Miranda's madness

James Boyd spoke to Miranda Merron about the Route du Rhum - her first singlehanded handed offshore race

A dramatic turning point came in the life of Miranda Merron when drunk at a party at the finish of the last Vendee Globe a year and a half ago, she announced that she was going to be taking part in the next solo non-stop round the world race in 2004.

Glasses full of the latest Beaujolais were dropped, the sound of cars screeching to a halt outside and a stoney silence must have fallen in the packed tent in Les Sables d'Olonne at that moment, for if there were was one person who was resolutely not going to go solo sailing, it was her.

The reasons for Miranda's personal Road to Damascus are still sketchy. No doubt the 'Ellen syndrome' helped, along with the positive climate for women getting sponsorship in yachting. Her two handed sailing partner and best buddy Emma Richards, taking up the singlehanding ocean racing mantle, must also have been an incentive.

Following this decision last year Merron landed on her feet when we took over the sponsorship and boat of Vendee Globe competitor Eric Dumont. Originally this Groupe Finot designed Open 60 ketch won the 1992/3 Vendee Globe in the hands of Alain Gautier, under the name Bagages Superior. Dumont spent considerable time and sponsor's money preparing the boat for the last Vendee Globe including dramatic mods such as transforming her to a sloop rig and fitting a canting keel.

Merron's first race on her new steed Un Univers de Services, now catchily abreviated to UUDS, was in last year's two handed Transat Jacques Vabre in which she came ninth sailing with fellow Royal & SunAlliance crewwoman Fred Brule.

A punctuation mark on her road to the Vendee Globe came when she was invited by fellow Hamblite Lisa McDonald to take over navigation responsibilities aboard Amer Sport Too in the Volvo Ocean Race. She sailed on board from Sydney onward, but come the end of the race in June she has had her nose to the grindstone preparing for the Route du Rhum. To help her accomplish this massive shift in sailing style she employed two all-vital shorecrew in Alex Sizer and Tony Reid, both of whom previously worked for Mike Golding and of whom she expresses utter praise.

They have taken on much of the responsibility for preparing the boat. Since June they have changed all the running rigging and all the PBO. They have kept the rod shrouds, but most importantly the boat now has a new mainsail, Solent, staysail and big genniker. "She’s basically just undergone a programme of tender loving care and is all the better for it," says Merron. In addition the keel has been overhauled and the bottom faired.

"Between the three of us we’ve been getting the boat ready and sailing her as much as possible," she says. "I already know the boat quite well because I raced her in the Transat Jacques Vabre and then delivered her back. Then I did my 1000 mile qualifer in August, which much to my amazement I quite enjoyed."

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