The Vendée Globe is a single-handed (solo) non-stop round the world yacht race. The race was founded by Philippe Jeantot in 1989, and since 1992 has taken place every four years. It is named after the Département of Vendée, in France, where the race starts and ends. The Vendée Globe is considered an extreme quest of individual endurance and the ultimate test in ocean racing.
Tony Bullimore was a British businessman and international yachtsman. He is known especially for being rescued on 10 January 1997 during a sailing race after he had been presumed dead.
Jean Le Cam is a French sailor.
Vincent Riou is a French sailor. He is the skipper of PRB, a 60-foot monohull. He won the 2004 edition of the Vendée Globe.
Unassisted sailing is a form of sailing, usually single-handed, where sailors are not given any physical assistance during the entire course of the voyage. Sailors may not call at a port, dock with other ships at sea, or be passed any physical objects from a passing ship or aircraft prior to reaching the end destination of their voyage.
The International Monohull Open Class Association (IMOCA) is the governing body of the IMOCA class. Its main task is to design the class regulations for the ocean racing yachts IMOCA 60 and organising single-handed regattas. It was established in 1991. IMOCA has been a member of World Sailing (governing body of international sailing sport) since 1999.
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.
Kevin Escoffier is a French professional sailor born on 4 April 1980 in Saint-Malo, France and a resident of Lorient. He is an offshore sailor who has won the 2018 Volvo Ocean Race as a bowman onboard DongFeng. and competed in the 2020–2021 Vendée Globe aboard PRB. In 2022-23 he initially skippered Holcim-PRB in The Ocean Race, before leaving the team mired in a sexual harassment incident. He is a member of the yacht club SN Baie St. Malo
Yannick Bestaven is a French offshore sailor. He won the Transat 6.50 in 2001, was twice winner of the Transat Jacques-Vabre, and won the Vendee Globe in 2020-21.
Romain Attanasio is a French sailor born on 26 June 1977 in Hautes-Alpes and now resides in Trégunc. He is the winner of the RORC Caribbean 600 race in 2015, he competed in the 2016–2017 Vendée Globe and 2020–2021 Vendée Globe where he finished 15th and 14th respectively. He is engaged to fellow professional offshore sailor Samantha Davies whom he has a son Ruben.
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 1989–1990 Vendée Globe Challenge, which later became the first edition of the Vendée Globe, was a non-stop round the world sailing race, sailed west to east. The start was 26 November 1989 from Les Sables-d'Olonne. Thirteen boats started and seven finished due to multiple abandonments, which is common in this "Everest of the Sea" that is the Vendée Globe. It was won by Titouan Lamazou on 15 March 1990 creating the first benchmark of the event, a record that stood until the 1996–1997 edition.
The 2000–2001 Vendée Globe is a non-stop solo Round the World Yacht Race for IMOCA 50 and IMOCA 60 class yachts. This is the fourth edition of the race starting on the 9th November 2000 from Les Sables-d'Olonne.
The 1996–1997 Vendée Globe is a non-stop solo Round the World Yacht Race for IMOCA 50 and IMOCA 60 class yachts this is the third edition of the race starting on the th November 1996 from Les Sables-d'Olonne.
Javier Sanso in Palma de Mallorca, is a Spanish professional navigator and skipper.
Raphaël Dinelli is a French professional offshore sailor born on 13 May 1968 in Floirac, Gironde. He unofficially took part in the 1996-1997 Vendee Globe where he was rescued by Pete Goss after his boat sank in the Indian Ocean and he was in a liferaft dropped by an Australian Air Force plane. He went on to sail with Goss in the 1997 edition of the two person transatlantic race Transat Jacques Vabre where they won their class. He then went on to compete in the 2000, 2004 and 2008 editions of the Vendee Globe. In 2007, he founded the Ocean Vital Foundation, of which he is the director of research.
Christophe Fourcault de Pavant, also known as Kito de Pavant, is a French sailor.
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 Exeter College, Oxford (1974–1977), where he won the Webb Medley prize and graduated with a first in PPE. He joined HM Treasury that year and worked for the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the private office from 1979 to 1982.
The IMOCA 60 Class yacht PRB 4 was designed by Lauriot-Prévost and G. Verdier and launched in the 2010 after being assembled by CDK Technologies based in Lorient, France. The hull was moulded in those of Safran and manufactured at the Larros Shipyard in Gujan Mestras under the direction of Thierry Elluère. The deck will was made at CDK technologies in Port la Forêt. In Italy, near Milan, Refraschini manufacture the internal structure of the boat. The initial keel was made by AMPM, Mothe Achard.
The IMOCA 60 Class yacht Solidaires, 50 was designed by Bernard Nivelt and launched in the March 1999 after being built Thierry Dubois in France.
