Alone at Sea: A thrilling solitary sailing race, the Vendée Globe

Learn more about the challenging sailing race around the world.

It has been incredibly exciting to follow the Vendée Globe sailing race this year. France is a nation with sailing at its centre, with the sport being an important parts of its culture. The Vendée globe race takes place every 4 years, leaving from Les Sables-d’Olonne in the Vendée region to sail 45,000km around the globe back to Les Sables-d’Olonne.

This extraordinary single-handed race is completed onboard an 18-meter-long monohull boat, governed by the International Monohull Open Class Association (IMOCA). The race presents itself as the ultimate challenge for sea fanatics: it is a non-assisted, non-stop race. Skippers input all the meteorological data themselves, relying on their own knowledge to choose the route and being the one to repair their own boat in case of any damage.

Since 1989, the rules have not changed; a world tour passing by three iconic capes: Cape of Good Hope, Leeuwin in Australia and Cape Horn in Chile. This thrilling and challenging route made French skipper, Charlie Dalin, this year’s winner. Dalin arrived at Les Sables-d’Olonne after 64 days, 19 hours, 22 minutes and 49 seconds at sea, setting a world record in speed. After him, came two other French competitors, Yoann Richomme and Sébastien Simon, finishing the race in 65 and 67 days, respectively.

British skipper Sam Goodchild, on his Vulnerable, is in seventh position sailing along the coast of Spain, while other competitors are still just passing Cape Horn in South America, with a long journey still ahead. A notable competitor is Juliette Dorange, the youngest competitor at only 23 years old, and currently in 27th position.

It has been such an enjoyable experience to track the progress of the competitors on a live tracker on the Vendée Globe website: where you can track the location, wind speed, and water temperature for each competitor. Skippers get involved by taking pictures and videos showing the beautiful landscapes there are in or the extreme weather conditions they must face.

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