Second in the last Barcelona World Race with Xabi Fernandez, just behind Jean-Pierre Dick and Loïck Peyron, the Spanish skipper Iker Martinez is building up the points in the current Volvo Ocean Race in which he is competing on the Team Telefonica monohull. The Spaniard, who finished in third place in the last edition, has just won the first three legs of the crewed round the world race in Cape Town, Abu Dhabi and Sanya (China).

Loïck Peyron and the crew of the maxi Banque Populaire V grabbed the Jules Verne Trophy last night for establishing a new crewed round the world record. Peyron completed the round the world voyage in 45 days, 13 hours, 42 minutes and 53 seconds, averaging 26.51 knots over a total distance of 29,002 miles. He has therefore set a new outright record around the world, beating by 2 days and 18 hours the record which had been held since 2010 by Franck Cammas and the crew of Groupama 3.

Bruno Retailleau, President of the Vendée Council and Louis Guédon, MP and Mayor of Les Sables d'Olonne, accompanied by the British sailor Samantha Davies, today revealed the official poster for the 2012-2013 Vendée Globe, which is due to begin on Saturday 10th November 2012.

In the lead in the Barcelona World Race, Jean-Pierre Dick and Loïck Peyron crossed the longitude of the Cape of Good Hope on Thursday after 26 days 13h 35 mins of sailing, or in other words 25 hours less than in 2007. Virbac-Paprec 3 is currently 588 miles ahead of Mapfre, the Spanish crew chasing after them.

 As each year, the AGM of the IMOCA class has elected its representatives. Dominique Wavre, Luc Talbourdet and Jean Le Cam were voted back in and José Maria Bénavidès, the Spanish representative, was elected to the post made vacant by Jacques Guilbaud. Dominique Wavre handed over the presidency to Luc Talbourdet, who left this post back in 2007. This team closely represents all the members and the heads of the IMOCA class know each other well and will be continuing along the same lines as those that were previously adopted.

The new board of the IMOCA class :
President: Luc Talbourdet
Vice-President: Jean Le Cam
Vice-President: Pascal Chadail
Secretary: Bernard Stamm
Treasurer: Yann Eliès
President of the Events Committee: Alex Thomson
Board member: Dominique Wavre
Board member: José Maria Bénavidès

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.