'I Gave This Race My All'

Days From the Finish of the Vendée Globe, Conrad Colman Was Dismasted. He Was Not Going to Allow This to Finish a Huge Life’s Ambition. This Is His Inspiring Story
 

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Carbon fibre race yachts are noisy beasts. Sharp creaks from the sheets in the cockpit, constant thumping bass notes from the hull slamming against the oncoming waves and the staccato wash of spray on the deck all merge to create a constant cacophony as we streak between breaking swells under a fractured moonlit sky.

Just another day in the Vendée Globe. Ninety-six days down, just three to go. Until…

Bang.

In an instant, 20 tonnes of pressure was released with a violent crack that shook the boat from stem to stern. I looked up and barely had time to watch the mast fall into the water, bringing my race to an end.

It wasn’t just a carbon tube splashing down into the raging seas but my whole race, my dreams and the ten years of my life I had invested in becoming the first New Zealander to tackle ‘The Everest of the Seas’.

I left the mountains of Colorado, USA, in 2007 with a freshly-minted economics degree in my pocket, all my worldly possessions in a bag on my back and the dream of adventures at sea twinkling in my eye. Having founded a small company when I was still a university student and competitive mountain biker, I realised that being a solo sailor combined adventure, the entrepreneurial spirit and story-telling all wrapped up in the life of a high performance athlete. I set out determined to make that world my own, despite not having set foot on a boat in more than ten years.

On the south coast of the UK I worked at odd jobs: as a sailing instructor, sail maker, shore crew and anti fouling sander (yuck!) until I upped the stakes by moving to France where I was closer to the world I wanted.