Philippe Jeantot, sailor and regatta organiser

The second section of The I International Congress of Ocean Sailing and the Marine Environment held in Barcelona from the 28^th to the 30^th December 2010 centred around “The Sailor”. The first speaker was none other than Phillipe Jeantot. Jeantot has won two solo round the world regattas, the BOC Challenge in 1982 and 1986 and is the creator of the Vendée Globe, solo sailing's most important event, in which he finished in fourth place in the first edition in 1989. He is considered one of solo sailing's leading innovators.

“The primary role of a regatta organiser is to create a party and to do everything possible to avoid any kind of drama”. This was one of Jeantot's opening statements and left no doubt as to how one of history's most important solo sailors sees the organisation of a regatta. To illustrate his key points he turned to the archives for examples of some great rescues. He referred to Toni Bullimore, Thierry Dubois and others that were carried out during other past Vendée Globes and were completed successfully.

Phillipe Jeantot also remarked on the significance of the collaboration with maritime authorities in other countries, who assisted with rescues, despite the fact that in some cases their governments later complained at having to rescue somebody for something as 'banal' as racing around the world. After underlining the key role of maritime safety centres he went on to emphasise the importance of establishing safe routes: “I went down to 65ºSouth. Now sailors can't get below 50ºS”.

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