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Posted On: nov. 4, 2020
Categories: News
The Vendée Globe is THE largest single-handed, non-stop, unassisted round-the-world sailing race. It is nicknamed by the public the Everest of the seas! Its departure will take place this Sunday 8th November 2020 from Les Sables d'Olonne at 13h02. A rendezvous not to be missed!
The 2020-2021 edition has already set a participation record with 33 skippers gathered around a challenge of 28,000 nautical miles or 52,000 kilometres!
IMOCA IMOCA monohull yachts (18.28 metres) with a 4.50m draught. These monohull yachts are the most powerful on the planet!
This round-the-world race exposes the solo sailors and their boats to a climatic journey with extreme sailing conditions where they will have to deal with wind, waves, swell and ice.
The course crosses the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean to return to the starting point in the Atlantic. It represents approximately 28,000 nautical miles or 52,000 kilometres! The public nicknames it the Everest of the Seas.
The Vendée Globe record was achieved in 2016. It is held by the Breton Armel Le Cléac'h with a course completed in 74 days (74 days 03 hours 35 mn 46 s) with 27,455 miles covered on the water at an average speed of 15.43 knots (around 28 km/h).
For this new edition, Friendly Frenchy had the pleasure of creating Les Lunettes en coquillage® X Vendée Globe for this new edition 2020 - 2021.
They are available for sale on our online shop and the official shop of the Vendée globe 2020.
Our Ecume model will also take off on board L’Occitane en Provence with Armel Tripon whose home port is located very close to us, in la Trinité-sur-Mer.
Inspired by the colours of the boat, this model exclusively dedicated to Armel and his team is made with high performance technical glass adapted to the constraints of navigation.
Labelled Origine France Garantie, they were manufactured by our French glass partner, Dalloz Creations.
As expressed by the Vendée Globe organisation, the race route through the three capes (Good Hope, Leeuwin and Horn) is punctuated with stages with singular conditions that expose the solo sailors to the autumn coolness of the French coasts, the equatorial heat, the tropical deluges and the polar cold of the Antarctic.
The first
From Les Sables d'Olonne to the Cape of Good Hope situated at the extreme south of South Africa.
The participants have to deal with the Azores High in the North Atlantic, then the St. Helena High in its southern equivalent.
The main difficulty of this "stage" is to make the right strategic choices by keeping the low pressure zones at a distance to avoid the strongest winds without getting stuck in the high pressure zones with the calm waters of the Azores High.
The second
Between Good Hope and the Horn
The challenge is to take advantage of the weather phenomena coming from the west to be pushed quickly between Good Hope and the Horn.
The third
The ascent of the Atlantic Ocean
It is similar to the first one with the St. Helena and Azores anticyclones to be bypassed. We're also going to have to manage the passage from one hemisphere to the other: it's the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) commonly known as the Doldrums. Dreaded by sailors, the warm and humid air masses of both hemispheres meet there and generate very unstable air where flat calms and thundery squalls alternate.
The sense of the sea will make the difference in terms of the skippers' appreciation of the weather data as they are not entitled to any assistance. They will be alone on board to choose their route according to the weather files they receive.
If there will be only one winner, it is already a victory to take the start of such a race with an extraordinary commitment from the skippers, their teams and their sponsors. The health situation we are going through makes this challenge all the more admirable.
Finally, considering the immense challenge of the Vendée Globe course, every finisher will have won!
Coming to the end of this sailing race is already a feat. In previous editions, many solo sailors have been forced to abandon after breaking their mast or keel, colliding with floating objects (UFOs), or capsizing.
We wish them all the best, give them all our support and thank them in advance for the escape at sea that they will bring us ashore!
Armel TRIPON: L’OCCITANE EN PROVENCE
Fabrice AMEDEO: NEWREST – ART & FENÊTRES
Romain ATTANASIO: PURE – BEST WESTERN
Alexia BARRIER: 4MYPLANET
Yannick BESTAVEN: MAÎTRE COQ IV
Jérémie BEYOU: CHARAL
Arnaud BOISSIÈRES: LA MIE CÂLINE – ARTISANS ARTIPÔLE
Louis BURTON: BUREAU VALLEE 2
Didac COSTA: ONE PLANET ONE OCEAN
Manuel COUSIN: GROUPE SETIN
Clarisse CREMER: BANQUE POPULAIRE X
Charlie DALIN: APIVIA
Samantha DAVIES: INITIATIVES-CŒUR
Sébastien DESTREMAU: MERCI (Face Ocean)
Benjamin DUTREUX: OMIA - WATER FAMILY
Kevin ESCOFFIER: PRB
3. The Doldrums
4. The descent of the South Atlantic
5. Antarctic Exclusion Zone
6. The Indian Ocean
7. The Pacific Ocean
8. Le Cap Horn
9. The Ascent of the South Atlantic
10. The Ascent of the North Atlantic
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