Vendée Globe 2020 - 2021

Finished

A LEGENDARY RACE

The Vendée Globe is a non-stop single-handed round-the-world race with no assistance. It started back in 1989 and takes place every 4 years. Each race is an amazing adventure, both for the skippers who brave sailing the oceans solo and for the thousands of people who support and encourage them throughout.  The race is open to IMOCA 60-foot monohull sailing yachts, which is just over 18 metres.

Also known as “the Everest of the Seas”, the 9th Vendée Globe will start on 8 November 2020.

 

BENETEAU, TECHNICAL SUPPLIER OF THE VENDÉE GLOBE

BENETEAU has backed the Vendée Globe from the outset. This year, for the 5th year running, it will be a technical supplier, providing the organizers with a fleet of 16 powerboats made up of the latest models of the  Swift TrawlerAntaresGran Turismo and Barracuda lines.
The BENETEAU fleet will take the journalists, photographers and camera operators as close as they can to the event, in weather conditions that can often be difficult at this time of year. 



 

Course

The Vendée Globe course runs round the world, with the start taking place in the Bay of Les Sables d'Olonne. The skippers sail down the Atlantic Ocean, cross the Indian and Pacific Oceans, round Cape Horn, and sail back up the Atlantic to return to Vendée. Armel Le Cléac'h, the winner of the last Vendée Globe, completed the course in 74 days and 3 hours. A record!

A TITLE FOR GREAT SAILORS

Since 1989, some of the finest sailors have won the Vendée Globe: Titouan Lamazou in 1990, Alain Gautier in 1993, Christophe Auguin in 1997, Michel Desjoyeaux, in 2001 and 2009, Vincent Riou in 2005, François Gabart in 2013 and Armel Le Cléac'h in 2017 (winner of the  Solitaire du Figaro in September 2020).

33 skippers have registered for the 9th Vendée Globe including 6 women. Among them are sailors who started out on the Figaro BENETEAU II or the Figaro BENETEAU 3 : Jérémie Beyou, Benjamin Dutreux, Charlie Dalin and Sébastien Simon.

 

Header credit: Municipal archives Les Sables d'Olonne and Jean-Pierre Sené Collection.  (17 February 1997 - Christophe Auguin’s finish, winner of the Vendée Globe 1997).
Other credits: Jean-Marie Liot - Olivier Blanchet - Mark Lloyd - BENETEAU photo library.



 

THREE DECADES OF VENDÉE GLOBE HEROES