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‘That was tricky.’ And with the understatement of 2020, veteran yachtsman Jean Le Cam welcomed on board his friend and competitor Kevin Escoffier, in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean, and saved his life.
We waste time arguing over sportsmanship and personality, over shortlists and special awards, but in many years the greatest endeavours of the human sporting spirit pass unnoticed before our eyes. Certainly every four.
That is the interval for the Vendee Globe solo, round-the-world yacht race, started in 1989. It shouldn’t be legal, really. Maritime law states a sailor must rest for 10 hours in every 24, and it is not unusual for Vendee Globe competitors to get by on two.
Veteran sailor Jean Le Cam saved Kevin Escoffier after his boat was cut in half by a giant wave
This was the race that made Dame Ellen MacArthur a household name — in France, anyway — and each edition provides at least one tale that outstrips all sporting endeavours in terms of courage, charity and, quite probably, insanity. This year it was the turn of Escoffier and Le Cam.
First, some perspective. Participants in the Vendee Globe circumnavigate 24,000 miles, brave 50ft waves and 92mph winds and only 89 have ever crossed the finishing line, which is two per cent of the numbers that have successfully climbed Everest.
The race passes the farthest point from land on Earth, encounters tropical heat and polar cold, and no external assistance is permitted. A competitor can drop anchor, but not set foot on land or draw alongside another vessel and, while there is a support team back in harbour, they cannot advise on weather or route. A significant number of the entrants fail to finish — 11 of 29 the last time, 2016-17 — and two have been lost at sea.
Of course, scientific advances are as influential as in any sport and modern technology has shaved more than a month off the winning time, from 109 days for Titouan Lamazou in 1989 to 74 days for Armel Le Cleac’h in 2017.
The boats are lighter and travel faster, but this means they hit obstacles faster, too. Sleeping whales, icebergs, one of the 15,000 containers pitched into the sea each year, all lie in wait. Alex Thomson, of Great Britain, crashed out after 20 days this year, with irreparable rudder damage caused by a collision. It is a lonely, perilous journey, daunting mentally and physically. The stuff of heroes, obviously.
Sailors competing in the Vendee Globe solo brave 50-foot waves and 92mph winds
Bringing us to Escoffier, lying second in the race, almost 1,000 miles from land, south-west of Cape Town when his craft was split in two by a giant wave, while travelling at over 30mph. He had less than two minutes to escape before being swept overboard, but a life-raft deployed automatically, saving him. Except now he was adrift in high seas. Escoffier sent a distress signal and race organisers immediately responded with a call to sailors in the area: three responded. They abandoned their races, and headed off in search.
Le Cam, the oldest participant in the race at 61, was first to the scene. He could see Escoffier, and make radio contact but now huge waves and 40mph winds made rescue impossible. He lost sight of him, again. That was late afternoon. It took Le Cam until 1.18am to complete his rescue, after spotting a reflected beam of light bouncing off a wave in the darkness. Escoffier immediately apologised for ruining Le Cam’s race. He had been in fourth place. Le Cam said it did not matter. He had been rescued by another sailor, Vincent Riou, during the 2008-09 Vendee Globe when his boat capsized 200 miles west of Cape Horn. ‘I upset Vincent’s race that time,’ he said.
And, of course, who wouldn’t prioritise saving the life of another human being? Yet these men —and women, six of this year’s 33 captains are female — prepare lifetimes for this event. Small fortunes are secured in investment. Thomson’s boat cost £6million to build. Yet the Vendee Globe is as much about spirit as victory, or even the order of return.
In the 2000-01 edition — in which MacArthur finished second — an extraordinary individual called Yves Parlier, nicknamed the Extraterrestrial due to his unique interpretations of routing and strategy, suffered horrible luck in the South Atlantic when rough seas snapped his mast. His race should have ended there, but Parlier is unlike other men, even other sailors.
Escoffier (pictured) drifted in the the South Atlantic Ocean for hours before he was saved
He sent a terse message to race headquarters. ‘I have dismasted,’ it read. ‘I am going on. I do not need assistance.’ He then nursed the boat to calmer waters, some three weeks away, and anchored off the coast of Stewart Island, near New Zealand.
He worked on his mast for 10 days. Fashioned a home-made oven from a plastic box, a sleeping bag, four light bulbs, anything he could lay hands on with recall from his advanced engineering degree. At one stage he built a raft from jerrycans to free his vessel when it drifted aground. Somehow, he soldered and reconstructed a 60ft, 400lb, high tech composite mast. And set sail for home.
By now, his supplies had gone. Parlier was existing on dried algae and any fish he could catch. Except he had no rod. The catch consisted of flying fish that would occasionally land on deck. He was malnourished, literally starving.
And to what end? He was more than a month behind the winner, Michel Desjoyeaux, and MacArthur. ‘I don’t know if I’m going to make it,’ he said, in one call to land. ‘But I have no choice. In my head, I programmed myself to do this. Psychologically, this is also an operation to fix my morale. To head for Australia and stop would be a total failure.’
Tens of thousands line the harbour-side at Les Sables-d’Olonne in France for the return of the Vendee Globe competitors. In 2001, MacArthur caught the public imagination and the crowd for her was even bigger than that for winner Desjoyeaux.
Dame Ellen MacArthur became an icon by coming second but the Vendee barely registers here
Yet the reception for Parlier 32 days later was biggest of all. His story, his defiance, his bravery, captured a nation. He would become France’s sports personality of the year for 2002. And he has personality.
Dieticians were widely quoted on the dangers of a swift transition from an all-algae diet. He should be cautious, they said, he should be weaned back on to solids. Parlier called ahead with his order. It is fair to say he ate and drank his first meal like a Frenchman — and as boldly as he lived.
In 2005, Parlier’s catamaran capsized and he cracked three vertebrae in a 12-metre fall. The following year, he broke two 24-hour distance records, for crewed and solo sailing. And men, and women, like him are still out there, climbing to the top of masts, alone in the darkness, traversing the globe with only icebergs for company.
The winner of the Vendee Globe will not return until next year. It will be an adventurer every bit as heroic as Parlier, or Escoffier, or Le Cam or MacArthur. Strange, then, that in this sea-faring nation the event barely registers. Sport shouldn’t require personality; it’s character that counts.
And still we wait for the PFA
Football agents are planning to organise cultural and diversity training for their foreign clients, to try to avoid a repeat of the social media calamity that may see Edinson Cavani banned for racism.
And not for the first time we ask — where is the Professional Footballers’ Association in this? Any chance of them taking a lead on something, indeed anything?
Edinson Cavani may get banned for racism for a social media but where are the PFA in all this?
All good fun until fans chant ‘sack the geek’
When Serena Williams was penalised for receiving coaching during a match it seemed harsh. What is wrong with a little tactical or technical advice? Footballers get it, so do the players of most team sports.
Yet, equally, those coded messages draped from the England balcony during the T20 match with South Africa seemed to go very much against the spirit of cricket. Leaving aside that, no matter the wisdom in 4E or 2C, it didn’t stop England’s bowlers getting carted in the final overs, the influence of data analyst Nathan Leamon (left) seemed to challenge the ethics of a sport in which a captain and his bowling attack are supposed to construct strategies on the hoof. Of course, during drinks breaks and other gaps in play messages are transmitted. Yet the captain and his team seem part of that process. At the very least it is less overt than a big banner and capital letters. There was a time in sport when no-one heard a peep from the chairman and even the manager kept his profile low. Now the data analyst gets his 15 minutes.
All fun, until the fans start chanting ‘sack the geek’ when results tank.
There’s a lot to be said for no one having a clue who you are.
Let Marine host Spurs or forget it
If Marine cannot play their tie at home against Tottenham, it will be another bitter blow for the status of the FA Cup. When the names came out — the biggest disparity in the history of the competition, 301 places — it was one of the most joyous moments of the season.
There is probably no venue that would give Marine a genuine chance but Rossett Park, where the club has resided since 1903, is the best of them.
All the romance is there, the true sense of David meeting Goliath, the back gardens running down one touchline, the sense that this is what the Cup is about.
At a time when so few fans are allowed into football anyway, why would Marine’s 3,185 capacity make their ground unsafe? Let in as many as the regulations allow. Don’t let Covid kill the Cup’s tiny sprinkle of stardust.
It would be a travesty if Marine can’t play their FA Cup game with Spurs at their home ground
This tie is simply not the same anywhere else. Take Marine out of their surroundings and they are just underdogs.
The third round always has underdogs. Shrewsbury, Chorley, Stockport, Oldham, Stevenage, Rotherham, Watford, Bristol Rovers, Crawley, MK Dons, Birmingham, Morecambe, Newport — this FA Cup is full of them, as always.
All will dream of springing a surprise and many will be more capable of it than a team from the Northern Premier League Division One North West. Yet none are Marine. None have their back story, none can capture so many imaginations before a ball is even kicked. Tottenham are coming to Crosby.
And, if they are not, what’s the point of it?
Rugby is far behind football
And, somewhat sooner than expected, the latest edition of our occasional series — imagine if that were football.
Pablo Matera, captain of Argentina’s rugby team, posted some offensive views, historically, on social media. ‘Nice morning to go out in the car and run over blacks,’ he announced in 2012. Other racist statements against Bolivians, Paraguayans and black South Africans made his position untenable. He was suspended as Pumas captain, as were two other players whose statements were equally appalling,
And then, 48 hours later, Matera was reinstated. The Argentine Rugby Union decided further measures were unnecessary. ‘All I can say about these three fine players and great men is that they are great human beings,’ said coach Mario Ledesma. Now imagine if that were football. Compare it to the Edinson Cavani inquest. They would be gone. The captain, his like-minded pals and probably the coach, too, if he didn’t understand the problem. Football is far from perfect, but it’s light years ahead of this.
If Argentina rugby star Pablo Matera was a footballer he would have never been reinstated
It’s not Ole’s fault Fred was harshly sent off
There is a lot of Captain Hindsight in the criticism of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer over Fred. He was lucky not to be sent off, so should have been replaced at half-time. And yes, we can argue that now. Yet Fred initially had a lucky escape. Not so lucky if the manager then withdraws him anyway.
Equally, in a separate, second clash with Leandro Paredes shortly before half-time it was the Argentine who was rightly booked. Fred attempted a hard but fair challenge — as he did when he received his second yellow card. He actually won the ball that time.
Maybe he went to ground too readily, but it was harsh. So what was Solskjaer’s error? Not predicting that Fred would be sent off for getting the ball? What if Sir Alex Ferguson had removed Eric Cantona or Roy Keane every time they looked ready to blow?
At half-time Manchester United were in the ascendancy having equalised and the start of the second half was their best spell of the game. Fred was very much part of that. We can all judge knowing the outcome, yet Solskjaer would have been more concerned about the effects of weakening his midfield.
It says as much for what he thinks of Paul Pogba and Nemanja Matic as what we know of Fred.
How can Ole Gunnar Solskjaer be criticised for not predicting Fred getting sent off?
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