A dozen Imoca monohulls are putting the finishing touches to their preparations for the start of The Artemis Transat, on 11th May from Plymouth. The whole fleet has to be in place in Sutton Harbour by the evening of Sunday 4th May. The final stages of the preparation as well as the security checks and measurements by the Race Committee will be taking place next week and the boats will be forced to stay moored up at the pontoon from Friday 9th May at 11h00 until the start.
Part of them will be taking part in a prologue, a rally between Douarnenez and Plymouth. There will in particular be in the IMOCA class, Akena Vérandas (Arnaud Boissières), Brit Air (Armel Le Cléac´h), Generali (Yann Eliès), PRB (Vincent Riou) and Foncia (Michel Desjoyeaux).
Michel Desjoyeaux, skipper of a 60-foot IMOCA and winner of the 2004 race aboard an Orma trimaran: «The North Atlantic in May is a very demanding place. This race will be different from the previous one, as I’m at the helm of a monohull this time, everything gets very wet, but we’re less exposed. It’s going to be a very good observation round for the Vendée Globe competitors, but we must not draw any hasty conclusions either.»