With the 95 days, 6 hours, 9 minutes and 56 seconds that Alan Rour needed for his second Vendée Globe participation, he undercut his own best from the premiere in 2016/17 by more than ten days. He did that with an Imoca yacht from 2007, which repeatedly made regatta life difficult for him on his comeback. For the second time in a row, the Swiss was the youngest skipper in the fleet. He crossed the finish line at 7:29 p.m. on Thursday evening, securing 17th place. In the previous edition, Alan Roural's youngest participant in the history of the Vendée Globe was twelfth. At that time, however, only 18 starters crossed the finish line. In the 9th edition, everything indicates that 25 skippers will arrive at the end. One of the heroes and heroines is again Alan Roura.
Alan Rourschwer fought for this result: the Swiss crossed the finish line on his second lap around the world as again the youngest starter in 17th place
The Swiss who live and train in Lorient can be counted in the regatta rather than the group of adventurers in the mixed field of participants. Although he sailed a more modern and more competitive boat on his second round than on the first round, technical problems made the three months at sea more difficult than expected because the keel hydraulics went out early in the race and only the central locking of the keel made relief, but also brought speed losses with it.
"LFabrique" skipper Alan Rourwith a sense of humor
Roureinst learned to sail as a schoolboy and Opti child on Lake Geneva. At the age of eight, however, the seas became a living space and classroom for the child of a cruising family. Life on boats was his normal. Mini-Transat sailors inspired him so much when he was a teenager in Lanzarote that he bought his own Mini 650 and used it to sail solo in the Caribbean and learn to train on his own. Alan Rour got into the mini-circuit in 2009 and worked his way up as a one-hand regatta sailor. In 2014 he did his first Route du Rhum. At his Transat Jacques Vabre premiere in 2015, he was already in tenth place. Rour was always more of a regatta sailor than an adventurer. You could call him a "tough dog" with a clear conscience. In the second attempt at the Vendée Globe, he once again demonstrated his fighting qualities with tears of despair that he had shed in the meantime. Rourdas had already secured his arrival at his Vendée Globe premiere in 2016 by replacing his broken rudder as a result of a UFO collision in 45 knots of wind.
Alan Roura's face reflects his love for the sea
In the second round that ended for him today, he wanted to show more. His boat was the one with which Armel Le Cléac'h - winner of the eighth Vendée Globe edition - came second in the seventh edition in 2008/09. Rour had set his sights on a placement in the first third of the fleet. For this he had given the Finot / Conq design from 2007 a couple of new wings. But they were of little help when the first keel problems in the form of an oil leak overtook him at the end of November. As the front-runners escaped, Rourbis fought to desperation his own battle on the repair front, reporting south of Madagascar of a "sadness deep within me that I find hard to accept". The next oil leak came as a bad mess on Boxing Day. The second major repair led to the decision to fix the keel in the middle. Rour had to go into the mast, he had to repair his hydrogen generator and was never allowed to take his eyes off the keel, only stated a few weeks ago: "I'm in survival mode."
The Christmas world was still in order for Alan Rourn. No more on Boxing Day …
Against this background, Roura's arrival today is a great victory over the technical hurdles that this marathon has put in his way again and again. Not even the weather conditions were on his side during the Atlantic re-ascent to the finals. They were tough and capriciously changeable. The Swiss von See reported with some stoic about his never-ending fight: "My rivals out here also have their worries, but I really have the feeling that my situation is the worst. I see this Vendée Globe very much as a mental and physical test. " For Rour, the challenge ended with a conciliatory match race against Stéphane Le Diraison, which the Swiss "LFabrique" skipper won over the last nautical miles with a two-hour lead. "That gives the whole thing spice and is really cool," he reported before crossing the finish line at See. The duel also brought about déjà vu: two years ago, Rourund Le Diraison were only 4 minutes and 43 seconds apart on the finish line of the Route du Rhum.
The 44-year-old "Time for Oceans" skipper Stéphane Le Diraison came in 18th on the evening of February 11th on his second solo lap around the world
Rour will stay: The Swiss regatta sailor wants more and can do more than his placement shows, which is not everything in a royal race like the Vendée Globe. Anything but his comeback at the Vendée Globe 2024/25 would be a big surprise. That Rour is also a romantic for all his ambition, he has heard and read with many nice reports from on board during this one, but also during his first circumnavigation of the world. Vendée Globe fans, who also followed the eighth edition of the Vendée Globe four years ago, may still remember his "love letter from the Southern Ocean" published by Alan Rour, who was only 23 years old at the time. If you want to enjoy it again, you can find it here (please click!). On his second circumnavigation of the world, Alan Rournun covered 28,603 nautical miles at an average speed of 12.51 knots. If he can increase his total sailing time from the second to the third lap as much as from the first to the second, he should play as far ahead in the third attempt as he would like.
After this farewell, Alan Rouram started his second solo circumnavigation of the world on November 8th, 2020 full of hope and energy
The next female sailor was expected to be the British Medaillia skipper Pip Hare in Les Sables-d'Olonne on the night of February 12th.
Here you can find the tracking and the results of the ongoing 9th Vendée Globe (please click!).