After a fast passage south from Les Sables d’Olonne to cross the Equator last night, the leading skippers in the Vendée Globe can expect the high pace and intensity to continue down the South Atlantic.
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Many of the current crop of Vendée Globe skippers making final preparations to start Sunday are racers at heart but from almost all of them the refrain is universal.
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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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After yesterday’s light winds start, which tested the patience of the 16 skippers with a busy, if slightly slo-motion, send off from the waters off the iconic Hotel Vela (W-Hotel), there has been a steady building of wind strength, and a smooth acceleration of pace for the transition into offshore racing mode for the eight boats competing in the Barcelona World Race.
Continue Reading ...It was appropriate for the record fleet of 85 skippers who set off from Saint Malo this afternoon on the ninth edition of the Route du Rhum-La Banque Postale that the send off proved nearly perfect in every way. Franck Cammas on Groupama 3, the most powerful of the Ultime’s setting forged steadily ahead of the pack in this nine boat class.
Continue Reading ...03/2010 – On March, 11th, Vincent Riou and team PRB assembled at Port la Foret to launch the new IMOCA 60’ designed by VPLP / Verdier. The bright orange beast was lowered into the water under the expert eye of Hubert Desjoyeaux who built the carbon racing machine at CDK Technologies. A healthy crowd of […]
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This is the great debate in this eighth edition of the Vendée Globe. To foil or not to foil, that is the question… On paper, these appendages which we saw in the America’s Cup allow the boat to be lifted up, as if the boat was lighter, meaning that the top speed increases significantly with a bonus of 10-15% with the wind on the beam.
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The motorway south to the Equator was opening up for the Barcelona World Race leaders this morning and British skipper Alex Thomson on Hugo Boss was back enjoying life in the fast lane. Speaking on the live video call today, when he was steering the VPLP-Verdier designed IMOCA 60 at more than 20kts in the brisk trade winds, the pleasure was written all over his face. His huge grin spoke volumes.
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Jean Pierre Dick confirmed his supremacy again this morning as the ultimate double handed monohull ocean racer when he and co-skipper Jérémie Beyou brought Virbac Paprec 3 across the finish line of the tenth edition of the Transat Jacques Vabre to win in the very early hours of the morning in Puerto Limon, Costa Rica.
Continue Reading ...08/2010 – The Imoca skippers are due to meet up again in St Malo on 31st October for the Route du Rhum-la Banque Postale and in Barcelona on 31st December for the Barcelona World Race. 9 boats are set to compete in the Rhum and at least ten for the Barcelona. At the present time, […]
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