Yachtie survives fire and storm to

Kiwi sailor Conrad Colman finished the Vendee Globe in 16th, a non-stop solo round-the-world yacht race.

On the face of it, that doesn’t seem like a remarkable result, especially as the two front-runners finished a month earlier.

But Colman’s race was nothing short of remarkable. Not only did he become the first Kiwi to complete the gruelling race but he also had a fire on board his IMOCA 60 which disabled his auto-piloting and saw his boat on its side, was knocked over again and the forestay, which holds up the mast, became detached after a pin failed in huge seas in the Southern Ocean with winds gusting up to 80km/h, and was down to his last set of sails for the last third of the race.

That is often enough to force some competitors to retire, and only 18 of the 29 starters are likely to finish. But worse was still to happen.

On February 10, only three days from the finish in France and in an impressive 10th place, Colman’s

I was too far away from the boat to get back on board, but eventually one of the waves swept me in . . . Conrad Colman

yacht was dismasted during a large storm.

“The easy thing would have been to crawl into a hole with my tail between my legs, but I am just not wired that way,” Colman was quoted as saying by the Times.

He made painfully slow progress to the finish line, all at a time when his rations ran out (he was down to his last survival biscuit), but finish he did. He became only the third competitor in eight editions of the race to complete the Vendee Globe under jury rig.

As the sailing world was marvelling at his resilience and achievement, Colman had one more surprise.