Visibly exhausted but full of the joy of having accomplished an extraordinary feat, making history as the first Chinese skipper ever to start and to finish the legendary solo non stop race, from a field of accomplished, talented sailors his is a truly remarkable and inspiring achievement for a mountain boy who lost his left arm at the age of 12 and had to go to an internet café to learn what sailing was before falling in love with the ocean and its many challenges. Since his accident he has sought to prove to others what can be achieved by sharing a vision and sheer determination.
His journey from the remote hills of Shangdong where he was a talented track and field athlete - who used to run 10kms each way to and from school - through Paralympic sailing which gave him a taste of international travel and competition in the USA to sailing solo around the seas of China in 2012 in a 24ft boat He sailed from Qingdao to Dandong City in Liaoning Province and Yongxing Island in the south, setting a world record for "the world's first one-armed sailor to circumnavigate the oceans of China autonomously".
Inspired by the tales of Ellen MacArthur he came with no French and no English and raced the 2015 Mini Transat race. At home he set up a successful, popular sailing school and sailed around the world on a cruising catamaran with his wife. They moved to France and bought an IMOCA to pursue the Vendée Globe dream. He spent long hours, many, many days and nights learning about the IMOCA, living on board in Port-la-Foret for a time, becoming largely self taught and doing all his maintenance and prep work on the boat himself as he had no money and with no French found it near impossible to get help at first.
Step by step he built a small support network of dedicated followers, volunteers who were inspired to help. And he took on, succeeded and proved himself on each of the IMOCA Globe Series races, starting out on the 2022 Route du Rhum – his first long single handed IMOCA passage, the Transat Jacques Vabre with Mike Golding last year, the Retour a La Base, the New York Vendée, all building miles and experience.
Before the start of the Vendée Globe he said, “I worked 18 years to be here. More than 6,000 days and nights to prepare. Transforming what many thought was madness into a reality is an indescribable feeling."
During his race his sheer joy at being in the race was tempered by an incredible grit and unwavering determination. He seemed fearless. Asked about his seeming willingness to go directly through the some of the toughest of storms he smiled humbly, “I just want to take the shortest route to get to the finish line as quickly as possible to get back to Les Sables d’Olonne to see my loved ones, my friends and family just as fast as I can.”
From the very first days of his race, Jingkun Xu took on the rigours of the race head on. Ain injured ankle off Cape Finisterre, he nursed an injured shoulder nearly the whole race, pains he really struggled with at times. But he had great confidence in his boat, not least because he knew every nut, bolt, washer and widget on. But every day is a fight. And his humble passion and desire to share and inspire makes him one of the outstanding stars of the race. He marvels at every moment: the dolphins that accompany him, the good wishes of his supporters that he reads as he crosses the Cape of Good Hope, or even his passage of Cape Horn. His adventure is marked by difficult moments. An electronic failure, a spinnaker that fell into the water, perilous climbs up the mast to try to repair a halyard hook, one of his most difficult and dangerous missions, not least as he did not secure himself to the rig once he was up there and so was smashed against the carbon fibre and the sails dozens of times.
But there are so many wonderful moments that remind us of his sunny, simple humanity: celebrating the Chinese New Year on board, preparing ravioli to mark the Year of the Snake, cutting his hair as a sign of renewal. His pleasure at passing the longitude of Haikou – the island sailing resort which is his co-sponsor – a way of keeping in touch with his roots.
A message of hope
Through his racing circumnavigation the 35 year old Xu carries a strong message, hoping that his journey will inspire other young people, in China and elsewhere, to dare to dream big and realise that determination and self belief are the most important assets on a journey to achieve what others consider to be close to impossible.
