The Single-handed Trans-Atlantic Race (STAR) is an east-to-west yacht race across the North Atlantic. When inaugurated in 1960, it was the first single-handed ocean yacht race; it is run from Plymouth in England to Newport, Rhode Island in the United States, and has generally been held on a four yearly basis.
The sport and practice of single-handed sailing or solo sailing is sailing with only one crewmember. The term usually refers to ocean and long-distance sailing and is used in competitive sailing and among Cruisers.
The IMOCA, is a 60ft development class monohull sailing yacht administered by the International Monohull Open Class Association (IMOCA). The class pinnacle event are single or two person ocean races, such as the Route du Rhum and the Vendée Globe and this has been intimately linked to design development within the class.
Class40 is a class of monohull sailboat and a yacht primarily used for short handed offshore and coastal racing. The class is administered by International Class40 Association which is recognised by the World Sailing.
The Transat Jacques Vabre is a yachting race that follows the historic coffee trading route between France and Brazil. It is named after a French brand of coffee.
The first around the world sailing record for circumnavigation of the world was Juan Sebastián Elcano and the remaining members of Ferdinand Magellan's crew who completed their journey in 1522. The first solo record was set by Joshua Slocum in the Spray (1898).
Loïck Peyron is a French yachtsman, younger brother of the yachtsman Bruno Peyron.
François Gabart is a French professional offshore yacht racer who won the 2012-13 Vendée Globe in 78 days 2 hours 16 minutes, setting a new race record. In 2017 he set the speed record for sailing around the globe in 42 days 16 hours 40 minutes and 35 seconds finishing on 17 December. He was sailing singlehanded in the 30 metre Trimaran Macif.
Alex Pella is a Spanish yachtsman. In 2014 he became the first and only Spanish to win a transoceanic single-handed race, the Route du Rhum. Alex Pella made history once again, on the 26th of January 2017, when he broke, with the rest of the team, the absolute round-the-world speed sailing record, known as the Jules Verne Trophy., aboard the sophisticated maxi-multihull IDEC 3. They circumnavigated the planet in 40 days, 23 hours, 30 minutes and 30 seconds.
Dídac Costa is a yachtsman who competes in ocean racing. He was the first Catalan and the second Spanish yachtsman to finish the Vendée Globe, the non-stop solo round-the-world sailing world race. He was the first Spanish yachtsman to complete the two IMOCA 60 class round-the-world yacht races: solo in the 2016–2017 Vendée Globe and double-handed at the Barcelona World Race 2014–15. He is the protagonist of the feature documentary Open Ocean (2021), which chronicles his 2016-17 and 2020-21 Vendée Globe campaigns.
Phil Sharp is a British yachtsman. He was born in Jersey, educated at Victoria College Jersey and qualified from Imperial College London with an MSc in Mechanical Engineering. Sharp holds World Speed Sailing Records. and Guinness World Records for the Cowes-to-Dinard monohull under 60 ft singlehanded, and crewed around Britain and Ireland under 40 ft.
The 2020–2021 Vendée Globe was a non-stop round the world yacht race for IMOCA 60 class yachts crewed by only one person. It was the ninth edition of the race, which started and finished in Les Sables-d'Olonne, France. The race began on 8 November 2020, with the first finishers completing the course on 27 January 2021 with the 25th and final yacht to complete the race arrived on 5 March 2021.
Clarisse Crémer is a French female professional sailor. She is an offshore sailor having competed extensively in the Figaro class before progressing to the IMOCA 60.
Alan Roura is a Swiss professional sailor, born on 26 February 1993 in Onex (Switzerland). At the age of 23, in the 2016–2017 Vendée Globe, he is the youngest competitor in the history of the event, of which he finished 12th. In 2019, on La Fabrique, the second Imoca of the name, he set a solo crossing of the North Atlantic on a 60-foot monohull crossing in a record time of 7 days, 16 hours, 58 minutes and 25 seconds. After 95 days at sea, he finished 17th in the 2020-2021 Vendée Globe. In October 2021, Alan Roura and his sponsors announced the purchase of a new IMOCA 60 for the Vendée Globe 2024: The ex hugo boss, a 2019 VPLP-Design previously owned by the british skipper Alex Thomson.
The 2016–2017 Vendée Globe is a non-stop solo Round the World Yacht Race for IMOCA 60 class yachts this is the eighth edition of the race.
The 2012–2013 Vendée Globe is a non-stop solo Round the World Yacht Race for IMOCA 60 class yachts this is the seventh edition of the race.
The 2004–2005 Vendée Globe is a non-stop solo Round the World Yacht Race for IMOCA 60 class yachts this is the fifth edition of the race starting on 7 November 2004 from Les Sables-d'Olonne.
Foncia 2 is a IMOCA 60 Class offshore racing monohull sailing yacht launched 2010.
Roland Jourdain, often nicknamed "Bilou" is a French professional yachtsman, born on 28 April 1964 in Quimper. He is notably two-time winner of the Route du Rhum.
Richard Tolkien is a British corporate finance adviser, director and trustee and experienced adventure sailor who grew up in Devon. He was educated at King Edward VI School, Totnes and Exter College, Oxford where he won the Webb Medley prize and graduated with a First in PPE. He joined HM Treasury that year, worked for the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the private office from 1979 to 1982. He started his corporate finance at Morgan Grenfell in 1982, becoming a director of the bank in 1991. He was Managing Director at HSBC Investment Banking from 1997 to 2002 and an Executive Director of Macquarie from 2003.In 2006 he left the City to work as an independent expert witness in litigation and arbitration and a non executive director, including at Share plc and Parkwood Holdings PLC. He was appointed Chairman of the trustees of Stoke Mandeville Spinal Research in 2011, a post he still holds.
