2nd Vendée Globe completed!

A thrilling finish

After 85 days, 16 hours, and 4 minutes at sea, Conrad Colman crossed the finish line of the tenth edition of the Vendée Globe on February 4. The skipper of MS Amlin clinched 21st place in the rankings after a race that was exciting from start to finish. For his second participation, and eight years after finishing under jury rig after being dismasted 700 miles from the finish, the “Crazy Kiwi” has every reason to be satisfied. Fighting until the final days of the race, he finished just 13 minutes behind “Le Roi Jean,” who was completing his sixth Vendée Globe!

A complicated departure

If the tone of a Vendée Globe is set in the first hour of racing, then Conrad Colman knew right from the start that the task would not be easy! A few minutes before the start on November 10, a rope got stuck in his propeller, preventing him from disembarking his crew. The skipper of MS Amlin had to wait to cross the line, and finally set off. Three hours later, with the fleet tangled up, Conrad Colman came back strong and even took the lead in the rankings! Rarely have we experienced so many emotions in a single day on the Vendée!

At sea " one problem per day"

The rest of the race was not much more relaxing for the New Zealand sailor, who finished 15th in the 2023 Return to Base race and 18th in the 2022 Route du Rhum race. Before Madeira, he tried his luck in the east like Jean Le Cam (Tout Commence en Finistère – Armor-lux), and put on a show, even if he didn't do very well! He raced down the South Atlantic in 32nd position and, despite a total blackout on board, celebrated his 41st birthday a few days before a nasty scare at Cape Finisterre, when his large gennaker fell into the water at night in 40-knot winds.

The Indian Ocean did not spare the sailor, who chose to cross it further south to shorten the route. He climbed to 27th place, at the same time as climbing the mast to repair his lazy bag, which had been battered by the southern storms. Upon arrival in the Pacific, Conrad Colman once again attempted a daring move, pointing his bow alone towards his native country to avoid the doldrums. Ten days later, he found himself face to face with an iceberg, and even deployed his drone to capture this chilling encounter.

A brisk voyage up the Atlantic

At the end of the Pacific leg, MS Amlin kicked into high gear to round Cape Horn in 22nd place. “My fourth and definitely my best crossing! It's magnificent, and it proves that even in light winds, dreams can come true,” he exclaimed, before weathering a storm in the Falklands that propelled him along the coast of South America. After an exhausting Doldrums, during which he cooled off with a quick swim to check the condition of his keel, the sailor crossed the equator in 22nd place and was still in the pack when he reached the Azores high. Battling it out with Jean Le Cam in the final days, the sailor got 21st place. Before the start, he said he wanted to “go all out and never give up!” Mission accomplished for the “Crazy Kiwi”!