it goes well for me.
We will see in a few hours ...
, whispered after the finish line a particularly fair-play Charlie Dalin.
It is quite normal that runners who have lost their way benefit from bonuses.
There is no problem, it's part of the sport, it's the solidarity of the sailors.
I crossed the finish line in the lead, no one can take it away from me.
Line honors are mine.
The rest will only be a bonus
”.
The semi-rigid channel
"
This should not happen to me, I think I would be an extremely bad player
, confessed his friend Yann Eliès, without questioning, him either, the terms of this unprecedented arrival.
I even find that the bonuses could have been greater.
In my opinion, the jury saw “at the mini”.
This verdict will be fair.
Rescuers need a premium.
So that one day a sailor might not say to himself “I'm losing the race so I'm not going”
”.
Shortly before 11 p.m., despite a scenario that seemed unfavorable to him, Charlie Dalin returned to port in a semi-rigid, all smiles under the cheers of the Sablais at the windows and balconies.
Before a new ascent of the channel on his boat, later in the night, in the order of the final classification if the tide allowed it.
"
I thought my race was over
"
Charlie Dalin on his foil damage
Even if nothing had yet been fully settled, the pill was still bitter for the one who led the race for 38 days, first at Bonne-Esperance and Cape Leeuwin before damaging his port foil in South Australia.
“
I thought my race was over,
” admitted Le Havrais on Sunday.
At the cost of a sacred repair and despite this real handicap, the 36-year-old Normand remained in the match until the end.
"
He is the one who has sailed the best, always well placed with good trajectories
", estimates Sébastien Josse, three participations in the Vendée Globe (5th in 2005).
“
Going to cross the DST (traffic separation device) at Cape Finisterre, between the freighters and chain gybes as it did in the last few hours, it's goldsmith's work.
I take my hat off to him,
”admires Paul Meilhat.
The winner of the last Route du rhum asked for indulgence when it came to welcoming the sailors and when tensions could arise after the very strong words of the expected 6th Damien Seguin ("The bonuses, it rots this arrival") : “
Damien has since returned to his words.
The sailors are physically and psychologically exhausted.
Let's ask them to tell us about their world tour, rather than looking for controversy.
Let us welcome them as the heroes they are.
This last call will never be controversial.
Read also
The mapping and classification of the Vendée Globe
