Zen Again 49

 

Charlie Dalin (2024 Vendee Globe victor) moves too fast for me.  He cons his IMOCA past Stargazer's berth, as her skipper breakfasts. Charlie is in characteristic pose: head thrust forward; body wedged, comfortably, in the cockpit side port; tiller extension (unseen, below deck) in hand. 

Alas, he is gone, through the Ville-Close narrows, before I can reach for my camera. (Hence the 2024 picture, taken at the New York-Vendee finish, in Les Sables d'Olonne). 

The signs, of an imminent departure, were there yesterday. With riggers busy, outside Mer Concept, splicing on new dyneema backstays.

And a swarm of preparateurs swinging sails aboard. 

On the other side of the pontoon, Anne-Claire Le Berre makes the cockpit, of her Ocean Fifty class trimaran, shipshape. After an overnight return to Concarneau. 

In February, the former Finot-Conq yacht designer, and Sam Davies IMOCA campaign project manager, was appointed, as solo helm, of 11th Hour Racing. Her objective: success in the 2026 Route du Rhum.