It was to be expected: with some really fine weather and the start of the school holidays, a friendly crowd gathered on the pontoons in Port Olona to discover the war machines that are the 60-foot Imoca boats, hoping to catch sight of the skippers, busy doing their preparations. A lot of people have been strolling around the 10,000 square meters of the Vendée Globe village. Meanwhile, for some competitors, the race against the clock continues.
They are all neatly moored alongside the Vendée Globe pontoon in Port Olona. The thirty monohulls taking part in the 2008 Vendée Globe will be setting sail in just a fortnight, but there are few worries left for most of the shore teams. In general, the boats are clearly quite ready.
To each his own
At the start of the half-term holidays, there are those, who are taking advantage of the week-end to carry out some PR operations. Marc Thiercelin, the skipper of the DCNS boat, awarded the prizes of a children´s drawing competition, illustrating the project «Talent at work,» in the presence of some representatives of the firm and its subsidiaries.
Then, there are those like Jean Le Cam and Dominique Wavre, who are carrying out some final checks and trying out some minor adjustments: you never really complete this job.
Some have decided to stay in Les Sables d’Olonne, while at the same time getting away from the hive of activity. In most cases, with their wives and children, they have set up home close to their boat and take a look each day to ensure that everything is going as planned. It may be a coincidence or a deliberate strategy, but that is what the two former winners of the Vendée Globe, Michel Desjoyeaux and Vincent Riou, have done.
Most competitors have decided to get right away from the pressure, which is starting to increase around the harbour in les Sables d’Olonne. A trip to the country, back with their family. To each his own method, but the final goal remains the same.
Finally, let us not forget those, who had no other choice but to buckle down to work all out to be ready for the big day. We are thinking in particular of the Hugo Boss team, which day and night, is trying to find the time to do all it takes to be able to line up for the start of the 2008 Vendée Globe. The first real achievement:the delivery in less than five days by the Multiplast yard of the panel measuring more than four metres in length that will fill the gaping hole in the hull of Alex Thomson´s Finot designed boat. There has been great support all around, beginning with the loan of Yann Elies´s mould, the contribution made by the Finot Group designers and the yard´s technicians.
To each his own
At the start of the half-term holidays, there are those, who are taking advantage of the week-end to carry out some PR operations. Marc Thiercelin, the skipper of the DCNS boat, awarded the prizes of a children´s drawing competition, illustrating the project «Talent at work,» in the presence of some representatives of the firm and its subsidiaries.
Then, there are those like Jean Le Cam and Dominique Wavre, who are carrying out some final checks and trying out some minor adjustments: you never really complete this job.
Some have decided to stay in Les Sables d’Olonne, while at the same time getting away from the hive of activity. In most cases, with their wives and children, they have set up home close to their boat and take a look each day to ensure that everything is going as planned. It may be a coincidence or a deliberate strategy, but that is what the two former winners of the Vendée Globe, Michel Desjoyeaux and Vincent Riou, have done.
Most competitors have decided to get right away from the pressure, which is starting to increase around the harbour in les Sables d’Olonne. A trip to the country, back with their family. To each his own method, but the final goal remains the same.
Finally, let us not forget those, who had no other choice but to buckle down to work all out to be ready for the big day. We are thinking in particular of the Hugo Boss team, which day and night, is trying to find the time to do all it takes to be able to line up for the start of the 2008 Vendée Globe. The first real achievement:the delivery in less than five days by the Multiplast yard of the panel measuring more than four metres in length that will fill the gaping hole in the hull of Alex Thomson´s Finot designed boat. There has been great support all around, beginning with the loan of Yann Elies´s mould, the contribution made by the Finot Group designers and the yard´s technicians.
