Denis Van Weynbergh: "I tried to sail like a good father...I didn’t have the courage or the talent to do otherwise!"
This morning after an express but emotional and popular welcome into the Channel Belgian skipper Denis Van Weynbergh was finally able to let go of the seemingly interminable stress and enjoy a fantastic return to Les Sables d’Olonne. The skipper of D'Ieteren Group was reunited with his loved ones. And there was a sizeable crowd out there around the channel and on the pontoons where Manuel Cousin and Arnaud Boissières were waiting for him. Very moved, Denis gave his first impressions after his 117 days at sea.
Vendée Globe :
What emotions do you feel when you arrive?
What I feel is indescribable, I feel like I'm on a cloud, floating! I've never taken drugs but I think this has to be better!
Vendée Globe :
What was the hardest part?
Everything, from November 11 until just now! Even the manoeuvre to lower the sails was super difficult. If I missed it, I would have run aground on the beach. That would have made a great Belgian story! Everything was complicated, hard… You have to be a masochist to continue and want to come back! Above all, I tried not to give up. I almost gave up several times, I told myself that I had to hold on and each time, it went well… I even rounded Cape Horn close-hauled. I don’t know who has already done it apart from the old ones when they were going in the other direction.
Vendée Globe :
How did you experience going up the channel?
It was incredible. Me, little Denis Van Weynbergh, arriving in front of dozens of people, spectators with flares and smoke bombs…. And there was even the president of Vendée (Alain Leboeuf) who came. Everyone is there! I don’t realize it, especially since I have been cut off from everything for two weeks. There are a lot of people I know who come here all the way from Belgium…
Vendée Globe :
We feel a lot of emotion…
Yes, I think I’m going to cry all day! I have no problem showing my tears. They are not tears of sadness but tears of joy and emotion. And I know that I will enjoy it a lot.
Vendée Globe :
You already had tears in your eyes at the start…
At the start, when you leave without stopovers and without assistance, you don’t act like you are special, you know that it’s not going to be easy. And then you get started, you continue, you go where you know until Itajaí and then you discover and every day you learn something new. You are impressed, often stressed and you do everything to move forward. And you manage to control the boat in tough seas…
Vendée Globe :
What did you learn during this adventure?
Beyond the things related to sailing, you discover a lot of things about yourself. I have never had so many nervous breakdowns. You try to breathe, to calm down, to manage your anxiety attacks, you learn that you can be afraid. Each time you set yourself small goals over a few days. Sometimes, it’s interminable, like between the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Leeuwin. The Indian Ocean is very big, inhospitable, vicious, as if a big man was blowing on you above you according to your attacks. Even Jean Le Cam was very north in this ocean! I tried to sail like a good father, even like a good father of a large family. I went around the track. I didn’t have the courage or the talent to do otherwise.
