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February 26, 20085000 signatures for Derek Hatfield

Over the past few weeks, Derek Hatfield’s campaign has been making progress. Following the Toronto and Vancouver Boat Shows, the Spirit of Canada team was pleased to announce that 5000 individual supporters have now contributed to the appeal and will have their name be painted on the hull of the Open 60. The aim of the campaign is to support the first Canadian boat to take part in the Vendée Globe and they hope to reach 10,000 signatures before the start in Les Sables d’Olonne. Some local fans have even signed up twice, no doubt tempted by the lucky draw, which will allow one of the supporters to win a trip aboard Spirit of Canada.

February 26, 2008Roxy all dressed up again

Sam Davies’s preparations for the Vendée Globe 2008-2009 have been continuing over the past few weeks in Lorient. Her monohull, Roxy has been fitted with new daggerboards, the roof has been extended and two new winches installed. The team is busy working on the paintwork on the Open 60, aboard which the English yachtswoman will be setting sail from les Sables d’Olonne in November. The deck is once again brilliant white and Roxy’s colours are due to be applied this week. Meanwhile, Sam has been doing some weather training with the router, Jean-Yves Bernot in Port La Forêt. This week, she is looking forward to training alongside Isabelle Joschke, as she gets ready for the Solitaire du Figaro.

February 26, 2008No rest for Norbert Sedlacek

Following the presentation of his project at the Düsseldorf Boat Show last month, Norbert Sedlacek has remained busy preparing his boat Nauticsport Kapsch for her entry in the Vendée Globe 2008-2009. During the show, he was able to announce that he has signed a new partnership with the Swiss watchmaker, Chronoswiss, and since then has been busy at work at the boatyard. Several hundred litres of paint, laqueur and anti-fouling have been prepared and the boat’s colours are ready to be applied in the coming days. For several weeks, the team have been concentrating on the keel head mechanism, as this requires some fine tooling and precision work, in order to avoid the sort of problem, which forced the Austrian to retire from the last Vendée Globe. The first sea trails are planned for April, but before that there will be another occasion for the crowds to take a look at the project at the Tulln Boat Show in Austria on 6th March.

February 15, 2008Rich Wilson is number twelve

The American, Rich Wilson has become the twelfth person to sign up officially for the Vendée Globe 2008-2009. This will be his first appearance in the event, on board a boat from a previous generation (1999), but which is well loved by race fans: Great American II is in fact none other than the former Solidaires, the Nivelt design built and sailed by Thierry Dubois, who was forced to retire with electronic problems in the 2000/2001 edition. The monohull then became Patrice Carpentier’s VM Matériaux in the last race. Rich Wilson will be the only American representative in this Vendée Globe.

February 15, 2008Loïck Peyron’s comeback: the eleventh to register

Loïck Peyron has become the eleventh skipper officially to complete his registration for the Vendée Globe. A race legend is therefore back in the competition. On board Lada-Poch, the yachtsman from la Baule was present in the very first Vendée, which he finished a few hours after Titouan Lamazou in 1990, after the spectacular rescue of Philippe Poupon’s Fleury Michon. Eighteen years on, and Loïck Peyron is back for a third Vendée Globe (after retiring in 1992/1993) and this time with some strong arguments in his favour: on board the brand new Farr design, Gitana Eighty, Loïck recently walked away with the Transat Ecover BtoB single-handed race on the sistership to the boat to be sailed by Jean-Pierre Dick, who has just won the Barcelona World Race. It looks like being an exciting contest!

February 10, 2008Marc Thiercelin's fourth Vendée Globe

An emblematic figure in the Vendée Globe, Marc Thiercelin has pre-registered for the Vendée Globe 2008-2009. He is in fact, the only candidate, who has already taken part on three occasions and indeed, if we add to that the fact that he also took part in Around Alone, where he finished second, as in his first Vendée Globe, Marc Thiercelin will be setting out on his fifth single-handed round the world voyage! A record for this extraordinary yachtsman, who started out aboard a Mini and in the Figaro, although it is his round the world voyages that he will be remembered for. He will be competing in the race at the helm of a Finot-Conq design, currently under construction at the Multiplast yard in Vannes, Brittany.