Vendée Globe – One Direction

by AR / M&M on 21 Oct 2016 Race Direction for the forthcoming Vendée Globe is a close knit and hugely experienced team of four composed of Jacques Caraës as Race Director supported by Assistant Race Directors, Guillaume Evrard, Hubert Lemonnier and Matthias Louarn. They play an important role during the race, but also have a lot of work to do before the start.

Ensuring the safety of spectators and welcoming the teams
All four are currently in Les Sables d’Olonne, where the main focus recently has been setting up the logistics and practicalities of the massive spectator armada on the water. “We will have lots of sponsor boats on the sea with RIBs and big passenger boats. We will have at between 40 and 60 big RIBs of sponsors and we have between 50 and 60 passenger VIP boats which all carry more than 100 people,” explains Evrard, “That is a huge logistical exercise because we have all the administration paperwork to deal with and deal with all the guys who will drive the boats on the day. And, of course, everyone wants the best view.”

Safety of the skippers
They are presently finalising all the details on all the boats and all of the skippers which goes on to an information web site which is accessible to all the MRCCs (Maritime Rescue Coordination Centres) and safety authorities whose area the fleet sails through. This is in effect a one-stop source of all the relevant information about each competitor and each boat, from simple visual images of each boat from different angles to personal and medical details about each corresponding skipper.

“We double check with the skippers and teams at this stage to make sure all the information and images are up to date and correct and put that on this web site,” Evrard explains.

Lemonnier has spoken regularly and in detail to each of the MRCCs since the end of the last major IMOCA round the world race in order to make the site more useful and practical. “This has been used in every race now. Sometimes in fact it is not necessarily needed in the crisis situation, but it is used fully before and during. Each MRCC is alerted when the fleet arrives in their zone and we can track who looks at it and when and we know that it is a tool they fully utilise. We send them an email when the first boat arrives and when the last boat leaves.”

Monitoring the ice
At the moment Race Direction are in very close and regular contact with CLS, the company which provides all the ice monitoring service before and during the race. “We are preparing the Antarctic Exclusion Zone right now. We are monitoring the ice zones and will publish the exclusion zone on the 31st of October. We can change the exclusion zone after the start but on the 31st October we give them something which we consider will be very, very close to the final version. They had a draft on the eighth of September as per the ice we could see at the end of August. Now we are monitoring everything. Overall it looks quite OK. There is one big iceberg, 26kms long which is drifting in the South Atlantic mid-way between South America and Africa. The problem is it is drifting very far to the north, close to the route when the boats are sailing south. That mean that it would be close to Gough Island and so perhaps Gough Island itself will be the first waypoint to pass to starboard.”
For the rest of the race the ice situation at the moment is looking quite good.

Class rules, race instructions and penalties
Race Direction are also working to receive all the finalised details for some IMOCA certification, small details like life raft registrations, some checks and so on. They are in close contact with the FFVoile (The French Sailing Federation) and IMOCA to finalise the Sailing Instructions and a couple of small items regarding safety and security controls and inspections, which are mandatory and made during the pre-start period in Les Sables d’Olonne.

“One of the major points is about penalties and how the Jury will work. That is taking a lot of time with the Race Director and the FFVoile. They are looking at publishing penalties in advance for breaching specific rules, with a weighting proportional to the infringement. This is designed to allow the Jury to act faster and more efficiently than during the last edition,” Evrard explains. “There is to be an Excel sheet with a list on penalties, a broken seal for example will have a published penalty, maybe for example between two and six hours. There are something like forty different examples with the likely penalty attached.” This system is a first for the Vendée Globe and indeed a first for IMOCA racing. This will be published before the skippers arrive in Les Sables d’Olonne.

Round the clock surveillance
Simple logistics are taking time too right now, when are teams arriving, what are they bringing in terms of boats, vehicles and containers. When the race is under way it is well oiled machine, all the race direction team have worked together on many round the world and transatlantic races. This time, the Race Director will work within their ‘watch’ system. There is always, always, always a Race Director monitoring the progress of the fleet minute by minute 24/7 all the way around the planet.

“This time we have three in Paris at any one time and one at home on rest.” Normally, Race Direction can monitor each boat’s position as tracked every 30 minutes, but if anything changes or they need to watch more accurately, any one boat can be highlighted and its position tracked every six minutes. Within 50 miles of the start and finish the positions of each boat will be updated and tracked every six minutes. Experience and team work are vital components of the job that Race Direction do and the Vendée Globe team for this race are among the very best in the business.