Alessandro Di Benedetto / Team Plastique
Classement 11
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News
Exceptional awards ceremony
Last night evening, on the main beach in Les Sables d’Olonne, François Gabart, the skipper of MACIF received his trophy from the President of the General Council, Bruno Retailleau. As for the ten other skippers who have finished the race,…
IMOCA chooses the boat for the future
The Skippers and Members of IMOCA met in Paris on Thursday 18 and Friday 19 April 2013 at the IMOCA Annual General Meeting to decide the future direction of their class, and in particular to discuss two major subjects: the design of the…
Reception of the Vendée Globe skippers at the Elysée
Monday, April 8 at 12:30 pm, the President of the French Republic received all of the Vendée Globe skippers and handed on this occasion the Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur insignia to François Gabart, winner of this year edition.…
Videos
Slideshow
Ses audios
Wednesday 20 February 2013, 11:41
Vacation with Alessandro di Benedetto
Tuesday 19 February 2013, 19:08
Vacation with Alessandro Di Benedetto
Thursday 14 February 2013, 17:45
Vacation with Alessandro di Benedetto
His Deezer playlist
The boat
This is not the first Vendée Globe attempt for the Team Plastique 60’ monohull. Coville (6th in 2000-2001), Josse (5th in 2004-2005) and Boissières (7th in 2008-2009) have successfully sailed her around the world in the “Everest of the seas”. Alessandro will therefore be on the start line with a recently refurbished reliable boat.
Former names: Sodebo, VMI, AKENA Vérandas
Designer: Finot-Conq
Construction: Kirié
Launch date: 1998
Length: 18.28 m
Beam: 5.40 m
Draught: 4.50 m
Displacement (weight): 8.4 tons
Centreboards: central
Mast height: 27 m
Keel Blade: Carbone
Sail area upwind: 350 m sq metres
Sail area downwind: 600 sq metres
Portrait
Nationality : French and Italian
Résidence : Les Sables d'Olonne (Vendée)
Age : 41
Boat : Team Plastique
Website : www.teamplastique-voile.com
Vendée Globe Wins and Performances :
First participation
French-Italian yachtsman Alessandro Di Benedetto is not like any other skipper. Alessandro was introduced to sailing by his parents when he was 6: “I can still remember the sailing stories they told me back then. They were self-taught and first sailed from Fiumicino to Sicily on a small dinghy, from one port to another and facing serious storms equipped with nothing more than a simple roadmap”. He graduated from the University of Palermo and managed to reconcile his passion for sailing with his geology studies as well as his work as a geologist in the oil sector and as an underwater archaeology operator. In 1992, he took the helm of his first sport catamaran with his father to sail from Sicily to Martinique. Other single-handed Atlantic Ocean crossings followed in 2001, 2002 and 2006.
Challenge lover
In 2010, he sailed around the world non-stop, solo and without any assistance on a 6.5 meter boat – a real cockleshell on the ocean - following the Vendée Globe route. He dismasted just before reaching Cape Horn but still did not give up and built a makeshift mast that allowed him to reach Les Sables d’Olonne after 268 days at sea. That was a world first as the yacht was the smallest to have sailed around the world non-stop via the three capes and without assistance. The greatest skippers in the world were in awe, as Yves Parlier then explained: “No man had ever sailed around the world on such a small boat. Alessandro’s courage, perseverance and boldness are as big as the oceans he sailed on”. Alessandro Di Benedetto is a lonesome man who does not look like one. He has shared his adventure in a book he wrote, “Autour du monde sur un voilier de 6,50 mètres” (Around the world on a 6.5 meters boat) and started dreaming of a bona fide Vendée Globe on a 60-foot yacht. Thanks to Team Plastique and its network of partners, that dream has now come true. As a challenge lover, Alessandro may have his feet on dry land but his mind is doubtlessly still travelling…
Wins and Performances
World first non-stop single-handed round the world navigation without assistance recognized by the WSSRC and the ISAF
2010
Circumnavigation on a 6.50-meter yacht, smallest boat ever to sail around the world.
2006
Pacific Ocean crossing on a sport catamaran (from Yokohama, Japan, to San Francisco, USA), over 4,482 miles.
2002
Atlantic Ocean crossing on a sport catamaran (from Las Palmas, Canary Islands, to Pointe à Pitre, Guadeloupe), over 2,700 miles.
2001: First non-stop solo navigation without assistance, from North Italy to Canary Islands, on a sports catamaran, over 1,700 miles.
1992-1993: Double-handed transatlantic navigation from Sicily to Martinique, on a sports catamaran (less than 6 metres long, without a cabin), over 2,300 miles.
Sponsor
Didier Elin, Director of Team Plastique, a company specialised in thermoforming, has followed Alessandro’s journey: “I live in Les Sables d’Olonne, I attended every single Vendée Globe start and I’ve always wished I could participate in the race one day”. With his partners’ network (l’Océane des Plastics, Germay Plast’ic, Jouin Solutions Plastiques) made up of other plastics subcontractors, they managed to provide a 60’ boat to the skipper and decided to take up the challenge.
Press contact
Delphine GALLAIS
d.gallais@teamplastique.com
+33 (0)6 43 30 30 31
