Vendée Globe

Janus is sailing

Rather like the Roman god with two faces, Loïck Peyron is someone, who is able to keep an eye on the past, while looking towards the future. With twenty years of ocean racing experience behind him, the younger of the Peyron brothers could well have been content to sail in La Baule Bay. However, we must not forget that Loïck was involved in all the first editions of ocean racing events: the Route du Rhum, the Race, the Coffee Route, Quebec Saint-Malo and of course, the Vendée Globe. By finishing runner-up behind Titouan Lamazou and especially by organising Philippe Poupon’s rescue off the coast of South Africa, he made a large contribution to the epic reputation of the race. After accompanying Jean-Pierre Dick in the Transat Jacques Vabre in 2005, it is hardly surprising to see the yachtsman from La Baule brimming over with impatience to get back in a race, which, as he himself points out, was highly emotional for him. Always keen to talk and pass on to landlubbers the pleasures he feels sailing around the world, the man is nevertheless more secretive than we might imagine. As time goes by, Loïck has matured and found a new note of seriousness. It would not be surprising to see him writing one of the finest chapters in the next Vendée Globe.

Press Contact : Tiphaine COMBOT SETA
+33 (0)6 85 58 53 00 / tiphaine@zephyrcom.com

• 2nd in the 1989-1990 Vendée Globe
• 43 Atlantic crossings including 18 solo crossings
• 2 round the world voyages
• 5 ORMA champion titles
• 16 Grand Prix wins
• Three times winner of the British solo transatlantic race
• Twice winner of the Transat Jacques Vabre in 1999 and 2005
• Four times winner of the Europe Race (1993, 1995, 1997 and 1999)

On the 60’ « Gitana Eighty »
• 8th in the 2007 Transat Jacques Vabre (with Jean-Baptiste Le Vaillant)
• Winner of the Transat B to B 2007
• Winner of the Petit Navire Challenge
• Winner of the SNSM Record
• Winner of the Artemis Transat 2008

For this project, Loïck Peyron will have at his disposal the sister-ship of Jean-Pierre Dick’s boat. It should not take too much time for him to get back in the swing of things, which has allowed him to build up one of the finest list of achievements in the world of single-handed racing. One thing is certain: his return to the limelight was certainly well prepared. Always up there with the frontrunners, he won the two major solo transatlantic races in 2007 and 2008, the Transat B to B and the Artemis Transat. He therefore quite logically is a favourite for the 2008 Vendée Globe.

Boat - Designer: Bruce Farr Yacht Design - Boatyard/ Builder: Southern Ocean Marine (New Zealand) - Launch date: July 2007 - Length: 18.28 m (60’) - Beam: 5.80 m (19’) - Draught: 4.50 m (14’9’’) - Displacement (weight): 8700kg - Number of daggerboards: 2 - Mast height: 29 m (95’1’’) - Keel blade : steel - Downwind sail surface :600m2

© François Chevalier

• 10/02/09 : Messages for the skippers
• 31/12/08 : Loïck spends 4h in Australia
• 30/12/08 : And then there were three...
• 24/12/08 : Loïck Peyron celebrating Christmas
• 11/12/08 : The options are weighed up by Loick and the Gitana Team