Coronavirus Confinement - Worse Things Happen At Sea Says French Sailor

French sailor Michel Desjoyeaux says the coronavirus lockdown is a sea breeze in comparison to being alone in a round-the-world yacht race

Paris, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd Apr, 2020 ) :French sailor Michel Desjoyeaux says the coronavirus lockdown is a sea breeze in comparison to being alone in a round-the-world yacht race.

The man who beat Britain's Ellen MacArthur in his first Vendee Globe triumph in 2001 has earned a reputation for muddling through and making do in a crisis.

And with astronauts and adventurers giving lockdown advice on social media as the pandemic crisis deepens, Desjoyeaux played up to his salty seadog image.

"Here on land I can tell you straight, I'm happy to have a shower and a fridge," he told AFP.

"And I don't have to swill out my bucket after going to the toilet.

"At sea there's no going out for a stroll, or popping out for a bit of shopping, you make do with what's on board.

"And you never forget that you made the choice, nobody forces you out to sea," said the 54-year-old from Brittany who fashioned a wind-powered generator during his epic struggle against MacArthur in 2001 when his electricity broke down in the Atlantic.

"We get physically isolated and we do that by our own free will," Desjoyeaux said.

"Even in a 10-meter yacht out on the Southern Ocean, we may not be as alone as some people in lockdown though," he conceded.

"We have a lot of people looking out for us."Desjoyeaux is the only sailor to have won the Vendee Globe solo round the world race twice, taking 93 days to beat MacArthur's Kingfisher in 2001 and 84 days in 2008-2009.