France’s Yannick Bestaven yesterday won the Vendee Globe round-the-world solo yacht race after a dramatic finish, when one of his rivals hit a fishing trawler in the home stretch.
The 48-year-old, in Maitre CoQ IV, was the third across the line, nearly eight hours behind the leader, but won because of his 10 hour, 15 minute time bonus for helping rescue a competitor off the Cape of Good Hope.
Charlie Dalin (Apivia) was the first to finish in 80 days, six hours, 15 minutes and 47 seconds, followed by fellow Frenchman Louis Burton in Bureau Vallee 2, but they were placed second and third, owing to Bestaven’s time bonus.
Photo: AFP
Bestaven’s win, in his second attempt after he lasted just 30 hours in 2008, caps an eventful race when he rushed to the aid of Kevin Escoffier, whose yacht sank in heavy seas.
The race then developed into an unusually tight affair in the closing stages, with Dalin heading a five-way sprint to the line at Les Sables-d’Olonne.
“I feel like I’m living a dream, hallucinating,” said Bestaven, who was greeted by a fireworks display.
“We go from total solitude to this, to this party, to these lights. This result is beyond my expectations. After struggling as we struggled, a victory with Maitre CoQ IV is a dream,” he said.
Bestaven, who lost the lead when he was becalmed in the doldrums, battled back over the last few days, converging on the finish from the west rather than following Dalin and Boris Herrmann from the south.
There was heartbreak for Germany’s Herrmann (Seaexplorer-Yacht Club de Monaco), who was carrying a six-hour time compensation for the Escoffier rescue, but ran into a fishing trawler 145km from home.
“I was sleeping and I woke up looking at this huge wall of the fishing trawler... I heard a sail ripping and I was bouncing a few times with the outrigger into the fishing vessel,” said Herrmann, who patched up his yacht and limped toward the finish.
“I’m really gutted and I’m sorry for everyone that supports us that this happened. It’s certainly the worst nightmare that happened to me so far,” he added.
Bestaven and Herrmann were among four yachtsmen to come to the aid of Escoffier, whose boat was snapped in two by a giant wave 600 nautical miles (1,111km) off the Cape of Good Hope, sinking the vessel in seconds.
Jean Le Cam, 61, spotted Escoffier’s life raft, but then lost sight of him again, and scoured the seas for hours before finally finding him and dragging him aboard.
Earlier in the race, Alex Thomson’s bid for glory — after finishing third in 2012-2013 and runner-up in 2016-2017 — ended in a retirement.
Britain’s Thomson, who had carved out a commanding lead, had to nurse his Hugo Boss vessel back to port in Cape Town.
Jeremie Beyou, on board Charal, and also a pre-race favorite, was another early casualty.
Thirty-three competitors started the race on Nov. 8 last year, but eight were forced to withdraw. Harsh weather conditions ruled out any hopes of breaking Armel Le Cleac’h’s 2017 race record of 74 days and three hours.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was