Xu Jingkun, the only Chinese skipper among the 12 non French skippers who will start the 10th edition on Sunday of the Vendee Globe, is the first to sail non-stop alone around the world despite having lost his left arm when he was 12.

Xu, the son of humble farmers in the Shandong Province was never meant to cross oceans. After an accident at a fireworks show, he lost his left hand up to the elbow.

The 35-year old said, "I am very proud to represent China as the first Chinese participant in the Vendee Globe."

"It is a very complex feeling: I am excited, because I have been training for this race for the past two years. But I also feel pressure because there are still many challenges to overcome."

He was a track and field athlete and had the chance to join the Chinese Paralympic Team preparing for 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. He chose sailing instead of running or cycling.

"I was introduced to this sport by accident," Xu said.

He joined the National Team in 2005 when he was 16 to prepare for Paralympic Games held in China. There he placed 10th in Sonar Class (three-person boats) and then turned to professional sailing.

After a three-year journey of 34,000 nautical miles across 40 countries, Xu and his wife Sofia decided to concentrate on the Vendee Globe.

"It is a dream that I have always had," Xu said, whose IMOCA Singchain Team Haikou based in Brittany was purchased by Alan Roura in 2022.

Since then, he's participated in four races including the Route du Rhum 2022 transatlantic race, and the Transat Jacques-Vabre 2023 from Le Havre, France, to Martinique to qualify for Vendee Globe.

Xu said, "During my preparation many people told me that it was impossible, but my experience shows that the unthinkable is possible."

Xu, like Damien Seguin who was the first disabled athlete last year to compete in the Vendee Globe race, had to learn how to sail a monohull of 60 feet (18.28 meters) on a daily basis.

"As I matured and gradually adapted and as I overcome what I call'my shortcomings', I realized that it had no negative impact on me. It has, on the contrary had a positive impact. "It has helped me gain more, acquire more strength and become more resilient," said he.

He wants to use his increasing popularity to help promote the sport in China. He will open his own sailing school at Qingdao in 2020.

He said: "I hope that my participation will encourage more young Chinese to take up this sport and accept these challenges." (Reporting and writing by Stephane Mahe, Vincent Daheron in Paris; editing by Ken Ferris).

(source: Reuters)