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Jean Luc: Words cannot express what I feel
16:06 p.m. EST Apr 19, 2004
Published March 9, 04.
Today, at 2.26 pm local time, Jean-Luc Van Den Heede set a new record for a solo circumnavigation "the wrong way", East to West. The new record is 122 days, 14 h, 3 min, and 49 sec. Jean Luc beat Philippe Monnet by 29 days.
This was Jean Luc's fourth attempt against the winds and currents. In 1999, his first attempt aboard his monohull Algimouss, had to be abandoned because of a leak after he hit some flottsam . In 2001, during his first attempt aboard Adrien, his current monohull (which hadn’t yet been perfected at that moment), he was forced to abandon the attempt because of a problem with the keelboard. Finally, in January 2003, it was his mast that let him down, when it broke off Tasmania. This was extremely difficult for him to take, as half way through the challenge VDH had 18 days lead over the record set by Philippe Monnet.
"I had to go on, and it was by trial and error. There were very few examples of racing boats racing around the world in that direction. The forces on the boat were not very well known. The stresses and strains sailing upwind, when the boat slams down into the waves are completely different from those experienced during the Vendée Globe. I therefore experienced a few failures. This time, when I arrived in the south, I was more confident. But I always felt the need to remain cautious during this adventure. I never left the boat with too much sail up. As soon as I felt the wind getting up, I took in the sails... "
Setting out from off Brest on the 7th November last year, VDH improved on the record set by Philippe Monnet aboard Uunet (151 days and 19 hours) back in 2000 by 29 days, 5 hours, 50 minutes and 47 seconds. He will thus have covered 25,564 miles in 122 days, 14 hours, 3 minutes and 47 seconds.
As for his extraordinary lead over the previous record, VDH explained:
"I thought about it in the following way: Adrien sails 10% faster than than Monnier’s yacht. I thought I would beat him by a fortnight and then taking into account the problems Philippe had, I thought I could get five days more. I thought I could get up to 20 days better. 25 just seemed out of the question.
I really treated it as a competition against a virtual enemy. Every four or five hours, I checked out where he was. I did that all the time. The advantage was I didn’t have all the constraints of a race. There wasn’t any pressure from a competitor catching me up. There were times when I slowed down, whereas if I had an opponent 10 miles behind me I wouldn’t have done that. "
Finally on "going the wrong way":
"It's the same difference between a cyclist going up a hill and one going down. It’s the toughest thing a yachtsman can do in a single-handed event."
You the man, Jean Luc! Congratulations!
Onboard his Adrien, four time circumnavigator Jean Luc Van Den Heede attempted broke the record for sailing around the world solo and non-stop the “wrong way” – from East to West, against prevailing winds. It was fourth try in five years. Jean Luc has successfully completed four single-handed round the world voyages. He has taken 2nd and 3rd place in the Vendée Globe as well as 2nd and 3rd in the BOC Challenge.
Image of Jean Luc courtesy of vdh.fr
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