Vendée Globe

To date, the Vendée Globe is the greatest sailing race round the world, solo, non-stop and without assistance. The event followed in the wake of the Golden Globe which had initiated the first circumnavigation of this type via the three capes (Good Hope, Leeuwin and Horn) in 1968.

Only one out of the nine pioneers who had set off in 1968 succeeded in returning to Falmouth, the major port of British Cornwall. On 6th April 1969, after 313 days at sea, British sailor Robin Knox-Johnston finally reached his goal.

Twenty years later, after having won the BOC Challenge twice(solo round the world with stopovers), navigator Philippe Jeantot introduced the idea of a new race around the world, but.. non-stop! The Vendée Globe race was born. On 26th November 1989, thirteen sailors took the start of the first edition which lasted over three months. Only seven returned to Les Sables d’Olonne.

45,000 kilometres or 24,300 miles: that’s the theoretical distance a sailor would sail around the world. In reality, during the previous nine editions of the Vendée Globe, most competitors sometimes sailed over 28 000 miles (about 52 000 kilometers). The solo racers have to deal with the wind, waves, swell and ice. The trajectories of the boats are thus a chain of broken lines, zigzags, detours and changes in courses.

This planetary voyage is firstly a climatic journey to sail down the Atlantic, cross the Indian and Pacific oceans, then sail back up the Atlantic… To be expected: a start from les Sables d’Olonne in mid-autumn, a trip in the heart of the Southern seas in full austral summer and a wintery return to Vendée.

The concept of the Vendée Globe is simple and easy to understand: You have to sail around the world alone without stopping and without assistance. These three parameters make the race what it is by establishing its dna. They are clearly laid out in the race instructions.