Investment bankers will jet almost anywhere at any time to seal a deal. But Richard Tolkien’s current itinerary would give pause to even the most intrepid financier. For the next four months, Tolkien will take time out from his corporate finance duties at HSBC in London to compete in the treacherous Vendée Globe around-the-world yacht race.
The 25,000-mile event, which gets under way this month at Les Sables d’Alonne, France, pits 24 single-manned, 60-foot boats against the fierce conditions and gale-force winds of Antarctica’s Southern Ocean. Tolkien, who is skippering his yacht, This Time, acknowledges that his chances of winning the race are slim indeed. Unlike his competitors -- full-time sailors with deep-pocketed corporate sponsors -- he’s bankrolling the trip himself.
In any case, for Tolkien, returning in one piece is the main prize. “I’ve two objectives: to get home safely and to finish the race,” he says. His caution is understandable. During the last Vendée Globe race, four years ago, one competitor was killed, and another spent four days on his overturned yacht before he was rescued by the Australian navy.
