The past 24 hours have turned the Vendée Arctique into an offshore bruiser. Since yesterday morning, the IMOCA fleet has been hammered by strong wind, a fully formed sea state, and relentless close-hauled sailing. The conditions have claimed hardware—Corentin Horeau suffered damage—but more visibly, they’ve left the skippers themselves wrung out.
Elodie Bonafous sent a brief video on Monday that captured the whole picture. Eyes hollow from exhaustion, one hand clamped in the cockpit, the Associations Petits Princes skipper had the clarity to laugh at her own state. “I put on a riding helmet because we’re doing a rodeo,” she said. A front had just pushed through. The sea was building. The boat was pitching hard into it. Everything was working against rest.
Nico d’Estais, steering Café Joyeux, had just come off watch having spent an hour reshuffling sails and bracing himself against an active squall that came in heavy and fast. By the time he spoke to race control during the morning report, he was blunt about where things stood. “Face-on to the sea, lots of wind, it’s hitting hard,” he said. He admitted he couldn’t eat properly and felt queasy most of the time. But then came the kicker: “The races are brilliant 80 percent of the time. This is the other 20 percent.”
Francesca Clapcich aboard 11th Hour Racing had felt nauseous through the previous night. Getting down any food and catching an hour of sleep felt like a victory. Yet she refused to treat the conditions as unfair. “It’s the same for everyone,” the Italian-American said during the morning check-in. “Some boats just feel it more than others.” She knew the drill, as did every skipper still in the race. You reef down hard. You reduce the headsail. You secure everything that moves.
Manu Cousin, watching from the race office, outlined the survival formula: “You reef the main, you take a reef in the jib, and you tie down everything on deck.” It sounded simple. It wasn’t. Not when you’re alone, not when the boat is bucking beneath you, not when your body is already spent. The Vendée Arctique had shown its teeth.
