From Les Sables d'Olonne back to Les Sables d'Olonne, racing for nearly 25,000 miles, passing by
the three Capes, from West to East, non-stop, single-handed, and without assistance. In order to
win, speed is of the essence in all conditions - and without damage. At a time when racing is at its
most technically advanced, emotions still run high on the crest of each wave.
It took four centuries to discover nearly all of the land mass of this world. At the end of the 19th
Century, clipper ships capable of surfing at 22 knots had managed to sail around the three Capes
and through the "roaring forties".
However the major forerunner of the single-handed sailing adventure was a man named Joshua
Slocum. In 1895, aboard 'Spray', a 37ft sloop, this American-born Canadian left the city of Boston.
After three wild years of navigating 46,000 miles on a yacht built with his own bare hands, with the
Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn already behind him, Slocum anchored in Newport, Rhode
Island…thus completing this, the first ever solo Around the World sail known to man!
It was not until 1930 that Alain Gerbault would accomplish the second solo sail Around the World on a 12 metre named 'Firecrest' in six years.
In 1966, Englishman Sir Francis Chichester on 'Gipsy Moth II', although physically handicapped,
completed a solo sail Around the World in 226 days with only one stop-over in Sydney. The world was
in awe…
The popular success of Chichester inspired the Sunday Times newspaper to come up with a trophy,
which was named 'The Golden Globe', for the first single-handed, non-stop, Around the World race,
via the three Capes. Recent pioneers in the sailing world took up the challenge with yachts ranging
between 9 and 13 metres in length. However, by the end of that year, five sailors had already
abandoned the race. On April 6, 1969, on board 'Suhaili', Robin Knox-Johnston returned to Falmouth
after 313 days at sea (30,123 nautical miles at an average of 3.6 knots!). Bernard Moitessier, on the
other hand, although still in with a chance of winning, changed capes after Cape Horn and headed for
the Pacific where he anchored in Tahiti, having passed the Cape of Good Hope twice without landing!
La Longue Route" ("The Long Route"), a book narrating the journeys of these obsessed adventurers
of the world, fast became bed-time reading for insomniacs alike with a yearning for the open sea. It
also sparked off the wildest dreams of a whole generation of amateur sailors and young navigators:
Olivier de Kersauson, Jean-Yves Terlain, Philippe Jeantot, Loick Peyron, Philippe Poupon, Titouan
Lamazou and even Alain Gautier, to name but a few…
In the 1970's records fell, boat technology progressed, and sailors knew how to manage their boat preparation even better - they themselves became weather experts. In 1970, Englishman
Chay Blyth succeeded in sailing around the world from East to West (in the opposite or 'wrong' direction). In 1973, the late Alain Colas was the first skipper to accomplish a single-handed
Around the World sail on a multihull called 'Manureva'. Colas
astounded his contemporaries by establishing a record time of 169 days.
In 1989, American Dodge Morgan brought down the record for a non-stop tour to 150 days. Then it was Philippe Monnet's turn to pulverize the Brest - Brest time by bringing it off in 129 days. In 1989, Olivier de Kersauson, after several mishaps, improved on this record and shortened it to 125 days. In comparison, the British created the BOC Challenge in September 1982, a new single-handed Around the World race in monohulls, and with four stopovers: Newport - The Cape - Sydney - Rio - Newport. Philippe Jeantot, a young unknown at the time, came straight out of Comex, where he worked as a professional diver, and succeeded to win, without fault, every leg of the race in a total of 159 days, 2 hours and 26 minutes, and 11 days ahead of his closest opponent.
1986 saw the second edition of the BOC Challenge, and a repeat performance from Jeantot, putting
himself ahead of both Titouan Lamazou and Jean-Yves Terlain. At the end of the second BOC
Challenge, those skippers who had read "La Longue Route" decided unanimously one day to race on
their own, non-stop and without assistance, around this beautiful old planet of ours.
This dream was formed one night over several beers around a table covered with a map of the world…
and it was Jeantot who took up the challenge to make it happen for real.
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