Vendée Globe

The boss

Do we still need to present this gentleman? Michel Desjoyeaux is to ocean racing what Bruce Springsteen is to rock’n’roll. Simply the boss. While he has managed to remain approachable, the winner of the next to last race is nothing short of being the most honoured yachtsman on the planet. Hardly any event has been beyond his talent of making the most of technological progress and boat performance and his skill at sailing boats perfectly at sea, in other words, quickly, on the right track and safely.

« The professor », as he is referred to on the pontoons, is a giant, if we look at his achievements: three times winner of the Figaro single-handed event, he then achieved grand slam to dream-like proportions by winning consecutively the three most legendary single-handed ocean races: the 2000-2001 Vendée Globe, the 2002 Route du Rhum, the 2004 Transat. Simply incredible!

Having raced successfully in the giant trimaran circuit, Michel Desjoyeaux is returning to monohulls and to the Vendée Globe, which made him a household name 8 years ago. With a new boat, he has some clear goals and he will certainly be there at the forefront.

Press Contact : Laurence DACOURY
+33 (0)6 18 41 30 28 / ldacoury@wanadoo.fr

• Winner of the 2004 Transat
• Winner of the 2002 Route du Rhum
• Winner of the 2000-2001 Vendée Globe
• 2nd in the Orma multihull championship in 2004 and 2003
• Three times winner of the Figaro single-handed event (1992,1998 and 2007)
• Winner of the Transat Ag2r in 1992 (with Jacques Caraës)

On the 60’ « Foncia »
• Winner of the 2007 Transat Jacques Vabre 2007 (with M. Le Borgne)
• 3rd in the 2007 Transat B to B
• 5th in the SNSM Record SNSM in 2007
• Retired from the 2008 Artemis Transat after colliding with a cetacean

For this 2008 race, Michel Desjoyeaux has chosen to entrust design work to Farr Yacht Design, LTD. His boat, slimmed down to the bare minimum, shows the skipper’s desire to find the perfect compromise between a resolutely powerful hull and to achieve maximum weight savings. Power is only good for you, if you can control it.

Boat - Designer: Bruce Farr Yacht Design - Boatyard : CDK Technologies - Launch date: May 2007 - Length : 18.28 m (60’) - Beam : 5.85 m (19’2’’) - Draught: 4.50m (14’9’’) - Displacement (weight): 8500 Kg - Number of daggerboards: 2 - Mast height: 28m (91’9’’) - Keel blade: steel - Upwind sail surface: 300 m2 - Downwind sail surface: 600 m2

© François Chevalier

• 10/02/09 : Messages for the skippers
• 01/02/09 : Desjoyeaux's extraordinary voyage
• 30/01/09 : Support for the supporters
• 27/01/09 : The perfect sailor
• 23/01/09 : Day 75: A race within the race