The Vendée Globe with Conrad Colman: A Gritty, Unforgettable Journey of Challenges and Triumph

A month ago, on 4 February, Conrad Colman, a seasoned sailor, crossed the finish line in Les Sables d’Olonne. After an 85-day single-handed circumnavigation of the globe, and many ups and downs, the Vendée Globe sailing race, nicknamed ‘The Everest of the Seas’, was coming to an end for him.
MS Amlin, Conrad’s partner for the past two years and the ‘Transat Café L’Or’ (formerly known as the Transat Jaques Vabre), has renewed its commitment to him by accompanying him throughout this edition of the Vendée Globe 2024-2025.
A look back at the adventure of Conrad, the first modern-day sailor to complete two circumnavigations of the globe without using fossil fuels. An opportunity to share with him his experience of this legendary race.

MS Amlin: If you could talk to Conrad in November 2024, before the start of the Vendée Globe, what would you say to him?

Conrad Colman: The last time I competed in the Vendée Globe was in 2016-2017. I was transformed by that race, because at the time I wasn’t sure I was going to make it. This time I had full confidence in my abilities. The little caterpillar had metamorphosed into a butterfly. Thanks to years of preparation, both mental and technical, on the boat, training and a good dose of self-confidence, I was able to handle both predictable and unpredictable situations. And believe me, even what you plan for is enough to make a sailor’s boots shake! So when it comes to the unexpected, you can imagine!

And as I mentioned before the start of the race, what I wanted to do this time was to confront the person I was before with the person I’ve become, so as to tackle all the difficulties with composure. But I didn’t want it to be a battle. I wanted it to be a reinforcement, an evolution to be stronger and happier at the same time. Not to be the famous Hunchback of Notre Dame, bent over, but the one standing tall and fully aware of his possibilities. And that was more like it. I’m very happy when I look back. I see that I was able to maintain my ambitions, to face everything with a smile and to find strength in happiness. Above all, I didn’t say to myself: ‘This is a nightmare, I have to face everything’. Beyond this metamorphosis between the Conrad of before and the Conrad of after, it’s more a case of the different way of living this adventure.

Do you think that having done the Vendée Globe in 2016 has helped you to anticipate situations better, as each Vendée Globe brings its share of surprises?

There’s a Greek philosopher who said: ‘You can’t bathe in the same river twice’. Events pass and the water flows again, even if you set foot here yesterday. Everything is in motion. It’s not the same thing from one day to the next. It’s even less the same every 4 years, every 8 years. We’re not the same, the boat isn’t the same, the adventure isn’t the same. For all that, I have the experience of a round the world race, but I’m not blasé about it. This race is so intense. But it’s also about the ability to adapt, to be open to change and aware of your own evolution.

What was the most memorable moment of this Vendée Globe?

Unsurprisingly, rounding Cape Horn! Those famous rocks lost in the middle of nowhere – an icon of the sailing world, both feared and dreamt of. At that moment I said to myself, I’ve just turned a page. No more Southern Ocean. We’ve always called this Cape Horn the Cape of Hope. That’s what we say when we come out of it. What you have to realise is that we’re on our knees after several weeks of sailing in the south. So it’s not an insignificant moment. But this year I went through with much milder weather conditions. It was strange. I felt a contrasting and unexpected emotion between the wild myth of this place and the reality I was experiencing: passing through, enjoying, blowing away. I really connected with the place. For the race, it was a bit frustrating because the weather files indicated that the winds would be up. But the winds weren’t there. So there was this tension between appreciating the landscape and the moment, the place. And then there was that surreal moment when the lighthouse keeper called out to me as I passed, congratulating me: ‘What are you doing here? Just long enough for me to pull myself together and say: ‘I want to get out of here, come on, hop, hop, hop!

“I’m lucky enough to be able to ride the waves created by the people ashore.”

What technical and logistical challenges did you face? How did you overcome them?

The most striking episode was in the South Atlantic when the boat blacked out. It was difficult to maintain good self-control. However, with my experience, I’m able to predict a lot of things. For me, the unexpected is easier to manage, because I know how to be creative. But being confronted with something predictable is boring. I had imagined, anticipated with the team this type of damage, this overheating with one of the components in the charging system. An electronic system that is crucial for the boat. And it came at a bad time. I was in full attack mode. At that precise moment I was closing in on the pack. I could see my rivals. Should I take the easterly route, or the westerly where I’d branched off with Jean Le Cam? It was an opportunity to take advantage of all the work that had been done over the last few weeks to make contact with the other sailors. With my fist outstretched, I was ready for battle. Then this problem with the boat came up. I was sailing on sight. Everything was falling apart. The boat was close to catching fire. I didn’t want to use the spare components; I didn’t want to ‘burn the last matches before the finish’. It took me several days to pinpoint the problem, switch all the components that had burnt out on the motherboard, dismantle the boxes with tweezers and small scissors to recover the pieces of printed circuit board and reconnect the thousand iodes. Sending a photo, cutting there or not there, with the boat moving in all directions. What a stress, but also what a joy when I succeeded. You see the LED light up, the connection go through, the equipment working behind it. Then you throw your arms up in the air like Rocky Balboa who’s won the round! But all this time I’d lost touch with the peloton again.

Crédits photos: @Georgia Schofield