To launch the summer season, the festivities will begin on Friday 3rd June 2022 with the Grand Parade of the 2020 Vendée Globe Skippers, to celebrate these men and women of the sea.
This parade will take place on the Remblai in Les Sables d'Olonne. It will begin from Place de Strasbourg from 9.30pm to Casino des Atlantes and will be punctuated by a firework display visible from the Grande Plage.
A privileged moment of sharing between the public and the skippers who have made them dream of the open sea during this time of pandemic and confinement.
Stéphane Le Diraison 18th to finish the Vendée Globe
French skipper Stéphane Le Diraison crossed the finish line of the Vendée Globe this Thursday night on his Time for Oceans at 21:36hrs UTC taking 18th place and narrowly missing out on going one better, after a close match race with Swiss skipper Alan Roura which has gone on for the last week of their race. The two, racing very similar Finot Conq designs built for the 2008-9 Vendée Globe, were at times racing within sight of each other, their head-to-head reprising a match race to the finish line of the last Route du Rhum, with Le Diraison finishing just over 2 hours behind the young Swiss skipper.
Lab Coats And Foul Weather Gear? Vendée Globe skippers help with scientific data gathering
Ten weather data buoys, three Argo floats and three thermosalinographs are the key items of scientific measuring and recording equipment which will be taken by Vendée Globe skippers during this upcoming race.
Take Two, Stéphane Le Diraison Will Be Heading for the Start Line
Stéphane Le Diraison is on the Vendée Globe Start List.
"It's an incredible opportunity. Thank you to everyone who continues to follow me and encourage me. We are giving it everything!” It is a delighted Stéphane le Diraison who has just validated his registration for the solo nonstop round the world race. The Time for Oceans skipper is now the 17th sailor officially registered for the Vendée Globe. On November 8, he will start for the second time of his career aboard his 2007 monohull signed Finot-Conq. His boat is in the yard now completing an ambitious programme of modifications including the addition of a pair of foils.
The sailor who had to abandon his first attempt after six weeks of racing when his mast came down has prepared his second campaign well. He is presently one of the skippers who sailed the most, having participated in all the major IMOCA races during the past two years.