Yoann Richomme and Antoine Cornic: A tale of two Southern Ocean - and Vendée Globe - rookies
by Ed Gorman / IMOCA Globe Series 13 Dec 2024 02:40 AEDT
Yoann Richomme - Vendée Globe 2024 © Yoann Richomme #VG2024
Watching his performance in the Vendée Globe, the confident way he has sailed and his exceptional consistency and competitiveness, it is easy to forget that Yoann Richomme is one of the rookies in this now 38-strong field.
Right now, as he powers downwind about 620 nautical miles due east of the longitude of Cape Leeuwin on the southwest corner of Australia, the Paprec Arkéa skipper is in third position, just under 400 nautical miles behind race leader Charlie Dalin (MACIF Santé Prévoyance).
It's a big gap, but it has been coming down and distances like this have been whittled away before in the Vendée Globe. Richomme is by no means out of the running as a potential winner with 12,700 miles still to sail. And let's not forget that in six of the nine previous Vendée Globes, rookie entrants have won this race.
Speaking to the Class as his boat hammered along at a position about 950 miles south of the Australian coast, the 41-year-old double Solitaire du Figaro (2016 and 2019) champion sounded content and confident about his race so far.
"It's already been a month at sea and it's funny, it doesn't feel like it," he said. "It's been my longest time at sea for sure, but it's going well. I'm in my rhythm. I'm sailing quite well and my boat's in a really good state, so I couldn't really wish for more."
We asked Richomme if he was finding it easy to pace himself on such a long and arduous voyage and he gave the impression that he has been sailing well within his capabilities. "Well yeah, I don't find it very hard, you know," he replied candidly. "I'm obviously tired - we always are - but it's not too tiring. We haven't had that many manoeuvres to do. What's tiring is the movement of the boat that shakes around a lot all the time. So that gets on your nerves a little bit. But otherwise, I give it everything I have, pretty much, and it's just waiting behind the computer and looking at the sails and just, you know, making the best of it."
Many watching the race unfold over the last few weeks have been impressed by the speed and relentless pace of race leader Dalin and second-placed Sébastien Simon (Groupe Dubreuil) across the South Atlantic and then into the Southern Ocean. But Richomme, who chose a more northerly option than the two leaders, to avoid the worst of the biggest depression of the race so far, is not one of them. He's clearly in the hunt for the podium, or even a maiden victory, and the message is that nothing special has been happening at the front of the fleet.
"I don't think they've been pushing that hard," he said. "I think they just took some risk, and they took a little bit of a gamble, and it paid off. I don't think they've been pushing that hard, or not harder than me."
So what is his strategy for catching up with them? He knows that Simon is hampered by the loss of his starboard foil, but it will still be hard to overtake him. "I have no real strategy to catch up," explained Richomme. "I'm just trying to do the best I can. I think I'm faster than Séb most of the time, so I'll try to use that to my advantage. But we're going to be doing a lot of starboard (tack), so he's not going to be having a problem with his starboard foil, he's going to be on the port one. So it's going to be harder to catch him, obviously."
Richomme doesn't like people coming up from behind and overtaking and he made it clear that trying to increase his margin over fourth-placed Thomas Ruyant (Vulnerable) - currently about 180 miles west of Paprec Arkéa - was a big priority.
"What I'm trying to do most, if I can say that, is to try and get away from the guys at the back because I hate having somebody over my shoulder. I'm just working hard to get Thomas as far away from me as possible. And obviously that works out to bring me directly to the front. I'm always pushing 100%. I haven't backed off at any time," he added.
On board the Antoine Koch-Finot Conq flying machine there have so far been precious few issues to occupy its easily-bored skipper apart from a couple of repairs to the custom-built shock-absorbing cockpit seat. Richomme has been keeping a close eye on his boat, but says: "everything seems to be working."
Some way back in the fleet - in 31st place - Richomme's fellow rookie, Frenchman Antoine Cornic at the helm of the 2005-generation daggerboard-configured Human Immobilier, is keeping his race on track despite losing a headsail after the boat was knocked down in a squall. Cornic, aged 44 and based in La Rochelle, is a former restaurateur who sold his business to return to sailing and to take on the Vendée Globe, having sailed in the Mini Transat in 2001.
He told the Class from a position about 630 miles northwest of the Kerguelen islands that his decision to aim at the Vendée Globe had been the right one. "What pushed me to leave the restaurant business was this deep desire to get back on the water, to compete, and to finally do what I've always wanted to do at least once in my life: the Vendée Globe," he said. "It took me 20 years to get here, which is incredible, to leave behind a life I worked so hard to build. But listen, I'm very happy I made the leap, and I'm very happy to be in the middle of it now.
"It's been hard - hard for me, hard for my family," he added. "We had to re-organise everything. It's certainly less straightforward than waking up in the morning, going to the fish market, working on your menu and welcoming guests. This is a completely different job, but I don't regret it for a second and I'm going to enjoy it to the fullest."
Cornic has been thrilled to see albatrosses accompanying him, but he is finding the cold - and especially his cold feet - difficult, along with the high levels of humidity and dampness on board. "Everything is wet and everything is cold. It's 6 degrees Celsius inside the boat right now. These are places where there's hardly anyone, and you start to understand why," he said.
What's great about Cornic is the way he is able to share his sense of adventure. As a rookie in this extraordinary race, it is quite clear that it is living up to its billing in his mind. "It's my first time in the Southern Ocean," he enthused. "It's crazy when you look at the map on the computer and realise you are in the middle of it, in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of who knows what! Why are we going there? I still can't answer that. I've been at sea for four weeks; I'm not far from Kerguelen, but there's still more than half the Indian Ocean to go.
"It's something quite unique and incredible to come to these waters," he added. "So I'm trying to savour it, even though it's tough and complicated, but I'm very happy to be here."
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