Vendée Globe – Nandor Fa takes fight to old crewmate Colman

by Vendée Globe on 25 Nov 2016 Hungarian adventurer Nandor Fa might not be a threat to the Vendee Globe frontrunners but the 63-year-old is locked in battle all the same – with his old crew mate Conrad Colman.

Veteran skipper Fa formed an unlikely partnership with the 32-year-old Kiwi sailor for the 2014 Barcelona World Race, finishing an seventh. During that circumnavigation the pair sailed through the very same waters that they now occupy two years on as rivals in the Vendée Globe.

Already close in terms of their friendship, the pair are now almost inseparable on the water – just a handful of miles separates them at 1700 UTC. It's a good-natured battle that the sailors both young and old are relishing. “I just achieved my short term goal which was to get ahead of Nandor,” Colman told Vendée Globe HQ today. “Two years ago we were here together in the same boat during the Barcelona World Race and now we're racing each other after a compression in the Vendée Globe fleet. “We had a chat on the radio yesterday where we said it was funny to find ourselves here going hammer and tongs in a battle against each other.”

Fa revealed that he and Colman have taken to their VHFs to reminisce about their experiences sailing together round the world, all the while mindful not to let any information slip that might give the other an advantage. “We talk quite a lot,” Fa said. “We talk about the old days when we sailed together, what we're having for dinner and about other little questions. We don't talk too much about sailing and not too much the weather either because we're rivals, but it's just nice to have company out here.”

Fa said that while he's keen to get one up on his old sailing partner, he hasn't taken his eye off the other skippers within firing range of his Spirit of Hungary IMOCA 60. “With Conrad this is a personal race but it's not too serious – we're racing the others too,” he said. “Conrad is a rival just like the others, and I want to beat them all.”