Arnaud Boissières’s first competition this season will take place in La Trinité sur Mer with the Belle-Île Tour. The AKENA Vérandas skipper and his crew will compete against more than 450 boats of all sizes and categories in a 44-nautical mile route around the island. That first event is part of Boissières’ preparation for the Vendée Globe and is also the first competition of the green and black monohull since the boat was equipped with a new mast.
 

It will also be a great opportunity for « Cali » to see how two of his main Vendée Globe opponents are doing, as Samantha Davis (Savéol) and Jean-Baptiste Dejeanty (Sensations) will also participate in the race. Even though the latter is still not sure he will be able to be at the start of the Vendée Globe, the Belle-Île Tour will be the stage for the first big battle between IMOCA yachts less than seven months before the Vendée Globe starts. The Gironde-based skipper’s goal is clear: He’s going for the victory. « The Belle-Île Tour is a very nice event with so many boats! The route is a physically tough one as it requires many sails changes and maneuvers. To us, it’s a pleasant way to get back to race conditions after a winter of hard work on the boat. That will allow us to be back at sea and check all the technical details. We’ll face tough opponents, with strong contenders in the monohull category. Samantha will have a better preparation than ours as she already had an offshore training session a few days ago. But we are already familiar with the boat, which may help. In the end, I think we’ll be on equal terms. »
 

The race starts on Saturday March 28th at 10AM.
 

The cooking TV show « Un chef en France », with host Cyril Lignac on M6, will feature the 2012-2013 Vendée Globe. The famous chef and his side-car are currently touring several French regions to highlight their respective culinary specialties and they will stop in les Sables d’Olonne on Wednesday for a feature on the Pays de la Loire region.

On the occasion, Cyril Lignac will meet with skipper Arnaud Boissières and will even go for a sailing session with him on board his monohull AKENA Vérandas. The TV show is about cooking but during the shooting, the two men will doubtlessly talk about offshore sailing and the 2012-2013 Vendée Globe, in which Arnaud Boissières will compete.
 

Vincent Riou is now relieved about the state of his 60-foot monohull, PRB, which had hit a whale during a training session. The skipper was hoping that no damage had been done to the structure of his boat during the incident, and that is precisely the confirmation he received after a thorough examination of the yacht with a specific focus on its keel and centerboard. As initially planned, the repairs will only be « cosmetic » and they have already been completed.

PRB is therefore back to perfect working order and was back at sea on Friday before starting a series of training sessions in the following days if the weather conditions are good enough. Next on the schedule is the Grand Prix Guyader in Douarnenez, a race in which Vincent Riou will be assisted by three other yachtsmen on board. That will be one more step in the preparation for the Vendée Globe, which PRB will start on November 10.
 

The Vendée Globe Facebook page has just achieved an important milestone as it registered its 8,000th fan! If, just like these 8,000 fans of sailing and human adventure, you want to have access to the latest news regarding the race, the skippers and their preparation before start day on November 10, join the Vendée Globe community on Facebook and find out more about the upcoming exclusive items and surprises!

Arnaud Boissières was in heaven on Friday, an important day not only for the skipper but also for the entire AKENA Vérandas sailing team, as their monohull went out at sea for the first time. Everybody had been looking forward to that symbolic and technical step . And there was no disappointment since the weather conditions and a 10 to 20-knot wind allowed Arnaud de Boissières and Jean-Luc Van Den Heede («VDH»), who had come to help, to test the boat and its equipment and to start working on the very first settings. 

The weather forecast was far from perfect for the following days so the next sailing sessions will have to wait. But it does not really matter to the skipper of the black and green 60-foot boat, who is already very happy with how positive and full of lessons that first day at sea was: « It was just perfect! The sea was agitated. Everything worked fine. We have some more settings to work on but nothing has to be started from scratch again, which is very positive. That first sailing session is a very good start that makes us confident about the future. »

Bernard Stamm and his monohull Cheminées Poujoulat have officially pre-registered for the 2012-2013 Vendée Globe, starting on November 10. After the 2000-01 and 2008-09 editions, this will be the Swiss skipper's third Vendée Globe. Stamm was also supposed to compete in the 2004-05 edition of the race but a damaged keel had prevented him from being on the start line. 

Bernard Stamm wants his revenge, and he will have the opportunity to take it in the best conditions as his boat, Cheminées Poujoulat, is a brand new monohull that left the construction shipyard in 2011. The most Breton of all Swiss yachtsmen - Stamm lives in Saint Pabu, Finistère - will definitely be a tough competitor the other skipeprs will doubtlessly have to watch out for.