Dorset yachtswoman Pip Hare ready to tackle solo round-the-world race

  • ITV News Meridian's Sally Simmonds has been speaking to Pip Hare about her next challenge.

British yachtswoman Pip Hare has said she is ready to tackle the isolation and challenges of sailing solo non-stop round the world in the Vendee Globe race while surviving on power naps of 20 minutes.

The 50-year-old based in Poole, Dorset, came 19th in the last edition of the race in 2020, completing the epic voyage in 95 days in the event’s second oldest boat and becoming only the eighth woman to finish.

Now Ms Hare, who set up her racing team in 2019 with a £25,000 bank loan and a crowdfunding appeal, is being tipped as a top 10 finisher in the prestigious and gruelling race which has been expanded to 40 yachts from the previous 33.

Pip Hare said the biggest challenge was finishing the race Credit: Andrew Matthews/PA

The Pip Hare Ocean Team has spent the past three years developing and preparing the 18.28m long Medallia yacht, which is capable of speeds in excess of 70kph, with the aim of completing the event in under 80 days this time.

Ms Hare said the biggest challenge was finishing the race and added: “The odds are against you to finish the race – it’s a 56% finish rate.

“The race is three months, so during that time there will be myriad technical problems and the biggest challenge is facing a problem that you cannot manage or fix alone at sea, and that would put you out of the race.

“In terms of performance, you have to be on it all the time, so maintaining pace, managing risk, but also kind of tactically, being aware of those other boats around you is a much bigger challenge this time.”

Pip Hare said her experience as a solo-sailor had prepared her for the isolation of sailing alone for three months Credit: Andrew Matthews/PA

Ms Hare said her experience as a solo-sailor had prepared her for the isolation of sailing alone for three months.

She said: “Over the years of my solo sailing, I developed a load of tools and techniques to help me kind of reframe my mind, help me maintain a good pace of work, a good motivation to pull me back out of a nosedive into a negative space and I kind of employ various different tools and techniques to keep me going through the three months.”

She explained that sailing solo means there are limited opportunities to sleep and added: “The secret to sleeping is little and often.

“So we can’t sleep for huge amounts of periods of time, because the boat is moving all the time, and it’s moving very fast.

“When I’m in open ocean, I might sleep for maybe one or two hours in a 24-hour period, but you’re constantly looking for opportunities to sleep, and you’re asking yourself whether you need to sleep as well, and if the answer is yes to either of those, then you take a nap.

“Whether it’s a 10-minute nap or a 30-minute nap, you just take one. You keep doing that.”

Ms Hare has written a book, In My Element, being released this week, which describes how she coped with her previous Vendee Globe race, which she said helped her prepare for her upcoming adventure.

She said: “I talk about how I managed mentally, and how I’ll kind of use that in the next race and actually writing the book was quite a cathartic process for me, it reminded me of the person that I need to be to succeed in this race so it was a good revision for me.”

She added: “Sometimes I think I forget how strong I can be, and it was a good reminder of the person that I have been and that can be and who I need to be again.

“I’ve got the same nerves. I’m aware of what could lie ahead and and just hopeful, really, that it’s going to be a good race again.”

The Vendee Globe starts from Les Sables D’Olonne, France, on November 10.

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