nandor Fa and the Basque amateur Didier Munduteguy, both one single-handed yachtsman in front and a group chasing him a
fell foul of it and the damage meant they had to give up long way behind.
immediately. others hurried back to the home port to start At the bottom of the world, in the middle of nowhere, the
out again with several days delay over the leading maritime yachtsmen had to cope with fierce winds and gigantic seas.
mercenaries – Yves Parlier, Isabelle Autissier, Christophe Auguin Raphaël Dinelli was the first to turn over, and was rescued just
and Gerry Roufs – who had started off in great form. on the in time by the British sailor Pete Goss in his fifty footer. Later
threshold of the Indian ocean, Christophe Auguin led the way in and only a few hours apart, Thierry Dubois and the Englishman
front of Isabelle Autissier, who had to abandon her route to carry Tony Bullimore faced the same fate and were eventually rescued
out repairs on her starboard rudder. As for Yves Parlier, he broke from these fateful waters by the Australian rescue team. These
his mainstay, before colliding with a growler and losing his rudder difficult conditions and unforseen disasters portrayed the force
… and his hopes of victory. The usual Vendée Globe scenario and the perpetual violence of the raging elements. The saddest
repeated itself as the bows ploughed into the hostile deep south: news from this dark region, as Titouan Lamazou called it, came
when the race HQ in Paris realised that Gerry Roufs
“One cannot come home from a Vendée Globe without
was no longer answering. Although four of his fellow
bearing any marks. Several months will undoubtedly be
competitors were to plough up and down the zone,
necessary for me to come back to my normal life ashore.
try as they might, his fate was not revealed until
The Deep South let me through this time. The real enemy in
six months later when the wreck of his Finot-Conq
this epic voyage is firstly the sea itself …”
design was found on the coast of Chile. The big bad
christophe Auguin – 1996 winner, 105 days, 20 hours, 31 minutes
south had really taken its toll.
After 105 days at sea Christophe Auguin won
the race in fine style and a week ahead of the two
chasing him, Marc Thiercelin and Hervé Laurent. The 6th and final
competitor to be placed was Catherine Chabaud, the first woman
to complete this extremely difficult race: a race which, on this
occasion, led to calls for greater safety. u
DeCeMbeR 2008 YACHTWORLD.COM 27
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