CHASED BY MONSTERS

THE SOLO VENDÉE GLOBE SAILORS ARE NOW TRAVELLING SO FAST THEY CAN TRY TO OUTRUN MOTHER NATURE. HELEN FRETTER FINDS OUT WHAT IT TAKES TO CIRCLE THE WORLD AT MACH SPEED

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If a fearsome 50-knot storm was rolling towards you, what would you do? Most sailors' response would involve getting outta Dodge. Not so the Vendée Globe skippers. Because in this year's edition of the solo around the world race, speed is king, and seeking conditions which can pelt the foiling IMOCAs across the ocean at breakneck pace has become the goal.

Like astronauts launching themselves into orbit, competitors in this edition of the race have braced themselves into cockpit seats, donning helmets, and hanging on as their boats relentlessly vibrate and shudder around them. But while leaving Earth's atmosphere only takes 10 minutes before space pioneers experience calm weightlessness, those at the frontier of ocean racing must survive the howling and hurtling for at least 10 long weeks.

Any brief instant of quiet flight is a moment of fear, because it means the boat is airborne off a wave, and about to crash down with an impact that can shatter bulkheads and bones. Anyone's race can be over in an instant.

UNEVENTFUL BISCAY

The Bay of Biscay ushered the 40-boat Vendée Globe fleet away gently, and bar a few hours of intense conditions as the fleet funnelled through stronger breezes off Finisterre, the northern Atlantic stages were largely uneventful.

Yet despite the slower than average passage from Les Sables to the Southern Hemisphere (the first boat crossed the Equator after 11d 07h, two days more than 2016's record pace), there had been some impressive early flashes of speed.