Quite the anniversary

Patrice Carpentier is not racing the 10th anniversary Vendée Globe but that doesn’t mean that the pre-start atmosphere in Les Sables d’Olonne cannot still make him go misty-eyed

Forty skippers will start the 10th edition of the Vendée Globe on 10 November. This is a record participation! Also never have the skippers been better prepared, after a challenging qualification and selection process that forced competitors to complete thousands of sea miles onboard their yachts. Before they cross the startline the racers will have covered at least half the distance of the theoretical Vendée Globe course, 24,300nm. Sam Davies’s Imoca Initiative- Coeur has already completed 23,901nm, not to mention the six Imocas who have participated in The Ocean Race, which have already made one round-the-world tour with a crew. Now, after three years and some 10 big oceanic races – three of them played solo in six months – some sort of a hierarchy has emerged.