MarkMT 68 Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 In the One News piece the other night I thought they said that at one point Conrad had fallen off the boat, and I really thought I might have mis-heard or misunderstood. But no, it really happened... https://www.facebook.com/matthewsheahan880/posts/1236485209734470:0 When he arrived in Les Sables D’Olonne on Friday afternoon (24 Feb), battered and bruised flying a jury rig after being dismasted just 700 miles from the finish, the crowds turned out in their thousands. Touched by his engaging descriptions of a journey that had started with a fight simply to get to the start line, he was stopped and congratulated by passing strangers everywhere in the seaside town. Yet there was one tale no one was expecting, not even his wife. “I haven’t told anyone this yet,” he said at his press conference. “I fell overboard.” There was silence in the room. He stared out at the audience and swallowed as his gaze shifted momentarily to his feet, this was no PR stunt. To a silent and dumbstruck audience he then described how at night, in a breezy Southern Ocean he had been on top of the boom, cradled by the mainsail lazy bag as he rearranged the sail when the lazy jacks broke. “In a split second, the boom dropped into the water, I had no time to grab onto anything and was dumped into the sea. Fortunately, I was hooked on leaving me trailing behind the boom,” he said. “I was too far away from the boat to get back on board, but eventually one of the waves swept me in sufficiently that I could grab hold of a stanchion. The trouble was that my harness was still clipped to the boom, preventing me from getting back aboard the boat. “The only way to get back on board was to undo my harness, hang on to the stanchion with one arm and try to scramble back onto the boat. Fortunately I did it.” The following day during a one to one interview with Conrad he expanded on his dark secret. 'Had the incident spooked him?' I asked. “I don’t think so although I did tell one person, I had to, I had nearly died and I needed to tell someone about it. But the fact is that it had happened, what was I to do? I was still many miles from anywhere in the Southern Ocean. Even if I had decided enough was enough I still had to get back home.” Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ScottiE 174 Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 Shieet! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Black Panther 1,581 Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 Sportsman of the Year??? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
raz88 96 Posted February 27, 2017 Share Posted February 27, 2017 See the Herald has finally picked it up as well http://m.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11808362 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ScottiE 174 Posted March 1, 2017 Share Posted March 1, 2017 Images of the storm surge hitting the Azores Storm surge batters Pico Island in the Azores http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-39122280 Presumably this is the same storm that has prevented Heerema from entering the Bay of Biscay Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MarkMT 68 Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 Another good media report on Conrad - http://edition.cnn.com/2017/03/03/sport/conrad-colman-vendee-globe-yachting/index.html Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ScottiE 174 Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 Nice. Just one left on the water - just under a 1000nm to go! Suggestion is that he'll finish Sat. sat our time. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Battgirl 23 Posted March 11, 2017 Share Posted March 11, 2017 Seb Destremeau closed the door on this race when he finished today Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ScottiE 174 Posted March 11, 2017 Share Posted March 11, 2017 Good man! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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