THE famous Vendée Globe World Ocean race started from Les Sables d’Olonne, Brittany, a couple of weeks ago.
The fleet of fast-foiling Imoca 60 monohull yachts racing are heading towards the South Atlantic with positions very close among the leading six boats, who are racing non-stop around the world solo.
As a celebration of this ultra challenging world race, Alex Thomson, who took part in the event for several years, achieving brilliant results and podium positions on his Imoca 60 Hugo Boss, presented a model of the boat to RCIYC Commodore Jeremy Swetenham.
Many will remember when he brought Hugo Boss to Jersey after the last Vendée Globe race, providing people with an unforgettable chance to experience sailing on her in St Aubin’s Bay.
At the time, Thomson also invited the RCIYC and St Catherine’s Sailing Club Cadets on board, they loved the experience and were inspired by his fascinating stories of the race also known as the “Everest of the Seas”.
Thomson retired from ocean racing after the last Vendée Globe, but is still very much involved in the event as a consultant, also supporting Clarisse Crémer’s race campaign.
At the time of writing, the French are dominating the open waters. Yoann Richomme currently sits in third as part of Paprec Arkéa, 205 nautical miles behind second placed Sébastien Simon, racing with Groupe Dubreuil.
However, 19 nautical miles in front is the runaway leader of the pack, Charlie Dalin of Macif Santé Prévoyance.
Leader Dalin has just under 16,000 nautical miles remaining. The official website with all the latest news updates and tracker of the exciting race can be found at vendeeglobe.org/en, where you can follow each sailor’s progress live.
