The head of the fleet has been bitterly contested throughout the Vendée-Arctic-Les Sables-d'Olonne. But in the end it was Jérémie Beyou, the skipper of Charal, who won this first edition of the race. With a passage across the finish line off Les Sables-d'Olonne on Tuesday 14th July 2020 at 8:44 pm, the sailor will have completed this North Atlantic course in 10 days, 5 hours, 14 minutes and 8 seconds.
While he was being followed closely by Charlie Dalin - who's taking the 2 e place on the podium less than an hour behind Jérémie Beyou - and Thomas Ruyant - 3 e of the race, 20 minutes behind Charlie Dalin - Jérémie Beyou was the fastest over the last 24 hours.
Still in the leading trio, the three-time winner of the Solitaire du Figaro is used to knife finishing. In this way, after the Transat New York Vendée 2016, he won his second solo IMOCA race.
"It was really intense. It's true that every solo victory, and especially in the IMOCA class, has to be earned, but this time it was special. It was a new format. The course has never been done before. Of course, there were a lot of unknowns and pressure to find out if you and your boat are ready for the Vendée Globe, because it's demain?! I had put myself under pressure all by myself, it was important for me to sail well... I was tense at the start of the race and I relaxed little by little. But it wasn't easy all the time.
Le Figaro's "rien lâcher", it's useful. I'm by nature grumpy, it makes me feel good to grumble, to show that every time I was in the lead, there was a turnaround, it came from behind. It's also a way to keep going. The day you give up, and you say it doesn't matter, well, you have to go do something else chose?!
There have been reversals between the three of us, with Charlie and Thomas. We raced together. We hardly ever let each other out of our sight. One time you, one time me, they sailed really well, too. But we had to make the last little move, the gybe that I initiated yesterday and that everyone followed. Then we had to set the final course. You had to want it. And I wanted a lot of it.
I learned about myself, about my confidence in the boat, about how to initiate manoeuvres. You get out there, you know how to do the maneuvers, you're in osmosis with the boat. When the boat goes fast and it hits, you're not too scared. It was a good way to connect the pair between Charal and his skipper, because it's been a long time and last year it was only double-handed races. And the solo is radically different. Now, this confidence in the boat in the Vendée Globe, if you don't have it, you can't get a result.
This victory is a great satisfaction. I put a lot of pressure on myself. I'm someone who needs to do a lot of sailing, to do a lot of competition, to be in contact with my boat and it's true that since the Transat Jacques Vabre, between the yard and the confinement, I've lost my bearings and I put a lot of pressure on myself. Now I'm managing to do things right and win, I'm putting my bags down a bit. I no longer have that pressure on the eve of the start of the Vendée Globe. I know where I'm going and how to get there, and that's a great victory.
An image that I remember from this race: the last edge towards the finish was champagne?! There were 17/20 knots, 120/130 degrees of wind, the boat on the foil, flat sea and there, Charal was really great. It was fantastic." explains the winner of the race.
A breathtaking finish
At the end of 10 days of racing, it took just 2 hours and 40 minutes for Jérémie Beyou (charal), Charlie Dalin (Apivia), Thomas Ruyant (LinkedOut), Sam Davies (Initiatives C?ur) and Kevin Escoffier (PRB) to cross the finish line in the Vendée-Arctique-Les Sables d'Olonne.
