The oceans’ UFOs pose new risks for professional sailors

By THE DATA TEAM

GETTING to the finish line of Vendée Globe has always been hard. The planet’s only non-stop solo round-the-world sailing race—known as the “Everest of the seas”—can take months to complete, and is considered a gruelling test of mental and physical endurance. This year’s race, which ended today, has proven to be even more difficult than its predecessors, thanks to the advent of a new hazard: UFOs.

Unrelated to “E.T.” or Area 51, unidentified floating objects, assumed to be shipping containers, are making sailors’ lives increasingly difficult. Of the 29 skippers who set off in early November, 11 were forced to retire from the race. And of those, five dropped out because of crashes with UFOs. Although all vessels are equipped with collision-avoidance radar, that is of little help when debris lies just below the surface.

UFO strikes are a fairly recent phenomenon in the event. At the previous Vendée Globe, four years ago, only two yachts hit these impediments; before that, such collisions were unheard of. The World Shipping Council estimates that between 2008-13 an average of 1,679 containers were lost at sea each year, mostly due to bad weather. Although this is a tiny fraction of the 120m containers shipped every year, around half of the total that vanished during that period stemmed from one accident, the sinking of the MOL Comfort in the Indian Ocean in 2013. That event may well have claimed new victims in the 2016-17 Vendée Globe.

Despite the newly perilous course, there is a silver lining for sailing fans. Thanks to advances in performance-enhancing foils, which reduce displacement and drag, the boats that do manage to make it to the end are doing so faster than ever. Armel Le Cléac’h, today’s winner, finished the race after just two-and-a-half months. That set a new record, four whole days quicker than the previous top mark.