Scott Shawyer became infatuated with the Vendée Globe while watching the start of the 2020-21 edition during the pandemic lockdown.
He was cooped up at his home in Collingwood, Ontario, Canada, spending his days on Zoom calls with private equity firms trying to raise money to expand his engineering company. He was struck by what he saw while watching the start of the solo, non-stop, round-the-world race on YouTube.
“The skippers walked down the docks with their masks on, got to their boats, threw the masks off and jumped in their boats to sail around the world,” Shawyer said in our phone interview. “I just thought about my situation vs. theirs. Here they are, like the ultimate freedom, they’re on a boat, they’re not even affected by COVID, they’re going to sail around the world and here I am not allowed to leave my home because of COVID.
“I thought, ‘This is terrible. I need to kind of get some freedom in my life, and some adventure.’ “
