Jury decision needed for Vendée Globe

When Kevin Escoffier’s boat folded in half during the Vendée Globe, four skippers assisted in the rescue which began on November 30. Their ranking order that day as of 14:00 was Escoffier (3rd), Jean Le Cam (4th), Yannick Bestaven (6th), Sébastien Simon (7th), and Boris Herrmann (8th).

Since then, the wait continues for the Race Jury to determine the credit for each skipper to reestablish their ranking in the race. While Simon is no longer a dire consideration, having retired on December 4 due to foil damage, the status for the others is more pressing.

On his blog Interesting Sailboats, Paulo Pernão dives into the topic, questioning why Bestaven has not yet been given the lead to the race:

The organization still gives Charlie Dalin as leader of the race but that is absurd because, with the time allowance and the miles that correspond to it, he is the one leading and with some advantage.

There is no reason for the lead not having already attributed to him, and the others, the time they lost when they, at the request of the organization, stopped the race for looking for Kevin Escoffier.

He was the only one that had to invert course to go to the area and he lost at least 8 or 9 hours or more, due to having inverted course to the accident location.

In fact it would make more sense and it would be more than just that instead of hours they would attribute them miles, not hours because depending on the sea and wind conditions those hours can be translated into very different miles.

What they should do was to transform that time in miles considering the speed they had been making on the last for hours before being diverted by the organization or the miles Ruyant, the one that was sailing closer to them had made in those hours.

That would have the advantage of, regarding these sailors, allowing to show his real position but also with a ghost image in the tracker, the position where they really are regarding the race classification.

This would allow to end this ridicule situation, with the organization showing a leader that is not in fact the leader anymore. We are talking here about a lot of miles: when Bestaven was diverted by the organization to help with the searches he was the only one who had to sail backwards.

In the last 4 hours before that he had made an average of 16.6 knots and Thomas Ruyant, who was the closest to Bestaven, and who was doing a very similar average, doing an average of more than 17 knots in the following eight hours.

If the average Bestaven was making in the last 4 hours is considered (16.6 knots) and considering that he only lost 8 hours (it was more), it gives a lost distance of 133 miles. If they consider the average speed of Ruyant on the next 8 hours after he was stopped by the organization, it will give a redress of 139 nautical miles.

Since December 11 (11:00 ranking), Bestaven has been within that distance from Dalin, so it is enough for him to now be leader. The non-disclosure of the redress given to these sailors starts to be scandalous since it has a direct implication on who is leading the race and regarding the first places.

UPDATE: The decisions of the five strong International Jury regarding time compensations for Jean Le Cam, Yannick Bestaven, and Boris Herrmann who were all involved in the rescue mission for Kevin Escoffier will be published on December 16, 2020.

Race details – Boat types – Tracker – Ranking – YouTube

The Vendée Globe is the only sailing race round the world that’s solo, non-stop, and without assistance, and it was all systems go for the 9th edition on November 8. Beginning in 1989 with 13 entries, the start line in 2020 had 33 skippers taking off from Les Sables d’Olonne, France.

The development of the IMOCA Class toward foiling will see these boats hurl themselves around the world, teetering on carbon skates through inhospitable regions, chasing the record set in 2016-17 by Armel le Cléac’h of 74:03:35:46.

2020-21 Attrition
Nov. 16, 2020 – Nicolas TROUSSEL, CORUM L’EPARGNE – dismasted
Nov. 28, 2020 – Alex THOMSON, HUGO BOSS – rudder damage
Nov. 30, 2020 – Kevin ESCOFFIER, PRB – hull damage (sunk)
Dec. 4, 2020 – Sébastien SIMON, ARKEA PAPREC – foil damage
Dec. 5, 2020 – Sam DAVIES, Initiatives-Cœur – keel damage (collision)
Dec. 11, 2020 – Fabrice AMEDEO, NEWREST – ART & FENÊTRES – computer failure

Participation history:
1989-90: 13 boats at the start
1992-93: 15 boats
1996-97: 15 boats
2000-01: 24 boats
2004-05: 20 boats
2008-2009: 30 boats
2012-2013: 20 boats
2016-2017: 29 boats
2020-2021: 33 boats

2020-21 Entries
Fabrice AMEDEO: NEWREST – ART & FENÊTRES
Romain ATTANASIO: PURE – BEST WESTERN
Alexia BARRIER: TSE – 4MYPLANET
Yannick BESTAVEN: MAÎTRE COQ IV
Jérémie BEYOU: CHARAL
Arnaud BOISSIÈRES: LA MIE CÂLINE – ARTISANS ARTIPÔLE
Louis BURTON: BUREAU VALLÉE 2
Didac COSTA: ONE PLANET ONE OCEAN
Manuel COUSIN: GROUPE SÉTIN
Clarisse CREMER: BANQUE POPULAIRE X
Charlie DALIN: APIVIA
Samantha DAVIES: INITIATIVES-CŒUR
Sébastien DESTREMAU: MERCI
Benjamin DUTREUX: OMIA – WATER FAMILY
Kevin ESCOFFIER: PRB
Clément GIRAUD: COMPAGNIE DU LIT / JILITI
Pip HARE: MEDALLIA
Boris HERRMANN: SEA EXPLORER – YACHT CLUB DE MONACO
Ari HUUSELA: STARK
Isabelle JOSCHKE: MACSF
Jean LE CAM: YES WE CAM !
Stéphane LE DIRAISON: TIME FOR OCEANS
Miranda MERRON: CAMPAGNE DE FRANCE
Giancarlo PEDOTE: PRYSMIAN GROUP
Alan ROURA: LA FABRIQUE
Thomas RUYANT: LINKEDOUT
Damien SEGUIN: GROUPE APICIL
Kojiro SHIRAISHI: DMG MORI
Sébastien SIMON: ARKEA – PAPREC
Maxime SOREL: V AND B – MAYENNE
Alex THOMSON: HUGO BOSS
Armel TRIPON: L’OCCITANE EN PROVENCE
Nicolas TROUSSEL: CORUM L’ÉPARGNE

Source: Vendée Globe