After Dinelli’s boat was pitchpoled Goss turned round and sailed back, upwind in hurricane force winds sailing the smallest boat in the race to successfully rescue his French counterpart. He then nursed Dinelli – who was suffering extreme hypothermia – back to health on the ten day passage to Tasmania. The pair have remained firm friends ever since – Goss was best man at Dinelli’s wedding – and, of course have met up this week.
Reading off Pip Hare’s funding shortfall earlier this year, Goss – was instrumental in introducing Aspen to the British skipper.
So it’s hard to believe you have not been back to a race star here, how is it to be back, how does it compare to before?
For me it has been a trip down memory lane. I went over to the Galway Bar where we had all our crew parties and so we were made very welcome and took a few pictures. They really welcomed us.
One assumes you have had a chance to spend time with Raphael? And how did you connect with Pip and hear of her financial needs?
I have caught up with Raphael. We are good friends and stay in touch. We have busy lives so it is hard to make paths cross but he will come and stay with us next year. And right now we have promised ourselves that we need to make more of an effort. When you go through what we did it is a close friendship which you can pick up any time. It is lovely, we had a lovely meal last night. And we now we have some ‘skin in the game’ with Pip Hare. I heard she needed funding for new sails. I followed her through the Vendée LIVE show last time and on the news. She caught our interest. I sent her an email when she went around Cape Horn and when she finished. And I sent her an e-mail after she went aground in Devon and said ‘don’t worry we have all done it!’. So when we heard she might have to do the race with old sails I thought ‘we can’t have this’. I interviewed her, she interviewed. I ‘sent a few dogs out’ and just anything. And it worked out. And it is really nice to see it work out for her. I am really happy for her to be able to make the step up.
And how do you view the race as it is now?
This is the ‘Grand National’ of sailing, no one really knows who will finish, what will happen. If you have a good boat and know what you are doing, which Pip does, and have that dogged spirit, and it is just her environment, making this step up from the Corinthian entry to competitor she has done that, but like I say how many will finish?
Is it more competitive now?
It was as competitive then as that is human nature. We were the pioneering spirit. But I had the first swing keel and so on. But there was a real diversity in the designs of our boats whereas by comparison these boats are more similar until you get under the skin. We were probably less professional? But there were some real characters around then. It was great, fantastic We had the smallest boat…..
Are you envious of the skippers and their boats now, would you like to race again?
I would definitely do it again if someone handed me the keys to a boat. I would bite their arm off. But doing the race is the fun part. I would definitely do it again if someone gave me a boat and I did not have to raise any money. The race is the fun bit. If someone said ‘would you like to spend he next few years trying to raise millions……no thanks. I am lucky. I did the Vendée Globe. I have scratched that itch. I would like to do the MiniTransat. I was going to do it for my 60th birthday but we were doing something else. But maybe for my 65th? If they’d let me I’d love to do it. I they would let an old duffer.
When you see Jean Le Cam starting his sixth race at the age of 66 on a new boat, it underlines age is no barrier….
I remember watching the start of the OSTAR and Phil Weld on Moxie was 70 and he won it. You learn that this is also a thinking game which rewards wisdom and how you run your boat. I guess it offers many more opportunities than other competitive sports do.
And for those who are maybe new to the Vendée Globe remind us what happened?
It was Christmas a huge storm came in and there were three of us who had various issue. Raphael got pitchpoled and was 160 miles upwind in dreadful storm and I had a go at rescuing him and managed to do it. But I don’t think he gets enough credit for the part he played in the success of the rescue, just to survive. And so my Vendée Globe changed. I had this amazing Christmas present who became a best friend, which is quite rare I believe. Apparently relationships based on shared experiences like that tend to be quite short lived because of debts of honour, and guilt. There is often a lot of baggage comes with things like that. I only realised that when I met the pilot and the navigator of the Royal Australian Navy helicopter which helped get us together. So they were surprised when they learned we are good friends. I think the foundations of that were laid not through the rescue itself but the ten days which it took to sail to Tasmania to drop him off. I had to nurse him and get him back on his feet. So, yes, the memories are very vivid. But that was only part of my Vendée Globe. There was so much more to it.
But looking back did it define your Vendée Globe?
Well it did and it didn’t. I was so surprised to see the crowds and the interest when I came in. It was shocking to come in to that having been on my own for so long. For me it was two and a half months earlier. I had had to do an operation on myself round Cape Horn. It was part of it, a very good part of it. I think I had the best Vendée Globe of all of them because of it. This race is so much more than just a race……
