4.November 2000
The start of the 4th edition of the Vendée Globe has been
postponed.
Philippe Jeantot, the race organiser, announced that due to
very bad weather forecasts in the Golf of Gascogne over the
night of Sunday to Monday, the start of the race will be on
Tuesday 7th November at 1301hrs. This decision has been
taken with the accord of all 24 skippers.
Ellen, accompanied by her team from Kingfisher plc, spoke of
her final thoughts before the race to all the media here in Les
Sables d’Olonne.
On the management of her mental well-being:
"I don’t feel under pressure from the media, my team has
managed this really well for me, as well as the preparation
generally of the boat - in fact since the launch. I don’t think I
am more sought after than the other skippers. I don’t see
interviews as a problem - it is thanks to the media in fact, that
I am able to share this dream with thousands of people,
including the 130,000 employees of Kingfisher Group, the
public that come to the pontoons searching for a glimpe or an
autograph, and above all the children from the hospitals to
whom I dedicate my adventure"
"I don’t consider myself to have either advantage or
disadvantage over the male skippers. I am a woman on a
boat, and the day things go wrong, I accept its my fault - I
never use the excuse its because I’m a woman ! "
"My aim is to make the finishing line, but I will certainly be
pushing for a good position - but firstly, I want to finish"
On her experience as a sailor and on ’Kingfisher’:
"I have already sailed more than 23,000 miles on this boat,
and have already some knowledge and experience in the
Southern Ocean - although our passage from New Zealand
was in relatively light winds. I didn’t see any big storms in the
south, but I know that this race could be become really tough,
but that doesn’t change at all my desire to go."
"It is true that I have less experience than some of the
skippers, but for 4 years now, I have sailed only to achieve
this aim. I feel like I have concentrated 15 years of my life in
to 4. I had amazing luck to meet a great sponsor like
Kingfisher."
"My boat sails under a European flag, that’s a personal choice
and also one of my sponsors Kingfisher. I am not an English
person that comes here to beat the French, I am a European
sailor, in a French race."
"I am really keen to start, I am carrying with me the dreams
of the children I’ve met in the hospitals across France. I was
impressed by the energy that the children had, despite
several really not well with only a few hours to live. That put a
lot of things in to perspective for me."
Alain Gautier supported Ellen by remarking that:"If I had to
take the Vendee start now, I would choose a design very
similar to ’Kingfisher’ with a similar design team."
And after the Vendee Globe ?
"Right now I cannot imagine life without ’Kingfisher’ . I think
we will know each other very well after this race…. Normally it is
during a race that one starts working out what to do
afterwards…if I can’t work that out in 3 months, then I should
probably stop !"
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