Zbigniew Gutkowski (Energa) is the sixth skipper to retire from the Vendee Globe. It is day 11. 14 boats are still racing.Gutek Retires from the Race - Vendée Globe 2012-2013:
“Having no autopilot means I can’t race, and if I can’t race, I have to retire. When I joined the Vendée Globe I was not interested in being the 15thth skipper to finish. That’s a tough decision, one of toughest in my life. But that’s Vendee Globe, that’s the power of the ocean and you can’t fight it.
“I cannot go without an autopilot in the Southern Ocean, that is impossible. I need to keep the boat in one piece I don’t want to lose it and maybe my life in the Southern Ocean.”
”It’s like driving at night on a road you don’t know, a road with many turns, surrounded with trees. Suddenly your lights go off and you can’t slow down. How many chances do you have to survive? That’s what is happening with my autopilot, if you replace the road and the trees with the ocean and the waves.”
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1 comment:
At this rate of attrition, you have to wonder just how many boats will be still competing in the race at the end?
They need to push the envelope back towards the center of the table IMHO. In their relentless drive for speed at any cost, the designers seen to have quite overlooked the potential actual cost.
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