THE SAILOR VERSUS THE SEA

LAURENT WAS TRAPPED INSIDE FLOODING CABIN OF HIS OVERTURNED BOAT. AS THE HOURS SLIPPED BY, SO DID HIS CHANCES

- Lisa Fitterman

Laurent Camprubi is about 25 kilometres off the coast of northwestern Spain, hoisting the mainsail on the deck of the Jeanne, a streamlined 12-metre sailboat. Ever since he left Lisbon, Portugal, the day before, he has been fighting the elements. But he is in his element, too.

Laurent is aiming to qualify for the Route du Rhum, a 6,562-kilometre race held every four years from Saint-Malo in France to Guadeloupe, a group of islands in the Caribbean. On a night that's anything but calm, the solo athlete is tacking, adjusting, to ensure the vessel gets to its destination of Cherbourg, France, about 1,700 kilometres to the northeast.

After more than 12 hours of sailing, Laurent takes a much-needed break. While a beacon automatically broadcasts his position to Route du Rhum organizers every 15 minutes, the waves batter the Jeanne in a language all their own—screams, whistles, crashes, roars.

He knows that in the distance is Cape Finisterre, so named because the craggy peninsula was once thought to be the end of the world, but two- to three-metre waves have turned his surroundings into a uniform dark grey.

Tall and lanky, the 62-year-old had been sailing since his 20s and was eager to tackle the Route du Rhum, which he considered “the Everest of sailing.” A stylist for a Portugal-based fashion footwear company, Laurent lives with his partner, Virginie Philip, and their two children in Marseilles, where he had been training for this challenge for months. The race would be a test of strength and perseverance. The lifelong cyclist and runner had also been doing weight training to build his core muscles so that he would be better able to keep his balance in rough seas. And tonight, it is indeed rough.