Vendée Globe: to win, you have to learn not to lose

Since 8 November, when the boats set off for a solo, non-stop trip around the world without assistance, also known as the Vendée Globe (VG), or metaphorically the “Everest of the Sea” not a day has gone by without receiving surprising news of the race’s gripping twists and turns.

This is partly due to the choice of race management to equip competitors with yacht prototypes from the Imoca class.

It is a decision that sits in contrast to races that dictate a one-design rule, where skippers sail boats that are identical on all points, leaving no room for teams to make their own architectural choices and evidently limiting the variety of yachts used. This one-design approach is applied in other major round-the-world races, like the previous editions of the Volvo Ocean Race.

The Imoca class rules strictly regulate design and architectural choices for boats, but also authorise a large variety of possibilities. Skippers therefore sail prototypes that cannot be tested in all the possible conditions they might encounter in a round-the-world. Full-scale test opportunities are also limited by the fact that there are very few single-handed round-the-world yacht races (one VG every four years). In their radio interviews, the skippers are quick to acknowledge what the VG means for them, with at least one issue or problem to solve every day.

As a past VG winner François Gabart says, the VG is a race that “you win (mainly) through elimination”. So how can you prepare yourself to take on a complicated solo race through the southern oceans without assistance?

Sailing single-handed, but backed by teams ashore

The solo skippers are the key to the success of each project, but they are not completely alone. They are generally supported by land-based technical teams of varying sizes, which help them keep their energy and strength up, essential for them to finish the race. These teams use various risk management strategies to respond to different issues.

They are characterised by their resources and maturity, but also the personalities of the various skippers. Here, we will examine these teams and categorise two major approaches to risk and project management.

Projects designed to win the Vendée Globe

In the first half of the race, the favourites, who were ready to take home the win - for example, with a latest-generation boat with big foils (a kind of underwater wings that limit drag on the hull and thereby increase speed) - either dropped out, experienced an irreversible setback, or are currently sailing with a boat that is far from its optimal potential due to some kind of damage.

Alex Thomson: Eyes on the prize

The objective for the Alex Thomson team (ATR) was clear from the beginning of their campaign: build the perfect boat to winn the race. With this in mind, the team, in conjunction with the skipper, made daring architectural choices for the “Hugo Boss” Imoca (closed cockpit, retractable foils, unusual hull shape), created to be the ultimate weapon to win the Vendée Globe.

The start of the race proved promising for the Welsh skipper, who stayed in the lead down through the South Atlantic, until his boat suffered its first damage. However, far from ending the skipper’s dream, he was able to repair the major structural damage at the front of his Imoca, revealing to all that Alex Thomson (nicknamed “The Boss”) had brought an extravagant amount of carbon and resin with him so he could repair his boat, while sailing. Furthermore, the skipper showed his abilities to call on his mental and technical resources and deal with the crisis.

More generally, this event also demonstrated that, as part of their excellent risk management, the ATR team anticipated that structural issues would be likely and serious enough for the boat that the skipper needed to be prepared for the possibility of having to repair it, while continuing to sail. Two days later, the “Boss” got back on track with his boat restored to its initial levels of performance, but he was out of luck and collided with a UFO (Unidentified Floating Object) that damaged his rudder blade (submerged part of the rudder). This was irreparable and the ATR team had unfortunately not packed a replacement rudder blade. So, Thomson had to reluctantly withdraw from the race.

The Alex Thomson team used an engineer-like approach to risks focusing their analysis on the level of resources needed to produce the desired level of performance. Even with limited financial and cognitive resources, they anticipated a significant number of possible risks, but were not able to envisage all of them. They therefore acted “as if” the list of events that the racer might have to face was exhaustive, and “made the gamble” of setting a level of technical and human resources to keep the skipper at an optimal level of performance.

Kevin Escoffier : caution is not always enough

Kevin Escoffier, the unlucky skipper of PRB (building coating product), describes how he used 200 kg of carbon and did everything that seemed necessary to reinforce his boat’s structure. However, it came apart in a few seconds before his eyes once he was aboard his life raft.

It just goes to show that good risk management is not enough to win the VG. You also need the ability (knowledge and means of action) to manage uncertainty. During the Vendée Globe Skippers have to cope with extremely radical uncertainty, given that it can simultaneously come from the equipment, the skipper and their environment.

So, if it is not possible to win the race using only a resource-based approach, what other approach could skippers adopt for the VG?

A virtuous risk management approach

Following the lead of Team Banque Populaire, other teams are developing an approach that is less focused on results and more on a process reliability mindset. This project management approach means teams can avoid being stuck on a resource-based approach, by concentrating on the path to take to complete the race while considering the question of the environment in a dynamic way. It seems to be a winning strategy, given that the Banque Populaire team has already completed two VGs with boats that were still functional and safe upon their arrival in Sables-d’Olonne.

It looks likely that this will also be the case for Clarisse Cremer, the team’s skipper for the 2020-21 edition of the VG.

What is interesting is that this attention to all aspects of reliability is also visible in the behaviour and commitment of the skippers. Isabelle Joschke, skipper of MACSF, hit pause on her journey down through the Atlantic to try and replace the aft pushpit (safety rail) that was torn off by strong winds. The main idea is to think about the processes contributing to performance, rather than focusing on the desired performance results.

In this case, the skipper opted for a suboptimal solution that would still allow her to continue her round-the-world. We can see that a process-based vision of the project, rather than resource-based, will give skippers a more positive perspective and change their outlook on the race or adventure. It is no longer a question of climbing Everest at any cost, as fast as possible, but rather climbing it and accepting that you might not arrive first.

Between reliability and performance in extreme situations

The teams that adopt this approach embrace the idea that to win the VG, you first need to finish it, even if that means sacrificing having a boat that’s capable of coming first. This means waving goodbye to a boat with the best innate levels of performance. Consequently, we have seen a change in perspective in skippers’ attitudes. Specifically, it is no longer a question of preparing them to win, but ensuring that they are capable of thinking and acting in extreme situations, faced with the radical uncertainty that they will encounter on the journey. It almost doesn’t matter what damage the boat suffers, these skippers and their teams can implement reasoning and processes that are intrinsically reliable and will ultimately lead them to a better performance.

In this way, designing a round-the-world project to win the race, by only focusing on the result and the means to achieve it, seems destined to fail in the majority of cases. This is because with this approach, the teams consider certain risks, but the skippers and boats will have to face situations with widespread uncertainty. Examining the reliability of projects as a process means turning the typical mindset on its head: to win a race, you have to first and above all learn to not lose it, and of course... have a bit of luck.

These examples show the difficulties often encountered when undertaking projects in extreme conditions where a large amount of uncertainty reigns. A parallel can be made with more classic organisational methods, when creating projects in organisations and companies, for example. In the end, it is no longer a question of knowing how to win a certain call for tender, but rather committing to a process that makes it possible to not lose it.