He should be the first to cross the finish line off Sables-d'Olonne (Vendée), but did not set out to win the Vendée Globe.
If Charlie Dalin (Apivia) was leading the fleet this Wednesday, January 27 in the morning, and was expected in port in the evening, the French skipper should, according to the last score made at 9 a.m., take third place in the round the world race. sailing, solo and non-stop.
The reason?
The hours of compensation granted to two of his prosecutors.
On November 30, Kevin Escoffier (PRB) activated his distress beacon off South Africa.
Victim of damage, the skipper saw his boat being swallowed up by the waves and barely had time to jump into his lifeboat.
To save him, several Vendée Globe competitors get confused: Jean Le Cam - who will pick him up the next morning in his boat -, but also Yannick Bestaven (Maître Coq IV), Boris Herrmann (Seaexplorer) and Sébastien Simon (Arkea-Paprec) .
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Follow Wednesday's final sprint of the Vendée Globe
If the latter then abandons, the other three are granted compensation hours by the international jury in mid-December: quarter past four for Jean Le Cam, quarter past ten for Yannick Bestaven and six hours for Boris Herrmann.
A month and a half later, it is these time bonuses that allow Bestaven, who would arrive nearly nine hours after Dalin, to be virtually the winner this Wednesday morning, when he is in fifth place at sea. fleet in northern Spain, Hermann would take second place as it stands.
Damien Seguin "rebellious"
An unprecedented scenario, linked to the ultra-tight final sprint of a race in which no sailor has ever really managed to widen the gap in the Pacific, then in the ascent in the Atlantic.
But among sailors, the prospect of these compensations deciding the winner irritates some.
A week ago, Thomas Rettant (LinkedOut) pleaded for the race management to classify the skippers tied, with the idea "that the sailor recovers the same classification as another if necessary, but that he does not take the place of another at the finish ”.
Tuesday, it was Damien Seguin's turn to criticize the concept head-on.
“Bonuses, it rots this arrival.
I am a little revolted against this way of doing things.
I think the jury rushed a bit, without taking the particular race context, got annoyed with the skipper of Groupe Apicil.
I have always considered, rightly given my many experiences in Olympism
(Editor's note: he was disqualified at the London Olympics in 2012)
and other, that they were too old men who judged on things they did not were not used to practicing themselves.
So, inevitably, the decisions are not always good.
"
They are in all cases final.
To set these deadlines, the international jury composed of the French Georges Priol, the president, and Romain Gautier, the South African Lance Burger, the Briton Trevor Lewis and the Spanish Ana Sanchez, relied on "the actual time between the moment when the race management asked the skippers to leave the race to come to the aid of Kevin Escoffier, until the moment when the skippers were able to resume the race ”.
He then assessed, subjectively, the fatigue and stress caused by the rescue.
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PODCAST. The shipwreck, the rescue, his passion for sailing: Kevin Escoffier tells his story
“The jury has several cases in which it can give redress, and one of them concerns that of a boat providing assistance to another boat, defends Georges Priol, questioned by Ouest-France.
This is the case in the sinking of Kevin Escoffier, since the race direction has diverted four boats.
At that point, they put their race on hold, and our job will be to find the fairest compensation.
And the compensation being a time in hours that they will have to withdraw from their race time at the finish.
The real race time will therefore be that of crossing the line, minus the time allowed by the jury.
"
"Their decision is irrefutable"
"There is a rule, it may seem unfair, it must be respected, insists to the Parisian François Gabart, winner of the Vendée Globe in 2012. We could perhaps discuss it later, it would be healthy to ask ourselves if we would have could have done otherwise.
But this is not the point.
"
It would not be the first time that a race has been won in this way.
In 1984, Yvon Fauconnier won the English Transat after receiving a 16-hour bonus for going to save Philippe Jeantot.
A credit of time which had enabled him to win a race where he crossed the line in ninth position, far behind the “first” Philippe Poupon.
“Their decision is good, it is irrefutable, insists Fauconnier in an interview with Voiles et Voiliers.
After rescuing a friend, we are no longer the same.
We took height, a certain distance.
We have detached ourselves from reality, we have taken a huge step back.
We don't run for the same thing anymore and this feeling lasts for several days.
It is no longer a matter of hours or minutes of bonuses ”.
“From the moment we have a race, we have rules, they are posted.
During a rescue, we must have compensation ”, joined Marc Guillemot, at the microphone of France Bleu Breizh Izel.
In 2009, he had benefited from 82 hours of bonus after having saved Yann Eliès in the Vendée Globe.
A race in which Vincent Riou was tied for third with… Guillemot, after having to retire after rescuing Jean Le Cam.
“A jury meets and decides on the time lost,” continues Guillemot.
We have to accept it because otherwise we will never get out of it.
You have to be sporty and take the rules to the end.
"