Who can replace the Vendée Globe skippers?

by Vendée Globe on 22 Jul 2016 What happens if one of the candidates for the upcoming Vendée Globe injures himself or falls ill prior to the start, to the extent that his participation in the event proves impossible? Such a scenario has never come up before, though the procedure in such an eventuality is set out in the Vendée Globe’s Sailing Instructions. Explanations from Guillaume Evrard, Assistant Race Director.

There are two things you need to know about this case: firstly, “under no circumstances are the Vendée Globe sailors compelled to register a replacement. That matter is left to their discretion,” explains Guillaume Evrard. Secondly: there has never been such a case in the Vendée Globe.

Indeed, from one edition to the next, it is the ‘appointed’ sailors who have set sail around the world, without any last minute surprises. However, when a project that you’ve been preparing for four years is at stake, any kind of contingency plan can be reassuring, particularly for the partners, even though around half of the Vendée Globe 2016 fleet don’t consider this extreme case scenario and likely won’t put forward a replacement.

Same skills as the appointed skipper
As a result, the replacement skipper is someone who is required to prepare himself, without any real chance of setting sail… Indeed, article 4.6 of the Notice of Race requires the replacement in question to have virtually the same skills as those requested from the appointed sailors. “First of all, replacements must be members of IMOCA, which reduces de facto the field of possibilities”. Next, they must have completed the same specialist medical training as that completed by the Vendée Globe skippers”.

This equates to a PS Mer certificate (for First Aid at sea), which is required in the majority of professional offshore races, as well as an FMH certificate: Offshore Medical Training, which is a much more in-depth training standard where you learn skills like stitching yourself back up (which is what Bertrand de Broc had to do during a famous episode of the Vendée Globe) or creating a splint in the event of a fracture.

On the administrative side, “if the skipper decides to have a replacement, the latter must be stipulated in the registration pack by 1 September at the latest. There are three other key things:
The skipper must have the same medical qualifications and diplomas as the appointed skipper.
The change of skipper aboard the boat must take place by “midnight on the eve of the start at the latest”, in this instance midnight between 4 and 5 November 2016.
The replacement is definitive. “As such, it is out of the question that the original skipper recovers after the start and then takes over from the replacement at the Azores for example”.

Qualifications yet to be validated
The on-the-water qualifiers also reduce the list of potential replacements to a mere trickle too. Indeed, like the original skippers, the replacements must be able to testify to a round the world or a solo or double-handed transatlantic race aboard an IMOCA. If it’s a double-handed race, the replacement also has to sail an additional 1,500 miles aboard the boat they hope to set sail on.

An amendment to the Sailing Instructions dating back to early May has meant that the rule has been relaxed slightly: these 1,500 miles can also be sailed double-handed but solely with the original sailor, the latter promising not to participate in the manœuvres. This is what Spanish sailor Alex Pella did, when he replaced Kito de Pavant in their recent Mediterranean tour aboard Bastide-Otio. “We’ve made a slight concession by introducing the possibility of sailing the 1,500 miles double-handed, with a particular focus on responsibility, but the notion of replacement has never been so clearly detailed”, in Guillaume Evrard’s view.

Which replacements have already been named?
For now, we only know very few of the names of these replacements. On 20 July there were just three duly registered with Race Management. Nevertheless, we know that Roland Jourdain is the replacement for Morgan Lagravière (Safran) and Erwan Tabarly, recent winner of the Transat Ag2r, is set to replace Armel Le Cléac’h (Banque Populaire) if the need arises. No surprises there then as it’s Roland Jourdain’s company that is managing Morgan Lagravière’s sports project, while Erwan Tabarly finished second in the Transat Jacques Vabre with Armel Le Cléac’h and Alex Pella is part of Kito de Pavant’s team. Meantime, Tanguy de Lamotte (Initiatives Cœur) has already indicated in our earlier coverage that his replacement would be Eric Péron, though he jokingly said of this prospect that “I very much hope he won’t be setting sail and that it will be me that will take the start in Les Sables d’Olonne aboard Initiatives Cœur!”

Many other names, of varying degrees of familiarity, have been circulating among the fifteen or so projects yet to present an official replacement. Others are still considering the matter. Whatever happens, these sailors in the background all know that they have to be ready, though the likelihood of them setting sail is very slender. One last thing? “Like all the original skippers, the replacements must attend the race’s safety briefings, which will take place on 7 and 8 September in Les Sables d'Olonne.