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bluQube is a fully integrated financial
and management accounting solution aimed at a range of organisations.
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Blog 16 - Steve Returns
4 04/03/2009
Steve crosses the finish line of the Vendee Globe
Steve enters Les Sables
“I thought I could just sneak in and go down the pub”
Steve White’s first words as he finished the Vendee Globe, single-handed yacht race in an amazing 8th place. He sailed for 28197.2 nautical miles without stopping, taking 109 days, 36 minutes and 55 seconds, and with bluQube’s Simon Kearsley on hand to meet him at the finish line the pub option was never far away!
On being in touch with family:
“I phoned my wife Kim at least once, usually twice a day, and if I was getting really excited three times a day. We’re still running a business, and I played a small part in that while I was away, but otherwise mainly it’s family oriented, how are the kids, what’s going on, how’s school, how are the animals, all the things that happen at home, you need to hear about it, talk about it.”
On a haircut?
“I’ve done it already, but I messed it up, I had one go but it didn’t work”
On porridge:
On what’s next?
“I think just a bit of time to catch up with people who’ve come to see me, a lot of people here, people I need to talk to, I want to eat something and not have to wash up after it.
“If we can get it to go in time we’ll do the Calais Round Britain, and all the classic French races like Transat Jacques Vabre, the Route du Rhum, I’d like to participate in the races I’ve watched from home like a lemon for years. I’d like to do the Velux 5 Oceans.”
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Blog 16 - Steve Returns
4 04/03/2009
Steve crosses the finish line of the Vendee Globe
Steve enters Les Sables
“I thought I could just sneak in and go down the pub”
But first let’s just reflect on what an amazing achievement this was. Of the thirty Open 60 boats that left Les Sable d’Olonne on the 9th November 2008 only 11 have survived so far, with 8 finishers. Some of the most highly fancied and well-funded competitors couldn’t stay the course in what has now become the toughest Vendee Globe race ever. Whilst other skippers had over 4 years to prepare, Steve had 3 weeks. In fact he managed more sleep in the first few days of the race, while battling a 50 knot storm than he did in the last days leading up to the race. He was a true underdog, not in sailing competence, but in just about every other measure you could care to make. A true inspiration for everybody who followed his progress. At bluQube we will say it first - Come on your Royal Highness, this is the stuff that MBEs are made of!
Lets here what Steve himself thought about the race:
“The start was really unpleasant, I had incidents with fire, and lots of loose gear, and the generator filling the boat with smoke and things like that, so it was not an easy start, I was pretty miserable for the first 48 hours or however long it was, but things change quickly so nothing lasts forever.”
“ I’d never been to the Southern Ocean or across the Equator, but I’d done a lot of miles and they’ve all been hard miles, through the Channel or North Atlantic, in the Western Approaches day in day out with big boats and novice sailors. So the reputation of the Southern Ocean, I didn’t think it was a problem in that respect.”
“The start was really unpleasant, I had incidents with fire, and lots of loose gear, and the generator filling the boat with smoke and things like that, so it was not an easy start, I was pretty miserable for the first 48 hours or however long it was, but things change quickly so nothing lasts forever.”
“ I’d never been to the Southern Ocean or across the Equator, but I’d done a lot of miles and they’ve all been hard miles, through the Channel or North Atlantic, in the Western Approaches day in day out with big boats and novice sailors. So the reputation of the Southern Ocean, I didn’t think it was a problem in that respect.”
About being competitive on the way down to the Atlantic and in the Southern Ocean:
“That’s all credit to the boat really, it’s still a light boat by modern standards, and it’s got a short rig so you can put a kite and leave it up. It’s still a good boat…..Just don’t mention going upwind.”
“That’s all credit to the boat really, it’s still a light boat by modern standards, and it’s got a short rig so you can put a kite and leave it up. It’s still a good boat…..Just don’t mention going upwind.”
On his first venture into the Big South:
“I was fairly nervous when the barometer started dropping and had some serious forecasts from Meteo France, it’s such a strange place, you are isolated, but you feel isolated, you are very alone, a long way from any help. But once I’d been through the first one it was ok, but the sense of isolation is not something I actively seeked, but it’s so desolate, wild and very beautiful, it’s beyond me to describe it, it needs to be experienced.”
“I was fairly nervous when the barometer started dropping and had some serious forecasts from Meteo France, it’s such a strange place, you are isolated, but you feel isolated, you are very alone, a long way from any help. But once I’d been through the first one it was ok, but the sense of isolation is not something I actively seeked, but it’s so desolate, wild and very beautiful, it’s beyond me to describe it, it needs to be experienced.”
On being in touch with family:
“I phoned my wife Kim at least once, usually twice a day, and if I was getting really excited three times a day. We’re still running a business, and I played a small part in that while I was away, but otherwise mainly it’s family oriented, how are the kids, what’s going on, how’s school, how are the animals, all the things that happen at home, you need to hear about it, talk about it.”
On if he thinks he might have inspired anyone else to do the Vendee Globe:
“I think it would be extremely immodest to think that I inspired anyone at all to do anything really, but if anybody has anything they want to do, whether it’s the Vendee Globe or anything at all, if you want it badly enough, you can make it happen, you just need to want it bad enough.”
On Albatrosses:
“Yes, there’s something very special about albatrosses, I know I wrote about them a lot, it epitomizes the south. You are there in three layers of clothing, clinging on to your boat and they are just soaring along gracefully.”
“I think it would be extremely immodest to think that I inspired anyone at all to do anything really, but if anybody has anything they want to do, whether it’s the Vendee Globe or anything at all, if you want it badly enough, you can make it happen, you just need to want it bad enough.”
On Albatrosses:
“Yes, there’s something very special about albatrosses, I know I wrote about them a lot, it epitomizes the south. You are there in three layers of clothing, clinging on to your boat and they are just soaring along gracefully.”
On a haircut?
“I’ve done it already, but I messed it up, I had one go but it didn’t work”
On porridge:
“I washed my porridge plate for over one hundred days and I’m sick of doing it.”
On what’s next?
“I think just a bit of time to catch up with people who’ve come to see me, a lot of people here, people I need to talk to, I want to eat something and not have to wash up after it.
“If we can get it to go in time we’ll do the Calais Round Britain, and all the classic French races like Transat Jacques Vabre, the Route du Rhum, I’d like to participate in the races I’ve watched from home like a lemon for years. I’d like to do the Velux 5 Oceans.”
And finally – On bluQube ..
“Without my sponsors bluQube and Toe in the Water I would not even be in the water, let alone realise my 10 year dream of competing in the Vendee Globe. I would like to thank Simon Kearsley and his team for all the support they have given me over the last 4 years. Sponsorship is the life blood of this sport and without it, it simply would not happen. Forward-thinking companies such as bluQube should be commended for continuing to invest during these difficult times when the easy decision would be to pull out – I can’t thank them enough”
“Without my sponsors bluQube and Toe in the Water I would not even be in the water, let alone realise my 10 year dream of competing in the Vendee Globe. I would like to thank Simon Kearsley and his team for all the support they have given me over the last 4 years. Sponsorship is the life blood of this sport and without it, it simply would not happen. Forward-thinking companies such as bluQube should be commended for continuing to invest during these difficult times when the easy decision would be to pull out – I can’t thank them enough”
