Five in.

Jérémie Beyou is the fifth skipper to be officially qualified to participate in the next Vendée Globe, with his pre-registration recently confirmed by Race Management.

Jérémie will be sailing the legendary race for the second time under the Imoca 60 Maître CoQ, the former Foncia, and Michel Desjoyeaux’s winning monohull in the last edition of the race in 2008-2009, breaking the race record in 84 days.

Maître CoQ will be launched in March and the two-times winner of the Solitaire du Figaro will immediately begin solo sailing exactly eight months ahead of the start in Sables d’Olonne.

It’s official - Armel Le Cléac'h will join the start line at Sables d’Olonne on 10th November. The skipper from Finistère’s pre-registration has just been confirmed by the Race Management. Second in the last edition of the Vendée Globe, the skipper will be helming the 60 foot Banque Populaire; launched in 2010 it will be one of the newest boats on the start line.
In the run-up to the start the sailor nicknamed “le chacal” (lit. the ‘jackal’) for his great tenacity has a particularly full training programme that includes the Europa Race in the spring. A mixture of single-handed and team racing legs, the race around Europe is an ideal format to prepare both man and boat ahead of the legendary race.

Used to showing off his talents, the intrepid skipper of the Hugo Boss monohull, Alex Thomson had no hesitation in repeating his famous keel walk on his boat completely heeled over. Diving in at the deep end, you might say, for the brand for whom he flies the flag and wears the suit.

François Gabart’s pre-registration has just been ratified by the Vendée Globe race directors. The skipper of the MACIF monohull has become the fourth competitor to be officially registered for the 2012-2013 Vendée Globe, which starts on Saturday 10th November from Les Sables d'Olonne. Winner of the solo Transat B to B, François Gabart is currently preparing his monohull and will take part in the Europa Race in May.

Vincent Riou and his team have got the year off to a busy start. The winter refit began two weeks ago and the monohull was completely stripped down. Deck hardware, hydraulics, engine, electronics... everything is being looked at. Over a nine week period, all the parts will be examined, cleaned up and replaced, if signs of excess wear are spotted. In addition to the usual jobs carried out during a winter refit, some changes are being made to the cockpit. The training sessions and the various races over the past two years have enabled Vincent and his team to identify changes that can be made to fine tune the monohull for the Vendée Globe. This is therefore a very important refit, as the clock is ticking and the shore team is focusing on getting the boat back in the water on 15th March. PRB is due to compete in the Europa Race, the crewed race around Europe, in early May.

Jérémie Beyou has just been elected Breton sportsman of the year. He has been rewarded both by the Regional Government in Brittany and by the journalists at the daily newspaper Le Télégramme. He received this award for his win this summer in the Solitaire du Figaro and then in the Transat Jacques Vabre this autumn alongside Jean-Pierre Dick.