With the déconfinement, professional mariners, including those who are preparing for the next Vendée Globe, the solo round the world race without stopovers, found the sea, but under conditions. New health concerns impose stricter rules.Skipper Thomas Ruyant (Linked Out), on the pontoon in the face of his monohull, to Lorient, on may 19, 2020. (JEROME VAL / RADIO FRANCE)
It is a ballet that became familiar on the sub-marine base of Lorient, which is home to many stables of racing. The cranes are to provide to the water the boats one after the other, monohulls, which have spent the past two months more than planned in their hangar due to the containment. “I am delighted to be able to return to browse”, welcomes Thomas Ruyant (Linked Out), whose ship finally comes to touching the water with a two-month delay on the schedule. Like all members of his team around him, the browser is a native of Dunkirk wears a mask. It became the standard : “We are all here with masks on, we made a blunder. On the boat, it will be four to navigate and not more than seven or eight. It will be necessary to review the priority of our records.”
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All hidden, skippers and technicians. In the offices, inside the huge hangars, on pontoons or aboard vessels. But here it becomes more complicated, as detailed in Jérémie Beyou, one of the big favourites for the next Vendée Globe. “There, we are four inside the cockpit, five with you. It should be 4-5 m2, it is not really in the standards of detachment”, he says. “Nevertheless, everyone bears his face mask, we have installed bottles of hydroalcoholic gel, we have disinfectant wipes in particular to the cranks, which are used to climb up and down the sails. There is more to the touch without gloves.”
The skipper Jérémie Beyou (Charal) aboard his boat, where the port of the mask and the hydroalcoholic gel are mandatory, may 19, 2020. (JEROME VAL / RADIO FRANCE)
As in the other stables of the race, a new protocol has been put in place at Charal Sailing Team which has a couple of people. “We tested all of the staff who will navigate, “says the director of the structure, Vincent Beyou. We did a test last week which was negative for all the world. We will take the temperature of all those who are to sail in the next few days, in order to ensure that they can all be in close proximity in a universe a little confined, as in a boat.”
Take the least risk possible
The habits of sailors are going to change, in a sport where you sail alone but where you work in a team, and where contact with the public is frequent. Nicolas Troussel (Corum The’epargne) was one of the participants of the next Vendée Globe. “For my part, I don’t go see too many people and meet too many people, outside of the team, to be able to take the least risks as possible. I avoid all the outputs annexes.” In spite of these constraints, Nicolas Troussel is a browser happy : his boat was out of site on 21 march, five days after the confinement. “We were all very excited to see this beautiful boat float.”, he continues.
Now, it is a true relief. It has forced them to adapt better to the situation.Nicolas Trousselà franceinfo
“It is sure that we would have preferred to have two more months, I’m not going to hide it, but we will be ready for the deadlines of this year, “he continues. I am serene on the way to work.”
The skipper Nicolas Troussel (Corum’s Savings) on board his vessel, may 19, 2020 at Lorient (Morbihan). (JEROME VAL / RADIO FRANCE)
Test and isolation prior to departure
The departures of the race also will be turned upside down. The next on the calendar, it is the Vendee – Arctic – les Sables d’olonne, a large loop between the France, Iceland and the Azores, the start of which should be given the 4th of July next, with sanitary conditions previously unpublished. The competitors must submit to a serological test and will be placed in solitary confinement five days prior to departure. A shame for the riders alone. “It’s been a bit much, fun Jérémie Beyou. We need to think about how to manage it to the family. It is for the relatives that this will be the hardest. Honestly for us, a week before the race, it is already in our bubble and already isolated psychologically. It is in the new constraints and it will be necessary that everyone is used to this.”
In the end, the skippers were in a hurry : finding himself alone in the wide, away from it all and the virus !
The Face of coronavirus, of the new constraints imposed to the skipper – Story of Jerome Val–‘—-‘–
