The sailor Bertrand de Broc has decided to relaunch his campaign “Your name around the world” in order to line up at the start of the next Vendée Globe on Saturday 10th November. The sailor from Quimper is trying to get together a budget of 1.5 million euros by offering 30,000 people the opportunity to contribute 50€. In the 1996-1997 Vendée Globe, De Broc managed to get the money for his project with more than 6000 people signing their names on the hull of his boat.

Second in the last Barcelona World Race with Xabi Fernandez, just behind Jean-Pierre Dick and Loïck Peyron, the Spanish skipper Iker Martinez is building up the points in the current Volvo Ocean Race in which he is competing on the Team Telefonica monohull. The Spaniard, who finished in third place in the last edition, has just won the first three legs of the crewed round the world race in Cape Town, Abu Dhabi and Sanya (China).

Alex Thomson’s monohull Hugo Boss was taken out of the water earlier this week and is about to undergo a number of repairs and technical improvements. After taking part in the double-handed Transat Jacques Vabre and the solo Transat B to B, a lot of work is necessary in the coming months, before she is relaunched in the spring.
 

Samantha Davies, who recently signed with the SAVEOL brand for the forthcoming Vendée Globe, has just announced that she has taken possession of her new IMOCA monohull, which is none other than Roland Jourdain’s former Veolia, as planned back in December. The boat is currently in the hands of her technical team, who are going to be busy preparing her for the race and giving her her new colours. Time for a winter refit for the British sailor, with SAVEOL due to be relaunched in the spring.

François Gabart’s pre-registration has just been ratified by the Vendée Globe race directors. The skipper of the MACIF monohull has become the fourth competitor to be officially registered for the 2012-2013 Vendée Globe, which starts on Saturday 10th November from Les Sables d'Olonne. Winner of the solo Transat B to B, François Gabart is currently preparing his monohull and will take part in the Europa Race in May.

Vincent Riou and his team have got the year off to a busy start. The winter refit began two weeks ago and the monohull was completely stripped down. Deck hardware, hydraulics, engine, electronics... everything is being looked at. Over a nine week period, all the parts will be examined, cleaned up and replaced, if signs of excess wear are spotted. In addition to the usual jobs carried out during a winter refit, some changes are being made to the cockpit. The training sessions and the various races over the past two years have enabled Vincent and his team to identify changes that can be made to fine tune the monohull for the Vendée Globe. This is therefore a very important refit, as the clock is ticking and the shore team is focusing on getting the boat back in the water on 15th March. PRB is due to compete in the Europa Race, the crewed race around Europe, in early May.