2016 Melbourne welcomes Vendée Globe solo sailor Stéphane LeDiraison ABC TV News 30-Dec-16

During the break between all yachts finishing the ORCV Melbourne to Devonport ocean race and the first expected finishers in the ORCV Melbourne to Hobart ocean race, the ORCV Incident Management Team was also engaged to provide whatever assistance we can to French skipper Stéphane Le Diraison on his Imoca 60 foot yacht 'Compagnie du Lit / Boulogne Billancourt' who arrived in Melbourne on 30 December, 2016. Stéphane was participating in the ' Vendée Globe' ocean race, the Everest of offshore racing (solo, non-stop, around the world). Unfortunately, on 17 December, 2016, while he was sailing about 1,000 nautical miles South of the Australian coast, his mast collapsed forcing him to retire from the race. Since then, he has been under a jury rig using his 7 meter boom and a storm jib (see attached image). Stéphane has been striving to reach Melbourne by his own means and at a very slow speed – an extraordinary achievement. The Vendée Globe is one of the most challenging yacht races on the planet and also an amazing human adventure. Some happy few will fight for a place on the podium but most are there to prove that they can do it and in the process discover and push further their own limits. For all these reasons, these exceptional sailors, these aliens who embark on such a journey, deserve our most profound admiration. More than 1.5 million people were lining up on the jetty in Les Sables d’Olonne to witness the start of the race and wish them fair winds. Fortunately, Stéphane was refuelled at sea 2 days ago by a tanker off Portland - not an easy feat and an incredible show of the camaraderie that is seen in seafarers. This should allow him to arrive safely in Melbourne. We expect Stéphane to enter Port Philip Bay late tonight (Thursday 29 December, 2016) or early tomorrow morning and motor up the South Channel (due to his massive keel depth of 4.3 meters) on Friday 30 December, 2016 and make his way to Pier 35 where his boat will be based as it is prepared for its journey by ship back to France. We also promoted his arrival to Victorian yachting community to encourage as many boats on the water to escort Stéphane up the Bay. ABC TV Victoria reporter Cameron Best put together a great report from footage the ABC took, footage from the ORCV's own Ian MacWilliams and some online footage. It was our pleasure to meet Stéphane, shadow his passage in Port Phillip Bay and welcome him to Melbourne. He has our utmost Respect and Admiration for what is nothing short of a super human achievement to overcome the adversity he faced and travel over 1,000 nautical miles from deep in the Southern Ocean, under the impressive jury-rig he made, to arrive in Melbourne, under his own steam, unassisted. Bravo Sir, Bravo!