Jean-Pierre Dick has just taken the lead in the Vendée Globe. He has been going down the middle in between the other two frontrunners. Alex Thomson is closer to shore, while Armel Le Cléac’h is further out to sea. The wind is weakening and boat speeds are falling. Many of the skippers are hoping to make the most of these conditions to narrow the gap.
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A top class sporting line-up with no fewer than nine nations taking part, Race HQ based at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, multi-screen international TV broadcasts, innovative digital and media arrangements… The eighth Vendée Globe already looks like being an exceptional vintage and confirms its place as the world’s leading ocean race and a major sporting event.
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With 6 IMOCA running the Vendée Globe this year (over a total of 20 units), the view of these well known designers bring interesting light and perspective on the future of those racing beasts.
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Taking an option to get through a front in the early hours of this morning seems to have given the Vendée Globe winning duo Michel Desjoyeaux and François Gabart on MACIF the chance to extend their lead in the IMOCA Open 60 fleet on the Transat Jacques Vabre during the third afternoon of racing, since leaving Le Havre on Thursday.
Continue Reading ...It is hard to judge whether the Pacific is extracting a particular toll from the peloton of the Barcelona World Race fleet, a tax at the gateway to deliverance into Atlantic, whether it is simply the accumulation of hard miles since the start, or recent problems among them are all purely circumstantial.
Continue Reading ...After two days on land, making key repairs to the rig and boat, Virbac-Paprec 3 is back on the racecourse and in pole position this afternoon. Jean-Pierre Dick and Loick Peyron (FRA) slipped their lines at exactly 1111hrs (CET) today, having completed the mandatory 48-hours on shore for their technical stopover…
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Look back to the pre-start period of the last edition of the Transat Jacques Vabre, the two handed Transatlantic race from Le Havre to Brazil two years ago, and there were clear favourites in most classes. But, as the sages constantly remind us, ocean racing is a mechanical sport which is entirely reliant on what the weather and sea conditions deliver. And so there may be pre-race race favourites but there is no such thing as a certainty.
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The countdown to the start of the 14th edition of the Transat Jacques Vabre Normandie Le Havre – the world’s longest and toughest two-handed transatlantic sailing race – officially started on Friday with all bar one of the 60 boats entered having moored safely in the Bassin Paul Vatine by the 2pm deadline.
Continue Reading ...Highlights of winners’ press conference Virbac-Paprec 3 (Jean-Pierre Dick and Loick Peyron)…
Continue Reading ...Cape Horn is the round the world racer’s ultimate milestone. It is the time that the bow is finally directed in a northerly direction, what feels like homewards.
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