The Vendée Globe reaches the parts other epic sporting events don’t...

Before long that passing interest gives way to news updates being impatiently waited on, tracker addiction takes over, and newbies learn about low pressure systems, ridges, hooks, foils and J0s, they make their choice between Charlie and Yoann, empathise with Pip and share the emotions of the finishes. 

From the middle of nowhere to the middle of nowhere 

In the middle of New Zealand on a remote sheep and cattle farm more than an hour’s drive from the two nearest small towns – ‘and both of them are pretty terrible’ – Hayley Redpath caught the very end of a TV news report on Conrad Colman taking on the Vendée Globe for the second time. There was some grainy footage of him finishing the 2016-17 race under jury rig and, Redpath’s antenna pricked up. An absolute non-sailor whose connection with the sea is limited to sea swimming and enjoying fascinating stories of adversity on the ocean, she immediately searched out the Vendée Globe website and social media channels and was instantly addicted. The 51 year old mum followed all the Live! shows and finishes, admitting later than the race reduced her to tears ‘four or five times’.

“I live in a place called Matawei I'm in the middle of nowhere. If you're looking at a map of New Zealand North Island has two big peninsulas on each side and boringly, the peninsula on the east side is called the East Coast and I am smack bang in the middle. So my children boarded at school four  hours away. We're on a hill country farm. We farm 7000 sheep, about 400 cattle. We're on the farm that was cleared by my husband's ancestors.” Explains Hayley who is a communications contractor a provincial government-funded organisations.

First encounters 

She recalls her first interaction with the race, “There was a very unmanufactured piece that caught my attention because there was this guy holding clearly a selfie stick and he - I just heard him say something about, 'I was stuck for two weeks trying to get to the finish line and I got really hungry and I was eating crackers' or something. My passion is reading epic survival stories in the oceans. Whether it be shipwrecks or lost at sea, my real passion is also reading about marathon swimmers, those men and women that do the English Channel in the north and of course, we've got the Cook Strait here, so that attracts a lot of international swimmers who want to have a crack at that because it's a nasty piece of water.” 

“I got myself to the website I'm getting a little downhearted because I was thinking, 'oh man, this is gonna all be in French. How am I gonna follow this?' And thank God I found the Facebook page. And I watched the Live shows probably from Day 2 and I was in! That was me! I'm right into it.”

She smiles, “There were three things that drew me into the race. One is Conrad, there was a Kiwi and in the back of my mind I am thinking ‘Why am I the only person that is following this guy in my world?' And then I was just drawn to the fact that you could connect with these sailors in the heat of the moment, I couldn't miss a moment and loved the daily live half hour summary and then to get the weekend half hour update. I was like 'Hallelujah!' and oh gosh then that set me off into a few podcasts. I watched the ‘Slowboat to Australia’ when Pip was out. These names started to flow off my tongue like I knew them. And every night I'd be watching the national news thinking, 'Why are we hearing about rugby, and kayaking, in New Zealand, when our man Conrad is out there   circumnavigating the world?' It just appealed to me because of that adventure aspect of it. I went to sleep worrying about them! And I was so amazed that there were women involved racing on equal terms.”

Charlie V Yoann ‘I think I sort of fell a  in love with him a little bit.....’

“I became intrigued. I love how the show took time to very carefully unpack the two different personalities of our two leaders. And becoming apparent to me that these two guys are very different and clearly amazing athletes. But I really enjoyed the Charlie v Yoann race. Bringing Charlie's personality in, the analytical, the thinker, the man who is involved in everything, versus Yoann who enjoys more of a laugh and he had quite a sense of humour and looked a bit cheeky. I think I sort of fell in love with him a little bit."

As with other newbies Hayley made a point of learning as she went, "I thought I wouldn't care about weather and I thought I wouldn't care about how an IMOCA was built or how many 'hooks' broke and I was really interested in the sails but I did and enjoyed learning.”

“I was amazed to watch the Japanese guy Koji broach on the live show. I did not even know what broach was I had to look it up on my other screen at the same time. But the live programme each day took somebody who lives in the middle of nowhere, very central New Zealand right to the heart of the race. I have never sailed. I don't have any interest in sailing. I don't want to get on a boat. And yet, I had to check in with the English update every single day, I had to check in on the young women Violette and Sam. I loved learning that there was a New Zealand connection with Sam Goodchild with his mum who was in New Zealand. My heart went out to them when they were out there by themselves at Christmas. I loved seeing what their families gave them. I just fell so hard into caring about all of these human beings. And that wild Pacific Ocean and the Southern Ocean. And I feared for them and their bravery came through, and I just had to wait 24 hours before I could get an update. I watched the arrivals.” 

I cried...

She reveals, “…and I cried four or five times during the race. I cried when the two winners finished, Charlie and Yoann, I cried when Pip dismasted, I cried when Conrad came in. It was so emotional. There is no sporting event like it. And when they came around the South Island of New Zealand I felt even more connected. And it is corny, yes it is, but I am an ocean swimmer, the slowest of the slow, but I stepped into the water at the time and thought ‘I am in the same ocean!’ They are thousands of miles away but I felt more connected."

And her race does not stop here… ”This race has lit a fire in me to visit France and so I am going to visit Les Sables d’Olonne and I am going to go and get a look at this because I am hooked.” 

New sports fan 

In Edinburgh, Scotland George Galloway, 32, is among other sports is an avid football fan – both soccer and American -  who now wants to get into sailing after following the Vendée Globe for the first time. 

“I have always enjoyed finding out about different sports, I wanted to get into sailing and decided this year I would follow the Vendée Globe and learn all I could about it. I have some sailors in my extended family and they told me about it and it has been completely eye opening. The dedication of the competitors has been incredible in the face of huge challenges.” 

“I thought trying to keep on top of everyone with 40 boats racing would be overwhelming and so I picked Sam Goodchild and followed him all the way. His stories were amazing, he had some big worries. I checked the tracker all the time and myself and my wife followed the English live show every day for the analysis and to connect with the sailors. As a fan of Sam Goodchild it was so great to see him get across the finish line. I am sure there were many other people out there worrying that his repairs to his mainsail might be too big to achieve so close to the finish. And between Yoann and Charlie for me it was Charlie all the way, he was more of a geek and I liked that.”