Above: MacArthur’s 2001 Vendée Globe success was followed first with a Jules Verne attempt that ended with damage in the Southern Ocean and then with this custom Irens-designed 75-foot trimaran on which she set a solo round-the-world record of 71d 14h. Along with a great deal of hard study ashore and endless hours on the water, there was lots of trial and error (left) in Ellen MacArthur’s early career… Far left: ahead of its time, MacArthur during the 1998 Route du Rhum on her Adrian Thompson Open 50 – which the writer raced in the 2000/01 Vendée Globe
again the distance to the finish does not reflect reality. Michel is on the right side of the coming shift and will definitively gain on Ellen – who is now once again hit by a technical failure, something dramatic. The incident occurs on 7 February in the afternoon. One of the shrouds has just broken. ‘I was completely destroyed,’ admits Ellen in her book of the race. ‘When I heard the terrible noise of the
stay breaking I understood immediately that our last chances to beat Mich had just flown away unless he himself suffered a major problem. All I could try to do was to keep the rig in one piece and struggle along until the finishing line while trying to protect our second place in front of Roland Jourdain, alias Bilou.’ I remember at this time I called Ellen by Iridium from my 50-footer VM Matériaux, a boat (the ex-Aqua Quorum of Pete Goss) that she knows well having raced with her before in the Kingfisher colours. I was very impressed by her fast navigation around the world and I wanted to congratulate her before she arrived in Vendée. Our conver- sation had been quite short and I can tell
50 SEAHORSE
you she was very upset by the mainstay failure obliging her to ‘undersail’ her boat. Ellen finally crossed the line after 94 days at sea, one more day than Desjoyeaux. Of course we can imagine the reception
given to the astonishing Petite Hélène – she had already conquered the heart of all the French people (and perhaps the British too!). And her story around the world remains one of the biggest events in the history of the Vendée Globe. I found paradise. A day before her finish in Les Sables d’Olonne Ellen wrote: ‘To try to stop my tears I leaned my head over the side, to look at the dolphins playing around. But before they came back I saw only the reflection in the sea of the most beautiful boat in the world. I had a strong feeling that my boat was the best place I have ever been since before I was maybe seven years old and that during our last 12 months together, for well over half of that time I have been living mostly onboard. I gave up, I stopped fighting and I cried tears of pure pleasure and as I did I looked at my tears falling on the water. If ever there were a paradise, then it must be here.’
Dame Ellen MacArthur first hit the headlines in 2001 when she raced alone around the world in the Vendée Globe when only 24 years old. Prior to her Vendée success she won the Solo Transat and after the Vendée she went on to win the Route du Rhum in 2002.
After this successful story in the Imoca class Ellen turned her attention to the multi hull circuit, leading to her departure from Falmouth, UK in 2004 onboard the 75ft trimaran B&Q… She returned 71d 14h 18m 33s later, having sailed over 26,000 miles to become the fastest person to circumnavigate the globe singlehanded. She was knighted by the Queen in 2005 and received the Légion d’Honneur from French President Nicolas Sarkozy. She is a founder of the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust, a charity set up in 2003, which works with hospitals across the UK to take young people aged between eight and 24 sailing, helping them to regain confidence after treatment for cancer and leukaemia. Patrice Carpentier
(Patrice finished the 2000/2001 Vendée Globe 11th overall and first 50-footer) q
JEAN-MARIE LIOT/DPPI
THIERRY MARTINEZ
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