We had to get up early, brave the cold and the rain to go and welcome this sailor who is coming back as a hero (but when will they finally organize a race that happens in summer?). We went out to sea to find the Rustler 36 Matmut, which is slowly coming in under spinnaker. Jean-Luc Van Den Heede is still 5 miles from the finish line and already some boats are with him. We are sailing with him in the direction of Sables-d'Olonne, full downwind (under asymmetric spinnaker, I have a lot of trouble to follow his very downwind course). The closer we get to the finish, the more the fleet of accompanying boats becomes dense. When we crossed the line, there were more than 50 boats circling around him.
It is 10:13 am and VDH has officially completed its round-the-world voyage after 211 days 23 hours, 12 minutes and 19 seconds at sea!
A crowd like for a Vendée Globe
As you walk up the channel, you realize what this man has accomplished and the tribute that the public pays him. Despite the rain, the crowd is present on the dikes. Thousands of people came to greet this new exploit. You can feel the emotion and admiration behind the shouts and the foghorns that rise on both sides of the channel.
When the boat with the number 8 is moored at the pontoon, we discover a smiling man, happy to arrive. You can feel VDH is tired, but not necessarily at the end of his rope. To hear him tell it, this is not necessarily the hardest race he has ever experienced: " I had already lived 122 days alone. We settle into a certain routine. You are busy taking stock, busy knowing where you are, busy with the weather, because you have to reconstruct the maps with the information you have. You just have to be in tune with yourself. My second Vendée Globe was harder, we had very difficult conditions from one end to the other: in the Bay of Biscay, in the south..."
A very clean boat despite a capsize
Even his boat doesn't look tired. Yet he has faced extreme conditions. " With these boats, unlike the IMOCA boats in the Vendée Globe, which know that there is going to be bad weather and position themselves accordingly, with our boats we have to suffer. When 50 knots are forecast, you have to be able to deal with them." However, the stigma of the capsize is barely visible: " The boat lay down at about 130°. The mast went under water. The lower shroud axis is twisted and the mast is torn for 5 to 6cm. When the boat came up, I looked at the mast, it was a spaghetti. The D2s and D1s relaxed after the shock. I didn't think I could go on and I organized my arrival in Chile. But while talking with Lionel (Editor's note: his trainer), I said to myself that I could never go back with this mast, I would have to change it. I'll try to repair it and if it breaks, I'll return with my makeshift rig. I repaired as best I could. I went up once to check that there was no problem with the second spreader. I reinforced the mast with braces. We had to re-tension the D2s and remove the pins. It's already complicated on land, but at sea it's really difficult. In total I went up the mast 7 times.
As it seemed to hold, I passed Cape Horn and climbed back up. I wasn't going fast, because I couldn't overtake the boat. I could see Mark coming up, but there was nothing I could do about it. I lost five days with this story."
73 years old and 6 world tours
Thus, VDH has just completed its 6 e circumnavigation! After his second Vendée Globe, he said he would not go around the world again, he did it twice in reverse (and still holds the time record on this course!). He once again claimed that he was done with round the world races, but here he is again at the finish of the Golden Globe Race 2018 to tell us once again that he will not go back on a round the world race unless he has euros " someone invents another great thing that might interest him ".
Unquestionably, Jean-Luc can boast of having joined the list of these legendary sailors who preceded him and who made him dream in his youth: Alain Gerbault, Joshua Slocum, Vito Dumas, Marcel Bardiaux, Tabarly, Moitessier, and of course Sir Robin Knox-Johnson who was there in person to welcome him.
"In 1969, when I arrived after the first Golden Globe, my priorities were: a pint of beer, a beefsteak and a bath! What are your priorities today?", sir Robin Knox-Johnson asks him. " Exactly the same, but in reverse. First the bath, then the steak and finally a beer!", vDH answers with an incredible burst of laughter.
