There’s No Holding Back on the Vendée Globe Race as Skippers Go All Out at Record Speeds. Elaine Bunting Reports.
Before dawn, people started to gather along the channel that leads to the inner harbour at Les Sables d’Olonne. Heedless of the hour and the piercing November northerly, thousands came early to stake a vantage point. It is a pilgrimage repeated once every four years to witness the solo sailors of the Vendée Globe committing themselves to race round the world. These are among some of the most poignant moments seen in any sport. Sailors unabashedly shed tears as they say goodbye. Alex Thomson, setting off for the fourth time, knew what to expect. “For me it is the hardest day of the race. It’s massively emotional.
“And it’s emotional because people have a sense that you are leaving and perhaps you maybe won’t come back.”
Yet as soon as mainsails are hoisted and the support teams get off, everything changes. The race is on. Thomson told a different story then. “I’m going to drive it like I stole it!” he grinned.
With 29 yachts in the fleet, six of them newly launched for this edition, the pace of this Vendée Globe is predicted to be faster than it was four years ago, when first-time competitor François Gabart won in 78d 2h. One big, important thing is different now compared to 2012: the latest yachts have foils.
In a race famous for technical innovations from canting keels to wing masts, the introduction of foils to the latest designs to generate lift and reduce displacement is arguably the biggest step-change yet.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة January 2017 من Yachting World.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة January 2017 من Yachting World.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
wallywind 110 launches
The first example of Wally Yacht's new wallywind performance cruising range launched this summer, during the iconic Italian brand's 30th anniversary year - and in time for its debut at the Monaco Yacht Show in September.
Irish skipper wins Figaro
Irish solo skipper Tom Dolan took a historic victory in this year's La Solitaire du Figaro Paprec, winning the solo multistage offshore race overall only the third non-French competitor ever to do so.
Youth AC puts on a show
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli's team won the UniCredit Youth America's Cup after a highly absorbing series comprising 12 international teams racing the one-design AC40s off Barcelona.
ATLANTIC BEYOND
SAILING THE SECOND EXPLORATION 60 ON A WEST-TO-EAST ATLANTIC CROSSING WAS IDEAL FOR A RIGOROUS TEST OF GARCIA'S NEW NOWHERE YOU CAN'T GO FLAGSHIP
UNCONTROLLED
HELPLESSLY APPROACHING AN UNINHABITED ISLAND IN THE GALAPAGOS WITHOUT ENGINE OR ELECTRONICS, JON VAN TAMELEN FEARED BEING IMMINENTLY SHIPWRECKED
SECRET ISLAND
BEYOND THE FORBIDDING ENTRY RULES OF TAIWAN IS A CULTURE RICH IN SEAFARING HISTORY AND STUNNING LANDSCAPES, FINDS CAMERON DUECK
LAND OF THE BIRDS
SKIP NOVAK DESCRIBES THE PERILS, CHALLENGES AND JOYS OF A CRITICAL EXPEDITION VOAYGE TO SURVEY SOUTH GEORGIA'S ENDANGERED WANDERING ALBATROSS
FIRST STEPS TO BLUEWATER
YOU CAN GET INTO WORLD CRUISING FROM A STANDING START AND EXPERIENCE THINGS NO OTHER TRAVELLERS DO. CATHERINE LAWSON AND DAVID BRISTOW TALK TO FOUR COUPLES WHO PROVE IT
HARD CHOICES
IN AN EXCLUSIVE EXTRACT FROM HER NEW BOOK, PIP HARE REVEALS WHAT DROVE HER ON WHILE RACING THROUGH THE SOUTHERN OCEAN IN THE 2020 VENDÉE GLOBE.
INTO BATTLE
COULD THIS BE THE MOST COMPETITIVE VENDÉE GLOBE EVER? HELEN FRETTER FINDS OUT WHAT THE SKIPPERS WILL BE FACING.