Vendee-Globe 2008/2009

ANGELA BIRD'S THE VENDÉE GLOBE 2008/2009
Suivez ce lien pour lire la version française du site officiel du Vendée-Globe.	The race started from Les Sables-d'Olonne on Sunday 9 November 2008. The winner arrived back in Les Sables on 1 Feb 2009; final arrivals will be in mid-March.	Follow this link to the English section of the official Vendée-Globe website
	Michel Desjoyeaux the winner for the second time! 1. Michel Desjoyeaux, who set out two days late after returning for a repair at the start of the race, brought Foncia into Les Sables d’Olonne on Sunday 1 February after 83 days at sea. 2. France’s Armel LeCleach arrived six days later, in BritAir after a hard-fought race. 3. Marc Guillemont, of France, took official third place on 16 February, after some tense final days sailing Safran without a keel. 4. British yachtswoman Samantha Davies, aboard her pink-painted yacht Roxy, was the third to arrive – though ultimately classed fourth. The French turned out in large numbers to welcome her.

French yachtsman Armel Le Cleac’h
sailed BritAir into second place.
Photo: Angela Bird

Kingdom of Bahrain/Team Pindar
was expertly skippered
into fifth place by Britain’s Brian Thompson.
Photo: Angela Bird

Canary-yellow yacht Aviva arrived in sixth place. British yachtswoman Dee Caffari became the first to accomplish circumnavigations in both clockwise and anticlockwise directions.
Photo: Angela Bird

THE VENDÉE GLOBE

The world's most notorious circumnavigation, this non-stop,
single-handed and unaided sailing race departs
every four years from the Vendée port of Les Sables-d'Olonne.

The Vendée-Globe Challenge has been called "the Everest of the sea". The race is open to a maximum of 25 60ft monohulls – though this time around a larger group than ever has set off.

The origins of the race lie in the voyage made by the Canadian Joshua Slocum - the first of the great single-handed circumnavigators - who sailed the 42,000 kilometres in three years, finishing in 1895. A hundred years later, today's non-stop sailors accomplish this incredible feat in about three months, with the finishers returning to a heroes' welcome at Les Sables from early February 2009. The winner stands to pocket 150,000 euros (about £100,000).

Safety is the organisers' watchword each time, and the contestants - who each pay entrance fees of more than £6,000 - must complete certain qualifying races, and sail 2,500 miles in their Vendée Globe yacht. For two or three weeks before the race, they have to be present in Les Sables for trials, safety checks and to attend medical and survival courses.

Yachts must be self-righting, unsinkable, and have watertight bulkheads, survival doors, radar transponders, and fluorescent keels. Contestants receive identical digital weather maps, showing the position of large areas of low pressure (indicating storms).

For weeks before the start, visitors throng the pontoons in Port Olona (the Les Sables marina, below, in 2004) to admire the sleek lines of these craft, and to give encouragement to the courageous yachtsmen.

Seen against other yachts, the 25-metre-high masts of the Vendée-Globe boats is an impressive sight - especially when you think that skippers often have to scale the mast to carry out running repairs while under way in hostile weather conditions.

Visit the French or English versions of the official website, where you can click on the
”Cartographie” or “Map” image, respectively, to see the latest positions of all the yachts.

If you need a little help with the languages, you can copy-and-paste French text into the Alta Vista translation software.
It may come out in slightly dislocated English, but you should be able to get the gist of the information.

The 30 contestants for the 2008/2009 Vendée-Globe, with personal web pages

During the course of the race, I shall shade boxes in grey to indicate competitors who have dropped out of the race -
usually because of some technical problem that they have not been able to rectify.
.

UNAI BASURKO (SPAIN), born 1974.

Pakea Bizkaia

First attempt.

07.12.08 ABANDONED RACE

off South Africa

YANNICK BESTAVEN (FRANCE), –born 1972.
Aquarelle.com
Lives La Rochelle (France) – First attempt

11.11.08 ABANDONED RACE Dismasted in storms in the Bay of Biscay.

JÉRÉMIE BEYOU (FRANCE), born 1976.
Delta Dore

Lives Loctudy (France).

First attempt

26.11.08 ABANDONED RACE

at Recife, Brazil after problems with the mast.

ARNAUD BOISSIERES (FRANCE), born 1972.

Akena Vérandas

Lives La Teste de Buch (France).

First attempt

SEVENTH PLACE Boissières sailed into Les Sables on 22 February.

DEE CAFFARI (UK) born 1973.

Aviva

Lives Fareham, Hampshire (UK).

First attempt.
Her yacht is a sister ship to Golding’s Ecover.

SIXTH PLACE Caffari’s mainsail gradually shredded during the last half of the race, but she sailed in on 16 Feb, four hours behind Brian Thompson, to become the first person to sail single-handed around the world in both directions.

SAMANTHA DAVIES (UK), born 1974.

Roxy

Lives Tregnuc (France).

First attempt

FOURTH PLACE! Davies sailed her pink-painted yacht in on Valentine’s Day to a huge welcome. She was the first woman to finish this year; the only other female skipper was also British - Dee Caffari, who arrived a few days later.

JEAN-BAPTISTE DEJEANTY (FRANCE), born 1978.

Maisonneuve

Lives Caen (France).

First attempt

Nov 2008: Damage to the deck during storms in the Bay of Biscay, and returning to Les Sables on 10 Nov for repairs.

16.12.08 ABANDONED RACE

KITO DE PAVANT (FRANCE), born 1961.

Groupe Bel

Lives Montferrier sur Lez (France).

First attempt

Nov 2008: Dismasted in storms in the Bay of Biscay, and returning to Les Sables on 10 Nov for repairs.

11.11.08 ABANDONED RACE

MICHEL DESJOYEAUX (FRANCE), born 1965.

Foncia

Lives Port La Forêt (France). Winner of Vendée Globe 2000/2001.

Nov 2008: Suffered electrical problems in storms in the Bay of Biscay. After returning to Les Sables at 6am on 11 Nov for repairs, this brilliant skipper set off again the same day and by 10 Dec was up with the leaders of the race – having effectively started more than 48 hours behind them!

THE WINNER! Desjoyeaux returned to Les Sables d’Olonne on Sunday 1 February, having set a new record time of 84 days, 3 hours, 9 minutes and 8 seconds. He is the first to win the race twice.

JEAN-PIERRE DICK (FRANCE), aged 43.
Paprec-Virbac 2
Dick's second attempt at the Vendée Globe. Based in Nice, he arrived in 6th place in 2004/2005. Winner of the last two-handed Barcelona World Race.

02.01.09 ABANDONED RACE
Between New Zealand and Cape Horn Dick’s yacht was in a violent collision with an unidentified object and lost her port rudder.

RAPHAËL DINELLI (FRANCE), born 1968.

Fondation Océan Vital

Abandoned during Vendée-Globe 1996/1997 (rescued by Pete Goss); finished (but not ranked) in 2000/2001; 12th place in 2004/2005.

YANN ELIES (FRANCE), born 1974.

Generali

Lives Saint-Brieuc (France).

First attempt

18.12.08 ABANDONED RACE
Just south of Australia, while well up with the leaders, Eliès broke his thighbone and was forced to retire.

MIKE GOLDING (UK), aged 47.
Ecover
The Southampton-based skipper is a strong contender, having arrived 7th in the 2000/2001 Vendee-Globe, and 3rd in 2004/2005.

16.12.08 ABANDONED RACE

Dismasted in fierce squalls in the Southern Ocean, S of Australia.

Will have to make a jury rig to reach a port in Australia or Tasmania.

MARC GUILLEMOT (FRANCE), born 1959.

Safran

Lives Saint Philibert (France).

First attempt

THIRD PLACE! Guillemot sailed magnificently – without a keel for the last days of the race – to be the fourth sailor to return to Les Sables (on 16 Feb), but officially ranked third after bonus time awarded for his help in a rescue during the course.

DEREK HATFIELD (UK), born 1952.

Algimouss Spirit of Canada

Lives Mahone Bay, Novia Scotia (Canada).

First attempt

Nov 2008: Suffered electrical problems in storms in the Bay of Biscay, and returned to Les Sables on 10 Nov for repairs, before setting out again.

29.12.08 ABANDONED RACE Algimousse’s top spreaders were broken by a knockdown in a heavy sea off New Zealand.

SEBASTIEN JOSSE (FRANCE), aged 33.
BT
Second attempt for Josse, who came in 5th in 2004/2005 edition of the Vendée-Globe.

29.12.08 ABANDONED RACE A damaged rudder, off New Zealand, caused the retirement of this promising competitor.

ROLAND JOURDAIN (FRANCE), aged 48.
Véolia Environnement
Experienced skipper who came in 3rd place in the 2000 Vendée Globe. But had to retire from the last edition.
Often called by the nickname of "Bilou".

02.02.09 ABANDONED RACE

Gales off the Azores proved too much for Jourdain, whose yacht has already sustained severe damage to its keel.

JEAN LE CAM (FRANCE), aged 49.
VM Matériaux
Last time, came 2nd after an incredibly closely-fought duel with Vincent Riou, Le Cam crossed the line less than 7 hours behind the winner.

6.1.09 ABANDONED RACE Having lost the ballast for the keel, VM Matériaux turned turtle just 200 miles west of Cape Horn. Le Cleach (BritAir) and Riou (PRB) sped to Le Cam’s aid, and found the skipper trapped in the partially flooded hull of his capsized boat. Riou managed to get him on board, but damaged his own boat in the process.

ARMEL LE CLEAC’H (FRANCE), born 1977
Brit Air
Lives La Forêt Fouesnant (France) - First attempt

11.1.09 After diverting to help fellow-competitor Jean Le Cam, who had capsized, Le Cleac’h has rejoined the race. The jury has accorded him 11 hours to knock off his arrival time at Les Sables.

SECOND PLACE! Le Cleac’h returned to Les Sables on 6 February.

JONNY MALBON (UK), born 1974

Artemis
Lives Cowes, Isle of Wight (UK) -
First attempt

4.1.09 ABANDONED RACE After problems with his mainsail, which has been delaminating for some time and then developed a rip, Malbon has been obliged to head for Auckland and to abandon the race.

LOÏCK PEYRON (FRANCE), born 1959.
Gitana Eighty

Lives Pornichet, near St-Nazaire. Came 2nd in the Vendée Globe 1990; abandoned in Vendée Globe 1993. Is a favourite this time, after a season of translatlantic victories.

15.12.08 ABANDONED RACE

After announcing a broken mast just before reaching the Kerguelen islands, Peyron was forced to retire, after leading the pack for at least half of the race.

VINCENT RIOU (FRANCE), aged 36.
PRB
Winner of the 2004/2005 Vendée Globe.in 87 days 101 hours 47 minutes.

6.1.09 ABANDONED RACE: “REDRESS GIVEN” Obliged to divert to help Jean Le Cam, who had capsized 200 miles W of Cape Horn, Riou sustained serious damage to an outrigger while getting LeCam on board PRB. While Riou and Le Cam were continuing under a jury rig, the mast broke away completely, fdorcing Riou to abandon the race.
12.1.09 REDRESS GIVEN
The race jury has considered Riou’s case and accepts that the damage was sustained in the course of the rescue of Le Cam. Riou was lying in 3rd position at the time he was asked to aid Le Cam. He will be considered therefore as arriving in joint 3rd place at the end of the race.

NORBERT SEDLACEK (AUSTRIA), aged 46.
Nautichsport-Kapsch
Second endeavour in this race for a skipper.

BERNARD STAMM (SWITZERLAND), – born 1963.

Cheminées Poujoulat,

lives Saint Pabu (France)
Abandoned in Vendée Globe 2001

Nov 2008: Put back to Les Sables on 10 Nov for repairs following a collision with a cargo ship and sustaining a broken bowsprit.

15.12.08 ABANDONED RACE
after suffering problems with his rudder, near the Kerguelen islands.

MARC THIERCELIN (FRANCE), born 1960.

DCNS

Came 2nd in the Vendée Globe 1996/1997; 4th in 2000/2001; abandoned in Vendée Globe 2004/2005.

Nov 2008: DCNS was dismasted in rough seas in the Bay of Biscay, and was heading for La Coruna (Spain) on 11 Nov for repairs.

11.11.08 ABANDONED RACE

ALEX THOMSON (UK), aged 34.
Hugo Boss
Second participation for Thomson, from Gosport, who was forced to abandon the race during the 2004/2005 edition.

Nov 2008: Hugo Boss sustained severe damage before the start, from a collision with a fishing boat. Repairs were carried out in time to start on 9 November, but a new problem with a leak on the other side of the boat forced him to turn back to Les Sables.

13.11.08 ABANDONED RACE

BRIAN THOMPSON (UK), born 1962.

Bahrain Team Pindar

Lives Cowes, Isle of Wight

First attempt.

FIFTH PLACE Thompson and Caffari were virtually neck and neck for the last few weeks.

DOMINIQUE WAVRE (SWITZERLAND), aged 53.
Temenos II
Experienced transatlantic and round-the-world sailor, from Geneva, Wavre came in 4th in the 2004/2005 Vendée Globe.

Nov 2008: Electrical problems in storms in the Bay of Biscay. Returned to Les Sables for repairs, and set out again on 10 Nov.

13.12.08 ABANDONED RACE
After keel problems near the Kerguelen islands Wavre was forced to abandon the race.

STEVE WHITE (UK), born 1972

Toe in the Water

Lives Dorchester (UK).

First attempt

EIGHTH PLACE After a tough fight to gain sponsorship and to even reach the starting-line, this British skipper completed the race and returned to Les Sables on 26 February.

RICH WILSON (US) –, born 1950.

Great American III

Lives Rockport, Massachussetts.

First attempt

NINTH PLACE Wilson arrived on 10 March, 12 days behind Steve White.

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