Philippe JEANTOT, organiser of the Vendée Globe, and Jean-Luc VAN DEN HEEDE, skipper, react after the announcement of the death of the Monétasque skipper Nigel Burgess. Philippe JEANTOT deplores the death of the sailor. They are people who do this out of passion", "they know that it is a world that does not forgive", but such an end seems unacceptable to him. However, he does not plan to stop the race. Jean-Luc VAN DEN HEEDE believes that it is a choice to go to sea. "It is life as one wants to lead it and one is not to be pitied"...
Forty hours after activating his distress beacons, Philippe Poupon, one of the Vendée Globe competitors, was spotted yesterday by the South African aviation at 1,500 miles off the Cape, and his boat was rescued yesterday in the late afternoon, with the help of Loick Peyron. Philippe Poupon has been downgraded for external assistance, but he could continue this non-stop solo round the world race. Archive of an interview with Philippe POUPON before the start of the race, in which he recalled that the riders were the first "to be interested in safety, to develop systems, a small regulation more elaborate than that of maritime affairs"... Illustration with images of the Vendée Globe race computer and archive images of the race.
Relief and concern in the Vendée Globe. There is still no news of Tony Bullimore and Thierry Dubois’s heli-hoist has been delayed due to bad weather. Doctor Jean-Yves CHAUVE, doctor of the race, gives his point of view on the state of health of the two men. He is relatively optimistic for Thierry Dubois, much less for Tony Bullimore.
Duplex set with Raphaël DINELLI, live from Hobart, Tasmania. The Vendée Globe competitor, a solo race around the world, was rescued from the water on 27 December by a survival boat thrown from an Australian navy plane and rescued by Pete Goss, an English competitor. He says "not to have been afraid since his crash": "I fought all the time to try to get out of it, fight the cold and the waves... I thank Philippe Jeantot and the PC team for their efficiency. He had not had the time to do so because he was assaulted by the Australian and French press. He has a thought for the missing sailors.
While new tragedies have taken place in the Vendée Globe with the sinking of Frenchman Thierry Dubois (29) and British sailor Tony Bullimore (57), 3,000 kilometres south of the Australian coast and we have no news of the latter, Elise LUCET questions Philippe JEANTOT, race director of the Vendée Globe, live from the race’s HQ. She asks him to respond to those who accuse him of playing with the lives of the skippers. He believes he did not force anyone to start the race. There is a race of people on earth who like to live exciting things, take risks, push their limits"... " Fortunately, there are adventurers of this type to make people who do not have the courage to leave their little habits dream". He thinks this race is not dangerous, but very difficult... According to him, the current route is less dangerous than during the first edition...
The sailor Titouan LAMAZOU, winner of the first Vendée Globe Challenge, answers Paul AMAR’s questions about the probable causes of the incidents suffered during this edition. Titouan Lamazou says he is sorry but he thinks that the race must not stop. For him this race, which was "the Everest of the seas", "has become commonplace" in three years. He does not think that there was a lack of preparation but that, to go faster, some boats were perhaps too light... Titouan LAMAZOU believes that the sea is one of the last "spaces of freedom" and concludes with the formula: "The sailors propose and the sea disposes".
While the last two candidates in the Vendée Globe Challenge arrived on Sunday, we haven’t heard from Gerry Roufs since January 8th. Two sailors who participated in the same race express themselves on this disappearance: Isabelle AUTISSIER: at the start of the race, "when we say goodbye, we know that we may not see each other again... Gerry left because it was his story... he was in this race". Eric DUMONT: "As long as he has not arrived, he sails".
Sailor Thierry DUBOIS comments on his shipwreck in the Antarctic during the solo race of the Vendée Globe. He expresses what he felt: "What surprised me the most, this lucidity... faced with events, if it is inevitable we will go to death..." He thinks maybe it was being in his element, the sea.
The sailor Jean Le Cam, whose monohull VM materials had capsized, was rescued by Vincent Riou, another Vendée Globe competitor, last night off Cape Horn. Vincent Riou managed to bring back aboard his boat Jean Le Cam. The two skippers were very afraid... Jean LE CAM and Vincent RIOU (via internet link with webcam) tell the story of their adventures...