Becoming, after 2 to 3 months at sea, the holder for 4 years of the famous Vendée Globe trophy is a grail in the world of ocean racing. However, the 33 skippers have to respect the rules so that the race is fair.
Clearly defined sanctions
If only 3 violations of the rules lead to an indisputable, immediate and definitive disqualification from the race (failure to sail single-handed, calling for assistance or making a stopover), voluntary or accidental infringements are provided for in the Vendée Globe Notice of Race, and the penalty may range from a simple reminder of the rules to disqualification.
A precise race code
The Sailing Instructions for this 9th edition of the Vendée Globe classify the infringements according to the extent of the penalty:
- Financial: A financial compensation will be requested from the skipper.
- 0 to 24 hours of "on the spot": The skipper will be forced to "circle in the water" in a designated area for the assigned duration of the sanction.
- From 24 hours "on the spot" until disqualification: The competitor at fault may be excluded from the race.
- Disqualification: The competitor is excluded from the race.
Possibility to weight sanctions
The race jury, in its indulgence, uses the reading grid provided in the instructions by weighting it (in both positive and negative) to a penalty guide that asks certain questions to weight the fault.
Thus, he will consider a " good reason or justification for the offence "or, again, if" the infringement was declared by the skipper himself "it is necessary to weight down, or even annihilate, the sanction. Conversely, if " the offence is due to negligence or carelessness "or worse" the offence was deliberate "so he's weighting up. This weighting may result in the sanction being in the same or another offence class. Thus, it is conceivable that several times evacuating his rubbish at sea, after recall and first sanction could lead to disqualification from the race.
Shore sanctions before departure also possible
Penalties are provided for at sea during navigation, but not only. Amendment number 5 of the Notice of Race (the latest one) provides that a delay to a formation will be sanctioned with a fine of 500 euros. More surprisingly, we learn that the skipper who forgot to wake up on the day of the start and was not presented on time (i.e. within an hour of the official start of the race) would have been fined 20,000 euros. Fortunately, this sanction did not have to be applied this year!
Case study of Louis Burton
Louis Burton, aboard Bureau Vallée was 2 seconds ahead of the start (he crossed the line 2 seconds before the starting gun was fired). Two seconds with rather important consequences however, as he will have to cross twice the same latitude in a space of 5 hours, before he can resume a normal route. In operation, the skipper announces to the race direction to start the penalty and declares his penalty position. He must, 5 hours after declaring the end of this penitence, still at the same latitude. Once the penalty has been carried out, he resumes the race, normally. He therefore enters, in this case, under the penalty of the " individual reminder "which provides, in the race instructions, for a penalty of 5 hours.
