The two Olympia residents are adventure seekers and avid sailors, so it was serendipitous that their jobs brought them to the southwest coastal town of Les Sables d'Olonne -- home of this year's Vendee Globe sailing race.

The Vendee Globe is a solo, around-the-world race without stopovers. It runs every four years and it was born in the 1960s. Out of nine starters, only one sailor, Robin Knox-Johnston, finished the first epic event.

The idea is to challenge sailors and boats to the absolute limit.

That was the goal that skipper Bruce Schwab, of Oakland, Calif., brought to this year. Schwab became the first American to ever finish the race.

Sailing the "Ocean Planet" he recently earned ninth place -- finishing in 109 days and 20 hours -- and won himself a place in U.S. sailing history.

The first place finisher, Vicent Riou, of France, arrived in Les Sables d'Olonne on Feb. 2 -- finishing in 87 days, 10 hours and 55 minutes.

Twenty skippers from around the world competed, sailing 60-foot boats. In mid-March not all competitors had finished. The route heads into the waters of the Atlantic on a southerly course leading past South Africa's Cape of Good Hope before entering the Southern Ocean.

Sailors then circumnavigate the Antarctic continent, rounding infamous Cape Horn, before heading north for the finish back where it started.

The two Olympia residents ended up helping Schwab after reading about his arrival into town in the local newspaper.

They approached his boat and asked him if he needed some help.

"We knocked and this California-looking guy came out," Thompson said. "We said, 'We live here."

"Heather was hilarious -- she was like, 'Hey dude,' " Schwab said with a laugh.

"It was completely by coincidence, that we met Bruce," Thompson said. "He didn't have big sponsors, and he needed volunteers.

"He turned out to be a nice guy. It was definitely a once-a-lifetime experience."

Thompson and Guyton proved to be a great help in getting Schwab ready for the race, and they also learned a lot from the experience.

"I had some crew that sailed over and a few coming over, but we were quite short-handed," Schwab said.

"We all got the boat ready for the start, and there were a billion things to do, errands to run," Thompson said, "We didn't get the new sails until three days before the start."

"Corey is a very versatile guy. He is really handy," Schwab said. "For instance, we had a leaky fuel filter and it required some creative drilling, and he took care of it."

After the race, Thompson served as the media contact and translator, answering e-mails, managing phone calls and translating.

"He mostly was receiving a lot of phone calls and letting me know what the heck was going on," Schwab said.

Thompson said Schwab made quite an impression on the French people, as the first American to complete the race.

"Bruce is a good guy and has done a lot of ambassadorship," Thompson said. "He counters people's ideas about what Americans are like, especially in the current political climate.

"The American counsel compared him to Lance Armstrong."

Schwab started an educational foundation for students through the organization "Ocean Planet."

It promotes the importance of the world's oceans and was also the vehicle that helped him enter the race.

Guyton got a lot out of the experience as well.

Guyton has a keen interest in sailing, has worked on many boats and took maritime studies at The Evergreen State College.

"I had a fantastic time," Guyton said. "I am interested in navigation, and I learned how technical racing happens.

"The level of what these people were working at was amazing."

Guyton said the only disappointment for her was that there aren't many women in the event racing or serving on the technical support side.

There were "only two women in the race, and only a handful have ever done it," Guyton said. "I guess it's hard for them to get sponsors."
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