Vendée Globe

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May 15, 2008Temenos II to be relaunched shortly

Since last February, Dominique Wavre’s Temenos II has been in the shed in La Rochelle. Following the equivalent of two round the world voyages for the boat, checks and a series of improvements have been carried out on her. Dominique and his team learnt a lot sailing her and have taken advantage of the knowledge acquired to fine tune the monohull for the Vendée Globe. During the refit, the team concentrated on weight savings and ergonomics. The boat’s interior layout has been simplified in order to make it easier to move ballast around. As for the sails, some are due to be delivered in the coming weeks, whereas work is continuing on the downwind sails. The Open 60 is due to be relaunched at the end of May and she will be leaving the yard with a new mast and rudders. The new keel is currently under construction and is due to be fitted in July.

May 05, 2008Yannick Bestaven 18th to register for the Vendée Globe

Yannick Bestaven from La Rochelle is the eighteenth skipper to register for the Vendée Globe having completed all the required paperwork. The winner of the Transat 6.50 in 2001, who is also well known in the Figaro circuit, will be sailing on board Cervin Enr, one of the oldest boats in the fleet, as this Finot design built in 1996 is in fact none other than Yves Parlier’s former Aquitaine Innovations. Updated, Cervin Enr will be one of the lightest boats too and her navigational equipment will be powered solely by clean energy, as laid down in the charter established by the \"Energies around the World\" racing team created by Yannick in La Rochelle.

May 02, 2008Jean-Pierre Dick fine-tuning his Paprec-Virbac II

While part of the IMOCA fleet is on its way to Plymouth for the start of The Transat, PAPREC-VIRBAC II is continuing her spring refit. As well as checking over all the different parts of the monohull, the strakes, one of the innovations for this refit, are currently being finished. In the next few days, the paint and coating work is scheduled to be done. Meanwhile, the rest of the team are making the small adjustments that Jean Pierre asked for, after his round the world voyage last winter, and before the Vendée Globe. PAPREC-VIRBAC II’s relaunch is planned for early June.

May 02, 2008A test race before the Vendée Globe

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.»

April 23, 2008Five skippers training at Port-la-Forêt

Five contenders for the next Vendée Globe have been training since Monday at the French training centre in Port-la-Forêt in S.W. Brittany. Present were Sam Davies (Roxy), Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia), Armel Le Cléac´h (Brit Air), Yann Eliès (Generali) and Vincent Riou (PRB). They have been going through some sessions in single-handed manoeuvre training around the Glénan Islands.

April 21, 2008Jean-Baptiste Dejeanty, number seventeen

The young skipper and designer from Normandy, Jean-Baptiste Dejeanty has become the seventeenth person to register officially for the Vendée Globe. His monohull, Maisonneuve, is currently undergoing a winter refit, which should finish shortly in Lorient, with the help of the round the world yachtsman, Hervé Laurent. Jean-Baptiste will just be thirty years old this year.