MATTHEW SHEAHAN

SOMETIMES YOU DON'T NEED TO ADOPT EVERY TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCE TO STAY AT THE FRONT, AS THE IMOCA CLASS IS PROVING

- MATTHEW SHEAHAN

That tens of thousands were prepared to get up in the early hours of the morning and camp out on a sea wall in the middle of winter to see a group of boats pass by is truly remarkable. I can't think of another event in sailing that has this kind of pulling power on this scale.

There is no doubt the Vendée Globe is an extraordinary phenomenon. Forty years old, now in its 10th edition and with a record entry of 40 boats there's nothing else like it in sport. The fact 39 boats made it down to the South Atlantic having crossed the Bay of Biscay was also a record.

But the success of this event has been no accident. Neither has the fact that the class is stronger than ever. That the Vendée Globe was oversubscribed this time around is evidence of that.

Yet success hasn't been without its stresses, especially when it has come to deciding how to allow teams and their designers to continue to evolve and develop their machines at the leading edge of the sport. The recent development of the foiling IMOCAs has been fascinating to watch with speeds that are simply incredible.