Mercedes-Benz India|July-September 2017

Non-stop around the world. 74 days alone on his boat. Coming in a close second. ALEX THOMSON was the hero of the Vendée Globe sailing race.How did he cope with the solitude, the fear, and the setbacks?

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Have you caught up on your lost sleep yet?

More or less. But I am still tired. More tired than usual.

Really? You’ve been back on land for six weeks now.

Yes, well. Throughout the 74 days that I spent at sea, I never slept for more than an hour at a stretch. In fact, most days I slept just 20 to 40 minutes every two to four hours. Certainly not more. It takes a while for your sleeping routine to return to normal.

That sounds unbearable.

That’s just how it is in a race like this. You’re on your own in the middle of the ocean on an 18-metre yacht that’s cranking along at 60 km/h. There’s always something to do.

Isn’t sleep critical under those circumstances?

You do sleep – it’s just a different routine. I trained before the race with two researchers on sleep. I called them the Sleep Police. I started training three weeks before the race so that I could get by with just 20 minutes of sleep every two hours.

Sleep deprivation is considered a form of torture.

You have to train your body to cope without deep sleep. And it can. But sure – you’re constantly battling with fatigue in a race like this. Every day you’re sailing just this side of complete exhaustion. It’s like the raptures of the deep that divers experience. Faced with a simple arithmetical problem – say, 45 divided by nine – your brain just shuts down and you can’t do it. Everything is a blur.

Did you lose weight?

After an earlier race, I had lost 10 per cent of my body weight. So I took along more food this time. Dry rations mainly.

How do you cook on board?

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