The French sailor Marc Emig today announced his plans to become the first sailor from Marseilles to line up at the start of the Vendée Globe. Marc Emig: “The idea of taking part in the Vendée Globe is not something that just occurred to me out of the blue, as it seems like a natural step in my career after sailing for more than 17 years...". The Figaro racer from the Mediterranean has decided to turn his epic voyage around the world into an opportunity to fly the colours of his home city of Marseilles.

After winning the 2006 Route du Rhum in his Class40, the British sailor Phil Sharp would like to repeat this achievement again next winter, but this time aboard an IMOCA 60. He believes 2010 is a key year in his career, as taking part in the Route du Rhum and the Barcelona Race are steps on the way to his major goal: the 2012 Vendée Globe. Phil Sharp: "It is my primary goal is to get to the start line of this incredible adventure in order to strive to be the first British, and also non-French sailor, to win this epic race. It stands at the pinnacle of competitive sailing, whilst remaining one of the most challenging adventures in the world today.”

After finishing third in the Transat Jacques Vabre, Mike Golding’s monohull set out again last week from Costa Rica to head for Cascaïs. The delivery trip to Portugal was carried out in some rather rough weather. A powerful low-pressure area off the coast of North America generated some strong winds and very rough seas. On top of that, a high over Iceland pushed the Atlantic lows further south than usual directly in the path of the IMOCA 60. For the crew; it was a wet and tiring voyage and conditions were so bad off the Azores that the crew even considered heading for shelter in Madeira to wait for the storm to pass over.

After returning from the Transat Jacques Vabre which she raced on Artemis with Sidney Gavignet, Sam Davies made a quick visit to the Paris Boat Show, before going to La Plagne in the Alps, where she was chosen to be International Godmother of the Stars of Sport event, which brings together each year leading French figures from top class sports in an event aimed at fostering new champions for the future. It offered the British sailor an opportunity to rub shoulders with stars from other sports.
Sam also met up again with the Artemis team to go through what happened in the Transat Jacques Vabre. She admits she learnt a lot during this transatlantic race and hopes that her comments will enable further improvements to be made to the powerful monohull.
 

The British sailor Conrad Humphreys, who finished in seventh place in the 2004-2005 Vendée Globe is back in Australia again to take part in the Sydney-Hobart Race, which starts on Saturday. He will be aboard the Jones 70 monohull, Ichi Ban, which crossed the line in third place last year. This marks a major change for Conrad after a season in the F18 circuit, during which he took part in the Archipelago Raid in Scandinavia.

This evening, Marc Guillemot, skipper of the monohull, Safran received a medal from Jean-Paul Herteman, President of the Board of Safran, making him a Knight of the French Order of Merit (similar to the British MBE) . This distinction is awarded to Marc Guillemot for the whole of his career, but above all for his achievements in the 2008-2009 Vendée Globe, when he had no hesitation in going to the assistance of Yann Eliès, who was drifting in the Indian Ocean. In spite of this detour, the skipper of Safran still managed to finish in third place after several technical difficulties: problems with his mast and then the loss of his keel a week before the finish. “In this Vendée Globe, Marc showed great support and exemplary humanity during the rescue of Yann Eliès. His determination enabled him to overcome many human and technical challenges,” declared Jean-Paul Herteman.

Marc Guillemot, together with Charles Caudrelier Benac, recently won the Transat Jacques Vabre, sailing between Le Havre (France) and Puerto Limon (Costa Rica). Safran finished in first place after fifteen days of racing, twelve of which were spent in the lead. It is thanks to these fine results that he won the 2009 IMOCA world championship rounding off an excellent year for Marc Guillemot and Safran.