Vendée Globe - Yoann Richomme: "If Charlie wins, I'll be happy for him"
by Ed Gorman / IMOCA Globe Series 9 Jan 05:57 AEDT
Yoann Richomme on Paprec Arkéa - Vendée Globe © Gauthier Lebec / Paprec Arkéa
There are still 2,400 nautical miles to sail to the finish for the leaders of this epic Vendée Globe and Yoann Richomme on Paprec Arkéa in second place has not given up hopes of winning on debut.
But the two-time Figaro champion says he will be delighted for his old rival Charlie Dalin, the skipper of Macif Santé Prévoyance, if he manages to complete this race ahead of him after taking line honours four years ago but then finishing second on corrected time.
"I would be happy for him if he won it," said Richomme as his boat continued its journey north, in the trade winds west of the Cape Verde islands, about 165 miles behind Dalin. "I think he deserves it. I think the scenario of the last Vendée Globe (was unfair) on him and he deserves the win. If he does manage to win it, I will be happy for him, but I'm not going to offer it to him."
So what can Richomme do to try to prevail, with about eight days left until the pair reach the finish off Les Sables D'Olonne? Richomme says he will be looking for any opportunity he can get to muscle past Dalin at the end of a match race between the two skippers that has been raging since they entered the Southern Pacific Ocean.
"The route from here is pretty straightforward," explained Richomme. "We will see what happens when we get across the (Azores) high pressure - Charlie should get slowed down a bit more than me, but that might not be enough to close the gap. But the end looks a bit messy right now weatherwise with some light winds and, I don't know, I'm looking for opportunities all the time, but it's not easy."
Richomme knows this could come down to small details that might affect the competitive performance of the two boats - his Antoine Koch/Finot Conq specialist downwind flyer against Dalin's Guillaume Verdier all-rounder. "Right now it is so straightforward going back to the Bay of Biscay and there is not much to do," he added. "I am trying to hang on because it's more his conditions than mine - this is more his territory - so it's hard to watch the miles reducing to the finish and there is not much I can do about that.
"As soon as we are downwind, maybe, I'll feel a bit different because I've got a very fast boat downwind, so I will definitely send it from the high pressure all the way to the Bay of Biscay as much as I can to try and catch up, and then we will see where we are at the end." He said he would take any option - even an unlikely one to get past Dalin. "If I feel there is even a tiny bit of a chance on the routing, I'll probably take it," he said.
But the Paprec Arkéa skipper also knows that Vendée Globe races have foundered in the final miles when skippers have pushed tired boats too far. He says he will still try to strike a balance between speed and looking after his boat, even if he believes it is still at 100% of its capability.
"If the (run to the finish) brings a dismasting, it will be stupid," said the 41-year-old who won both the Retour à la Base in 2023 and the Transat CIC last year. "I'd rather finish second, so it's a bit of a balance. I need to push it like I always do and not go too far because obviously I could do some stupid stuff and that would be a shame."
And he expanded on the possibility that he might yet finish runner-up. It's a thought that he is quite content with at this stage. Asked if he would have signed up at the start for a close finish behind Dalin in second position, he had no doubts. "Oh yeah, I would have signed up for that, for sure," he said.
Richomme is not looking back with any regrets either, even if he referenced one mistake, when he did not follow Dalin and Sébastien Simon (Groupe Dubreuil) into the heart of a big depression in the southern Indian Ocean. "Second is definitely a bonus and then I am really proud with how I sailed," he said. "I've sailed well and I made one mistake basically - one big mistake in the low pressure in the Indian Ocean that I don't even regret all that much because it was risky on (Dalin's) part. It was not a decision I could have taken without any experience in the south I think and, there you go, I am happy with what I've done."
It has been an incredible fight with Dalin that has lasted 25 days but Richomme - who has been in the lead at times - seems to be more relaxed about it than many who have been watching on the Tracker. "I don't think about it all the time, so I don't have a hard time with it. I'm trying to stay relaxed about it and the thing is, when you guys look at the chart and the Tracker, 150 miles doesn't look that much. To me it looks like a hell of a long way, so I don't feel that close racing battle that you see. But it's certainly been intense and we've sailed well, both of us, and we have great machines and, you know, we've been sailing against each other like this for almost 10 years now, so it doesn't feel all that unusual."
Richome says he is looking forward to "standing on something still" that is not moving around all the time when he gets back to dry land. If one thing has surprised him on this voyage, it is how well he has coped with being alone on what has been his longest time at sea by far. "I don't really enjoy being by myself on the boat, so I always had a bit of a hard time with spending a long time at sea alone. And after a few weeks, like two or three weeks, it was getting on my nerves a bit and I was, you know, feeling like it was going to be really tough being alone.
"But in the end it wasn't too bad," he added. "I can't say I really enjoyed it, but I made the best of it and it didn't feel too long. There was always something going on and there was always something to look forward to. I prepared myself mentally quite well. In a way this was one of my weaknesses basically, so that worked out pretty well and that was a bit of a surprise."
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