Le Cléac’h Wins the Vendee, but O’Coineen and Wilson Embody the Vendee Spirit

As Armel Le Cléac’h came into Les Sables d’Olonne a few hours ahead of Alex Thomson today, one of offshore racing’s great duels ended. Le Cléac’h finished with Banque Populaire VIII amid cheers of thousands at Les Sables and his hero status is assured. Alex Thomson is sure to finish in a few hours.

I’ll be watching too see if Alex Thomson’s Hugo Boss really has as broken foil. He reported his starboard foil broken back on in November while he was leading the race, but has sailed just about as fast as Le Cléac’h ever since. I’m not sure I believe it. And if it is true I’m going to have to have an expert explain to me just how he managed to sail so well in that broken wing condition.

Alex Thomson is great for sailing. A Brit taking on the French at very much their own game, he’s managed to be a wise corporate investment for Hugo Boss (not always the case in yacht racing sponsorship), a consummate showman (check out his skywalk video) and a damn fine sailor. And also a resilient one. It seems no matter how many times his boats break, he always keeps coming back and always sailing all out at or near the front of the fleet. When his foil broke he just kept going, and damn near won this thing. He’s already a household name in the U.K. Maybe they’ll knight him or something between video shoots.

There’s a lot more to be said about IMOCA boats, singlehanding, foils and flat out speed and subsequent seamanship questions. I’ll leave that percolating for now.

But I definitely want to talk about the 61-year-old Irishman Enda O’Coineen. He entered without any real chance of winning, but found sponsorship from several quarters and carried the hopes and dreams of the Irish with him on Kilcullen Voyager. He is a successful businessman and, get this, was president of the International Federation of Irish Pubs. And was a creator of a sailing magazine, Afloat . You gotta admire then ambition, if not the judgment, of someone starting a sailing magazine…. In his pictures and videos, he seems like the kind of guy I’d enjoy hearing tell stories. He’s happy and sees the bright side, and isn’t jaded by the Vendee fanfare.

O’Coineen will not officially finish this race. He was dismasted January 1 shortly after doing a very seamanlike pitstop to prepare for the Southern Ocean. But to read his words, you sense a real sailor, one who has thought through the implications of the sport and gets the big picture. His post-dismasting words kind of tell it all. Here’s part of what his report to the race organizers:

“You roll the dice. I was caught a little bit unawares. I was in 20-25 kts of breeze and a very vicious 35kt squall came through, and the self-steering malfunctioned just at the wrong moment. I did an involuntary gybe and then a gybe back. The boat was out of control and I was caught without the runner properly on and the mast snapped.

“I have to laugh because if I don’t I will cry.

“Look, you have to be philosophical. This sort of sailing is living on the edge. I have been doing that for 57 days and as the fella says if you are living on the edge you are taking up too much space. I was taking up too much space on the edge.

“Ironically I had just done a little interview with myself for New Year. I celebrated with a small bottle of champagne. My alter personality asked me about my New Year’s Resolution. And my New Year’s resolution was to take less risk with my life. In business, in my life, I have taken a lot of risk. The risk enabled me to make enough money to buy this boat and to pursue the dream, to pursue my adventure. The irony is that only two hours earlier I had recorded a video to pledge to take less risk. And here I am. Risk is a four letter word, like a lot of meaningful four letter words in the English language.

Here’s the rest of that story.

Yet the Vendee Globe is not really over for O’Coineen. He has vowed to sail his boat back to Ireland. He’s lined up borrowed mast and sails to sail the boat from Dunedin on New Zealand’s South Island to Auckland on North Island. He’ll source a new mast, go back for a visit to Ireland, then return to Auckland to refit the boat and finish the circumnavigation. It will apparently make him the first Irishman to singlehand around the world.

American Rich Wilson, 66, has rounded Cape Horn in Great American IV and is headed up the Atlantic. It looks like he’ll finish in a few days in 14^th place. Finish is the key word here. Described as “a brain,” on his Vendee profile, he’s a Harvard graduate, a math whiz and former defense analyst. He’s also a great sailor, having won the Bermuda Race several decades ago, setting several offshore records with the Great American II trimaran. His first attempt at the Vendee was in 2008-9, when he finished in 121 days.

Perhaps the most profound aspect of Wilson is the commitment he has to sharing his experiences and educating kids. On his Sites Alive website teachers could link to an abundance of teaching materials, plus hook into his ship’s log, position etc. His outreach has attracted hundreds of thousands of kids and certainly opened a lot of eyes to the world outside their favorite video game.

Here is a Q and A from today with one of his young followers, Annya. (note that this was done as he’s racing a 60’ racing machine by himself)

Question: How do the stars look at night from your boat?

Answer: Dear Annya: We have not seen many stars on this trip because of the weather, and that is very disappointing. On other voyages, I would spend a lot of time at night looking at the stars, and studying a book called The Star Book by H. A. Rey. It is the best star book I’ve ever seen.

One aspect of the Vendée Globe is that since we go into the Southern Hemisphere, we get to see all the stars that we cannot see from the Northern Hemisphere. And it’s interesting that when we cross the equator going south, Polaris, the North Star, disappears over the horizon behind us as we head south! It will reappear ahead of us going north over the equator.

While the focus is on Le Cléac’h and Thomson, hold a thought for Enda O’Coineen and Rich Wilson. I’ll admire Le Cléac’h and be enthralled by Thompson’s antics. But it’s O’Coineen and Wilson with whom I’d like to share an ale. They get it that sailing is a lot more than a chance to win. It’s easy to shine a spotlight on Le Cléac’h. It may be more important to put a spotlight on the guys who are going to finish weeks and months after.