Sébastien Josse’s 60-foot BT was officially christened in London today. After sailing under Tower Bridge, the BT IMOCA 60 berthed alongside the Royal Navy’s HMS President, where she was officially christened by the CEO of BT Global Services, Francois Barrault: "I am delighted to launch the BT Open 60, a unique collaboration that captures the powerful potential of the BT Team Ellen partnership.”

Training for the Vendée Globe
Based in Concarneau in Brittany, the skipper of BT, Sébastien Josse will be taking part in the next single-handed race on the IMOCA calendar, The Artemis Transat, which will start from Plymouth on 11th May. This transatlantic race is a major stepping stone towards Seb’s ultimate goal of competing in his second solo, non-stop round the world Vendée Globe race that starts in November: “I have raced around the globe three times so far – with a crew non-stop, with a crew with stops, solo non-stop – every element of racing and being at sea is a pleasure for me. Every race is a new challenge, a new battle, a new discovery. No one knows what will happen in the next Vendée Globe – all we know is that never before have so many pro teams lined up on the start line together. Today is a culmination of three months of hard work by the shore team to get our BT IMOCA 60 into the highest possible race spec with the objective of being very competitive but also able to complete a long distance race around the world.”


Ellen MacArthur’s reaction:
« It has been a great moment to see the launch of Seb’s BT IMOCA 60. He is a fantastic skipper with a huge amount of experience and as a team we are as excited for him as he is to get the boat launched and ready for her first season of racing. Both myself, Seb and Nick have all raced in the solo Vendée Globe and know what a huge and demanding undertaking it is. He will have our 100% support in the build up to and during both The Artemis Transat and the Vendée Globe and we have absolute confidence in his ability to succeed."